Recently, in November 2021, I was invited to exhibit my work in Miami, Florida, at the Art Labbe Gallery (currently www.gally.art), located at 2522 Ponce de León Blvd, Coral Gables.
I was invited to the program Hola Chile on La Red TV to talk about photography, portraits, and the positive impact on people’s self-esteem.
I was interviewed by journalist Marcela Cademartori for an interview titled “The Art of Portraiture” for El Mecurio newspaper (one of Chile’s leading media outlets). I was also recognized in In de Lan magazine (Spafax) for my outstanding work for that outlet.
I took the photographs for the poster and advertisement for the musical “Mercury the Legend” produced by the production company Cultura Capital. This work achieved unprecedented success in Chile in the world of theater and musicals.
From 2015 to the present, as art director, photographer, and audiovisual producer for the Chilean-French illusionist Jean Paul Olhaberry, we were nominated for the prestigious international Merlin Award in the Escape Art category for the best escape artist of the decade. The results will be announced in May 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
In the field of architecture, my photography has been instrumental in promoting the projects of important architects such as Freddy Mamani from Bolivia, who is being studied worldwide for his exclusive designs in Aymara masonry and new Andean architecture, and the prominent Chilean architect José Pedro Vicente, who recently won first place at the 2021 TAC Awards (World Design Awards) for presenting a photograph I took exclusively for that competition.
My work has also been published in prominent national and international media, including Vogue UK and Harper’s Bazaar USA, showcasing the High Jewelry designs of Jose María Goñi. For the Cartier Foundation in Paris, I participated with my photographs in the publication of the architectural book Geometries of the South, from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. My photographs have also appeared in articles in Dubai’s The National; Brazil’s Diario Valor; Spafax’s IN/LATAM magazines; SKY; CARAS Magazine; POLO; ACCESS; and various local media outlets, among others.
My work is mainly highlighted by human composition and portraits, with a strong pictorial influence I have managed to develop the chiaroscuro technique in a unique way which has led me to be among the best photographers in Chile, standing out preferably in the field of art, architecture and theater.
My great-great-grandfather, Manuel Domínguez Cerda, was one of the first producers in Chile’s nascent film industry, as well as a leading exponent of the amateur photography that developed in the country beginning in the 1890s. Born on April 4, 1867, into a wealthy family, he initially studied law, then later dedicated himself to journalism, photography, and cinematography. He married Rosa Casanueva Opazo in 1891, with whom he raised eleven children.
In 1902, together with his brother-in-law Carlos Casanueva Opazo, future rector of the Catholic University, he founded the Diario Popular, a Church newspaper intended to support the dissemination of the tenets of social Catholicism and improve the living conditions of the poor. In 1906, when the Archbishop of Santiago entrusted Casanueva with the management of the newspaper La Unión de Valparaíso, Domínguez followed his brother-in-law, serving as the newspaper’s administrator until 1909.
At the same time, around 1905, he began working as an amateur photographer, photographing family members going about their daily activities and at their summer vacation spots (Las Cruces, San Bernardo), as well as urban and rural landscapes of Chile. His photography became a record of daily life and the changes experienced by Chilean society during the Centennial years. His work, which spanned approximately ten years (1905–1915), is technically notable for its use of stereoscopy, a procedure that allows for an in-depth view of a shot using a special camera.
Beginning in 1909, he served as manager of the Unión Central Theater in Santiago, owned by the Catholic University. In this space, a pioneer in the dissemination of the arts in Chile—the first symphonic concerts were held there and the first motion picture film in the country was screened there in 1896—Dominguez’s passion for cinematography took shape, which would lead him to make his own short film, Santiago Antiguo, a few years later, released on October 15, 1915. To produce the film, he founded The Chile Film Co., with the collaboration of Italian Salvador Giambastiani, who, in the absence of local technicians, was in charge of filming.
Little is known about his later years, except that he died at his home on Estado Street in Santiago on September 25, 1922.
My father, Ignacio Severin Huidobro, was born in Valparaíso in 1949. He studied architecture and advertising, but like his great-grandfather Manuel Domínguez, he also had a taste and passion for photography. In his work as a photographer, he always stood out for capturing incredible images and telling stories through his shots.
He thus became the photographer for the Valparaíso City Hall and later, for several years, the photographer for the Viña del Mar Mayor’s Office. His work in the artistic field stands out, immortalizing great figures of the international and national scene such as Andy Gibb, Ray Conniff, KC and the Sunshine Band, Miguel Bosé, José Luis Rodríguez, Camilo Sesto, Julio Iglesias, among others.
His photography also excels in capturing nature, flora, and fauna within the city, a discipline that captures the hidden life behind the big city and its buildings and noisy life. With several awards in photography competitions, my father has undoubtedly been a source of inspiration for my photography career, developing new techniques, and showing empathy when photographing.
