So, about that superstition about a photograph stealing someone’s soul? I wholeheartedly believe it.

However, I also believe that this idea of photo-voodoo has gotten a bad rap over the years, and I’d like to turn that around. The former advertising major in me thinks it all has to do with the spin on presentation- for starters, “stealing” a person’s soul indicates a fair bit of under-handedness about the affair… Replace the “voodoo” with “magic”, and I describe it more as capturing a series of fleeting moments, to “preserve” them in time.

It is perhaps the cinematographer in me that is drawn to shooting people rather than landscapes or funny lamps, that wants to tell a story, and believes that any face has a story to tell.

I’ve been to film school, developed my own negatives, and spent enough time in darkrooms to come out smelling like a pickled pig’s foot to understand the photo-chemical process very well. The digital age has now demystified photography for most. However, I actively choose to look past the purely technical aspects of making the image, to bring about what soul is hiding beneath the surface of any given frame.

To me, there is something magic about photography indeed.

David is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer and photographer.  Since graduating from USC with a B.A. in Cinema-Television Production, he has focused on expanding his work in all visual mediums.