MIGUEL AMORTEGUI
Photographer / Author / Filmmaker / Adventurer
Hey there!
So, this feels a little awkward... I am normally sharing the stories of others – remote communities, powerful politicians, ex cons, big corporations, political exiles, hidden tribes, dreamers, musicians, social movements, you name it! But I rarely write about myself. I am more comfortable behind the lens, trying to freeze a moment in time; that fraction of a second that effortlessly captures the essence of a bigger story, while keeping truth and integrity intact in a 16:9 frame.
I am an award-winning film-maker, photographer, investigative journalist and participatory photography trainer. I work for a range of clients in the UK and internationally, shooting assignments for commercial organisations, not-for-profit groups and social enterprises. My clients have included the BBC, Bank Santander, PhotoVoice, Calista Advertisement, FSI Law, Botswana High Commission, Frontier Economics, and others, while my work has been exhibited in many countries in Europe, The United States, Africa and South America. But when I reflect on my fifteen-year career, it is the relationships I have formed with both clients and subjects that I recall most vividly – the bonds formed over shared cigarettes and cold cups of coffee that are the inevitable backdrop to a story unfolding.
I use the visual mediums of film and photography to tell meaningful stories, often (but not exclusively) with a social conscience. I am also a trained participatory photography facilitator – building photography and digital storytelling skills within often disadvantaged or marginalised communities to enable individuals to represent themselves and create tools for advocacy and communication. This has included work with gangs in London, residents of Lima’s slums in Peru, and communities experiencing extreme poverty in Ghana. I have produced documentaries with exiled people from both Chile and Botswana.
I have spent a very long time working with communities that have been in exiled, abused, or destroyed by war, famine, political regime or social and sexual discrimination. I lived in the infamous refugee camp in Calais, France, called The Jungle. Where I spent most of my time teaching refugees photography in order to give them a voice through social media platforms while at the same time writing a photography book called Voices of the Jungle. ( A compilations of stories of a refugee camp)
As a Latin-American who has lived and worked in many countries across Europe and beyond, I recognise the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity and also speaking the local language to overcome cultural barriers and capture nuance and detail. I speak fluent Spanish, English and French. I have worked on many projects with many people and all of their faces are archived in my visual memory. I have shared meals with presidents and I have cooked antelopes with old members of the San tribe in Botswana. It’s hard for me to imagine how any other profession could show so many different sides of who we are and the world that we live in, and it is this passion and curiosity for the many different faces of our human race that drives my work.
Thank you for reading! Please do take a look around the site and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to know more.
CLIENTS
Bank Santander, Tuli Safari Lodge, Finest Stephan Innocent, Skyway, Siyabona Africa, Peermont, Frontier Economics, Mashatu Resort, H.F.C.C, BFI, Botswana High Commission, Chief's Camp, LMAF, Chobe Marina Lodge, Lewisham Council, Mowana Resort, LFI, The Grand Palm, Photovoice, Calista Marketing , BBC, Golden Fleece Films, Diesterweg, Namibia Tourism Board, Ortho solutions, Instruct Integrating Biology, amongst others.
Projects
- Love in the time of CoronaDear friends and family, some information about my show in St Ann’s warehouse, New York, Dumbo ST. ANN’S WAREHOUSE presents MIGUEL AMORTEGUI LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONA St. Ann’s Warehouse Old Dock Street & Water Street Facade / New York / Dumbo STARTS SEPT 2020 | FREE The UK-based, Colombian artist Miguel Amortegui will enliven St. Ann’s archways and light boxes with his wildly colorful paintings in an exhibit called Love in the Time of Corona. Using vibrant colors and intense brush strokes,
Skills
- Photography
- Photography Editing
- 35mm Photography
- Corporate Photography
- Documentary Photography
- Editorial Photography
- Film Production
- Film Editing
- Feature Writer
- Camera op