The Man Behind the Camera: Why I Direct Music Videos and Shoot Ad Campaigns
online Magazine Link
https://www.pressreader.com/honduras/estilo/20210205/281539408641795
When Estilo magazine published a profile on me titled "El Hombre Detrás de la Cámara," the question they kept circling back to was the one I hear most often: how do you work as both an advertising photographer and a music video director? Doesn't that split your focus?
The honest answer is the opposite. It sharpens it.
Two Disciplines, One Visual Language
Most people in this industry choose a lane early. You're either a photographer or a director. You work in advertising or entertainment. The market pressures you to specialize because it makes you easier to categorize, easier to book, easier to explain in a brief.
I ignored that logic about fifteen years ago, and it turned out to be the best creative decision I've made.
Here's why: advertising photography and music video direction are not separate skills — they're the same skill expressed in different time signatures. A photograph is a story told in a single frame. A music video is that same story unfolded across three minutes. The lighting principles are identical. The art direction instinct is identical. The ability to connect with talent in front of the camera — to pull out something real from someone who's been photographed a thousand times — is absolutely identical.
What changes is rhythm. And learning to work in both rhythms has made me better at each one.
What Advertising Taught Me About Direction
After twenty years photographing campaigns for brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Motors, Visa, and Toyota — working with agencies including BBDO, DDB, McCann, and Mullen Lowe — I developed something that most music video directors don't have: production efficiency under extreme pressure.
In advertising, there are no second chances. The client flew in. The talent has a two-hour window. The set cost $40,000 to build. You deliver, or you don't work again.
That discipline — the ability to walk onto a set, read the light in seconds, know exactly where to place the camera, and start capturing — is what I bring to every music video session. When I directed Juanes, the production team commented that the shoot moved faster than any they'd worked on. That's not because I rushed. It's because twenty years of advertising trained me to see the shot before I frame it.
What Music Direction Taught Me About Photography
The traffic runs both ways.
Directing music videos for artists like Juanes, Jhayco, and Bomba Estéreo taught me something about emotion that advertising alone never would have: people don't connect with perfection — they connect with movement.
In a music video, you're working with rhythm, with breath, with the space between a beat and a gesture. You learn to see the micro-expressions that make a frame feel alive instead of posed. And when you bring that sensitivity back to a still photograph — when you wait for the moment between poses, the exhale, the glance away from the camera — you get portraits that feel cinematic rather than clinical.
My Effie Award-winning Pepsi Black campaign, shot for BBDO, was a direct result of this cross-pollination. The images had a sense of motion and spontaneity that came from my directing experience, combined with the technical precision that advertising demands.
The Juanes Session
The Estilo article goes into detail about specific projects, but the one I come back to most is Juanes. Working with one of Latin America's most iconic musicians required a visual approach that matched his artistic stature — cinematic, authentic, and emotionally grounded.
Juanes doesn't perform for the camera the way younger artists sometimes do. He inhabits the frame. There's a gravitas to his presence that demands restraint from the photographer. My job wasn't to create energy — it was to capture the energy that was already there, and light it in a way that honored its weight.
That session taught me something I now apply to every project, commercial or artistic: the best images come from respect for the subject, not from the photographer's ego.
Why This Dual Career Matters for Clients
If you're a brand, agency, or artist looking for a photographer, here's what this dual career means in practical terms: you're hiring someone who understands both the single-frame precision of advertising and the emotional storytelling of moving image. That combination translates to portraits that feel alive, campaigns that feel cinematic, and music visuals that feel polished.
You can read the original Estilo magazine feature for the full story. And if you want to see how this approach plays out in my work, explore my advertising portfolio or watch my music video work on IMDB.
Diego Sanchez Cadavid is an advertising photographer and music video director based in Miami. He has directed videos for Juanes, Jhayco, and Bomba Estéreo, and photographed campaigns for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, GM, Visa, and Toyota. His work has been recognized by Lürzer's Archive, Hasselblad Masters, and the Effie Awards. He is the author of The Lighting Playbook.
