Twenty years of cinematic lighting. Applied to architecture.

 

Before specializing in architectural photography, Alvaro Martin Blanco spent more than twenty years shaping light as a Director of Photography for narrative films, commercials, and branded content across Europe and the United States. Today, he applies that cinematic experience to architecture and interior design — creating photographs and films that reveal not only how a space looks, but how it feels.

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www.alvaromartinblanco.com

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Born in Bilbao, Spain, Alvaro grew up surrounded by the industrial landscapes of the Basque Country, where steel mills, shipyards, and concrete structures met the mountains and the Cantabrian Sea. That contrast — industry, landscape, architecture — sparked an early fascination with the built environment, and with how light transforms it.

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He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of the Basque Country before attending a cinematography seminar at Cinecittà in Rome with legendary Director of Photography Giuseppe Rotunno, ASC, AIC. The experience set the direction of his career: he went on to study at ECAM (Escuela de Cinematografía y del Audiovisual de la Comunidad de Madrid) and spent the next two decades working internationally as a DP — learning to use light not just to illuminate a scene, but to shape mood, reveal texture, and direct attention.

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Those same principles now define his architectural work. Whether shooting with available light or a full lighting design, Alvaro brings the same discipline to every space he's asked to photograph.

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Based in Chicago, he collaborates with architects, interior designers, and developers to create photography and film that elevates their work while staying true to the vision behind it.

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He is a member of IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild), AEC (Spanish Society of Cinematographers), and IMAGO (International Federation of Cinematographers), and is a recipient of the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Creative Entrepreneurship Grant.