Square Earth Studio: Introducing Marco Gutierrez

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, Marco Gutierrez is out to capture the entire story.  Marco is one of the collaborating photographers who have recently joined the Created Woman family. He brings with him a depth of vision that is rooted in story telling. His narrative approach to photography was birthed in the trenches of film making. As an incoming freshman to the Radio, Television and Film program at UT, he met with the Dean. She looked at his High School portfolio and said, “Marco, I don’t know what we can teach you here.” She sent him off to Los Angeles with a couple of contacts and his life accelerated to warp speed.

Marco completed three internships in LA at Universal Studios, Landmark Entertainment Group and Silver Pictures. He returned to Texas briefly and worked at ABC 7 in El Paso as a camera operator, but was drained by sterile environment of a newsroom. He was drawn back to LA (imagine that) and the Cinematography program at USC.

After completing the program, Marco moved to Houston to join MC Lighting and take on his first role as apprentice to lighting master Mark Clark.  During that season he would work on his first feature film and would soon be hired by the Discovery Channel. This was the most important educational experience of his career. He landed on the lighting team and has worked his way from Apprentice to Electric to Best Boy Electric to Gaffer and ultimately his dream job as a Director of Photography. Over the years, he gained a flair for the drama of classic Hollywood lighting and learned that lighting tells the story better than any new technology.  The camera, as it turns out, is simply a tool used to capture light.

Marco has been influenced by many industry leaders such as George Hurrell, legendary Hollywood photographer, and Wally Pfister (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises).  He was star struck to work along side Dean Cundey (Back To the Future, Jurassic Park) on a music video featuring Ryan Cabrera and Ashley Simpson.  

George Hurrell Photo

Marco’s introduction to still photography happened in high school when his photography pushed his skills to new heights and inspired his love of art. A life long learner, Marco enrolled in the ACC photography program which is where he met Square Earth Studio partner Maryna Marston. Their ego-free collaboration took home trophies at the Texas Professional Photographers of America competition. About a year after wining the competition they launched Square Earth Studio. They continue to bring out the best in each other. Be watching for their work in Created Woman Magazine. Author: Lynn Cherry