Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiko Ricote.
Hi Kiko, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a commercial photographer, at 18 I started working as a model in my natal country Venezuela, an Italian photographer came to shoot for L’uomo Vogue and she picked me for the job, she told me that I could work a lot in Europe, so after a year, I left for Milan and the next 10 years worked as a model mainly in Germany and Switzerland doing lots of catalog work.
When I was 23, a photographer in Germany mentioned that he had a 40 % discount on Canon and I bought my first camera. I had a beautiful Dutch girlfriend and I took some shots while on vacation, our modeling agency saw the shots and asked me if I wanted to shoot other models and the rest is history, I never stopped shooting and having fun.
For the next 20 years, I kept working as a model and as a photographer and kept learning from other photographers. I was focused on fashion and while in Sidney Australia I started shooting for fun the architecture of the city and realized that I had a good eye for another kind of photography and I started building a more diverse portfolio.
I have been shooting for 43 years, for the first 20, I shot film and checked everything with Polaroids, I was resilient to change to digital arguing that the look was different, then a fellow photographer told me that if I shot once with digital I would never go back and he was right. Today, I shoot mostly tethered to a computer when working with clients.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a beautiful road, I have never stopped working, traveling, and having fun, the only difficulty has been learning how to promote my work, but I found a way to do it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a commercial photographer, after so many years of shooting I have shot almost everything and what seems to be my strength is to direct people, probably from the experience from having worked as a model, but I get a lot of work shooting hotels, industrial, healthcare, and portraits, but what I love to shoot is travel. I think I have a graphic eye and also enjoy doing shots that make you think, you can see samples on my website in my personal work portfolio.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Since I was very young my father put me into sports, I competed for my country Venezuela numerous times in international competitions in swimming, diving, and water polo, but my passion was triathlons I have done probably 200 over 20 years. Sports taught me discipline and that is key to being successful at anything you decide to do.
I traveled a lot and lived in many cities and that helped me with my photography because you develop an eye for beautiful things. you make your images with what you have lived, eaten, traveled, and loved. I was kind of a gypsy, for 20 years I only had 2 suitcases my cameras, and my model portfolio. Thanks to my photography, I had an interesting life I was able to move and get work wherever I went.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kikor.com
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/kikorphotos - Facebook: @Kiko Ricote
- Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/kikor
- Other: www.grovestudios.com
