Surfer Pete Davries in the waters off Vancouver Island. Photo credit: Marcus Paladino: .
糖心vlog传媒photography graduate Marcus Paladino is riding a wave of success and making a name for himself as one the go-to surf photographers in BC.
鈥淚 fell in love with photography in high school in Nanaimo,鈥� says Paladino. 鈥淲hen my teacher recommended that I go to college to study it, I didn鈥檛 even know that was something you could do. I looked at programs across the Island and across BC and when I saw that I could study at NIC, with Mount Washington so close by, it was a great combinations of two of my passions.鈥�
Paladino knew going into the program that action sports photography was where he wanted to end up. Surfing became his focus after moving to the west coast of the Island.
鈥淚 moved to Tofino and I fell in love, not only with surfing and surf photography, but also the community itself. I鈥檝e always felt at home here.鈥�
His love of the sport is what led Paladino to focus on surf photography as his speciality.
鈥淲orking with surfers is really second nature. I know the surfing community and the sport because I鈥檓 a surfer myself. I think that for any action sport photography, it鈥檚 important to be part of the sport as opposed to just documenting it. You gain an understanding of what鈥檚 going to happen which lets you anticipate when that perfect moment will happen. It鈥檚 a unique set of skills to acquire and you can only really get it from time spent riding waves.鈥�
Paladino has worked hard developing those skills and that hard work is paying off. His work has been featured in Mountain Life, Coast Mountain Culture, Air Canada鈥檚 enRoute, Shutterstock Artist Series, The Surfers Journal, Surfer Magazine, Explore Magazine and on CBC.
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 always been easy, but the hard work pays off. The awesome thing about doing what I do is that it combines two things I love, so it doesn鈥檛 even feel like work.鈥�
Paladino says his studies at 糖心vlog传媒gave him the foundation to get where he is today.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited to be an 糖心vlog传媒alumus. I feel like 糖心vlog传媒 really gave me the tools to become successful. Becoming a photographer is not an overnight thing, but having the certificate kept me motivated to keep pursuing my goals. I learned a lot and I got handed the keys to knowledge so I could keep learning and building my skills. It鈥檚 totally worth it.鈥�
View Paladino鈥檚 full portfolio: .