Meet Daniel Marquez of Southeast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Marquez.

Hi Daniel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a first-generation immigrant. My family and I immigrated from Cuba in March of 2004, straight from Havana to North Carolina. We made Raleigh our home in 2005 and have been here ever since. My family consists of my parents, Lazaro and Yorka, my younger twins, sisters Keyla and Leyra, our dog Cookie, and myself. My love for Photography grew from looking through family photo albums from a young age; I was interested in how a moment in time could become a physical thing you could hold. I attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 2014-2018, where I received a Bachelor of Fine arts in Photography. The focus of my art/photography revolves around identity in the nuclear family, friends, and my approximate environment. Fashion, streets, portraits, and the everyday mundane aspects of life, are all things I’m drawn to photograph. I use Photography to express feelings I cannot find the words for, as well as to connect with the person or location I’m photographing. I take the overused phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” very personally.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, and I do not expect it to smooth out any time soon. There are periods of weeks and sometimes even months where I do not pick up my camera, and there are days when I want to give it all up and start fresh in a different field far, far, far away from creating. I struggle with finding the motivation to share my work; sometimes, I’ll post it on social media, and only a few people will see it, and I feel like I failed. I question why I am doing what I do, but I must constantly remind myself that if one person saw it, that’s enough. I’m not racing anyone to become successful, and no one is putting pressure on me to create except myself. That’s when I have to step back and reevaluate my passion for Photography, dust it off, and keep making, not for likes but because I like what I do.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Most of the work I do is portraiture; that’s what I usually share with others and on social media. I have recently been heavy into more fashion-oriented shoots and commissioned portraits. Behind the scenes, when inspiration hits, I work a lot on self-portraits and experiment with different mediums. I love combining digital Photography with analog and digital collage; I also enjoy painting and embroidering physical photographs. My schedule is always open to photographing the people of Raleigh and surrounding areas, and I want to help create something they love and want to share with others. I am also 1000000% always open to bringing someone’s vision to life.

Is something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something that most people may not know about me is that I collect found images. I have a huge collection of vintage photographs, films, and slides. I find them at second-hand shops and bring them home to scan. I rework them, hang them on my walls, etc. I’m fascinated by the story behind each image, stories I can only make assumptions about since I have no idea where they came from.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://danielmarquez.tk
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielmvphoto/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielmvphotos

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