Meet Christiam Torres Filmmaker/Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christiam Torres Filmmaker/Photographer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christiam Torres, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
In my life I have only seen art as a hobby, but I have always been attracted to making things with my hands and that talent was inherited from my mothers family. Cooking, crafts, drawing, painting, stories and those things that I saw as another skill to carry out more serious and formal jobs.

However, art always called me. About 4 years ago during the pandemic, I was able to see how ephemeral life can be and I decided to take the risk of living off something I had always dream off. I wanted to see what life would have been like if I would of taken that route.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In my career I have always felt that I am late and the anxiety of wanting to be further ahead than where I am. This is a faithful companion.

But I have seen with great affection everything that I have learned to do since my beginnings, so by uniting all those skills I like to see myself as an artisan, who unites everything learned to do his job.

I come from a culture that works by using our hands, and leaves an essence and a part of its heart in its work.

That’s what I try to do in every piece of content, photography or video I create . I really like knowing the stories behind people to be able to treat them with the greatest empathy there is. I believe connecting with people is what allows me to disappear my camera in front of them to be able to turn an experience into a tangible thing.

I can say that the path I have taken has not been easy, despite having great allies, it has been difficult for me to face challenges such as:

The anxiety
Perfectionism
Fear to fail
Errors in practice

But all of this has forged me to walk more confidently in my career.

I feel that every challenge I have overcome has pushed me to be better. This has allowed me to lose fear, and move forward, realizing that nothing is perfect and that I should not stay still. However I take the risk to co-funding an Studio that has 2 years running and growing.

The most valuable lessons that have had on this path are:
1. Mistakes are one of the greatest assets of my career. They have allowed me to improve.
2. The lowest moments are those that allow me to see things clearly, as my perspective changes.
3. Using my creativity with what I have at hand has become my greatest ally.

If there is something that I want to leave the world as a legacy and that I would like to be known for, it for telling real, authentic and relatable stories.

I grew up listening to anecdotes. These anecdotes have allowed me to mature.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In my professional career, I wanted to become a chef. Unfortunately I could not enter a gastronomy career, therefore I studied the closest thing to it, with tourism being my option.

In this career, we rely a lot on creating experiences, for that reason I felt in love with photography because I can leave a tangible part of all that memories that are created.

Therefore, if I had to create an experience for a friend on a week-long trip, I would do it as follows:

Day 1: Meet you at the capital’s airport and take you to see the oldest part of our city Managua, where time seems to have essentially frozen in certain areas. We would eat fritanga, a dish that has become part of our culture.

Day 2: I would take you on a trip to two cities, one of them Masaya where you can see an active volcano and Granada, the city where colonial beauty meets nature, and we would eat a delicious vigorón (food based on cassava, salad and pork) in the local market, so you can essentially see our culture and day to day, waiting for night to fall and to be able to enter the largest lake in Nicaragua.

Day 3: Leaving Granada we could go to Ometepe Island, an island that protects Culture, natural beauty and one of the best landscapes in Nicaragua.

Day 4: We would return to a very nearby city Rivas and I would take you to see the sun go down on the best beaches to make you live the adventure of surfing and enjoy the beautiful sound of the ocean.

Day 5: We would make a long trip to cross a large part of the country and reach a colonial destination that melts with the sun and heat, to eat again in its streets and markets, trying typical drinks such as cacao, tiste, pozo, many of them based on corn, as well as unique cajetas and desserts. The day will be short due to the trip but it would give us an idea for our nearby destination.

Day 6: We would head to Estelí where the mountains speak with the sky and the further in we go, we can find sculptures in the mountains carved by a hermit with great imagination, we will find craft beers and a variety of gourmet cheeses aged with time and the cold .

Day 7: Continuing uphill we would go to one of the highest points of Jinotega and a reserve with great impact at the Central American level, Bosawás, where we would climb the mountain through the rivers and where the stones become a roof when the road becomes dissolves in water.

Probably that day we would end it back in Managua for a return hoping that the country would leave a mark on that friend and discover many other pending sites and stories to tell.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Many times success stories come with a lot of sacrifice, risks and uncertain paths, but I can assure you that in mine I have been blessed by the right people, family, friends and colleagues who have become mentors along my path, they are those who have helped me draw a more accessible map to turn my passion into a career.

A documentary would fall short to recognize those people who have allowed my career to be positively impacted. My wife Claudia Ríos, who has believed in me from the first moment and has become that parallel voice to make wise decisions, as well as her “El Hermanito”, Eugenio Quintana, my brother-in-law, who has supported me in building a solid foundation in my beginnings.

I have had a great mentor Gian Marco Palazio, who has been with me since the beginning of my career path to help me grow with this business. Not just as a hobby that yields some profits.

My first clients (Elaine Miranda, Jose Bolaños and Javier Arana) who trusted me when they saw my passion and allowed me to demonstrate my talent through my work, and who have always encouraged my desire to advance.

My parents and uncles who have been pimps in promoting all those passions and proudly promoting every step I take.

Those colleagues who have been close friends, Milton Quant, Grethel Pavon, Alex Gómez who have been ambassadors and promoters of my work.

Among those masterpieces that inspire me and become my refuge to push myself is the film Cinema Paradiso that reminds me of that innocence and naivety as a child to continue dreaming and being amazed by everything I can do.

Finally, I would dedicate a lot of my work to my 7th grade Literature teacher, Marlene García, who found a lotus flower in the middle of the mud, in my worst grades she saw potential in me to give a lot through my writing and Rafa Rivas, my first partner in my career journey and the person who teaches me how to use a camera and bring that to continue my journey. He always believe in my art.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisbeingcreative/

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/torreschristiam

Other: https://torreshumbertoc7.myportfolio.com/