DIRECTOR / CINEMATOGRAPHER / SYSTEMS ENGINEER:

Director of Photography & National Geographic Photographer specialized in Underwater Environments, immersive storytelling, commercial & expedition visuals, ocean exploration, Virtual Reality & emerging visual mediums.

Luis's unique experience with high-tech underwater cinema, deep ocean camera technology and oceanic wildlife has made him a sought-after visual artist & collaborator for productions looking to push the envelope in exploring & documenting the ocean frontier.

His print, motion & new media work has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, on Discovery channel, History channel, NOVA & Curiosity Stream, among others.

Luis has sent robotic camera systems into one of the deepest ocean trenches on earth & he has logged hundreds of hours in manned submarines, including on five expeditions with the U.S. Navy's manned deep-ocean research submersible ALVIN, diving beyond 12,000 feet deep in the abyss to photograph environments at the edges of the ocean frontier.

He has been Director of Photography on many challenging, high-stakes media projects using submarines and robotic ocean vehicles to capture images for clients including BBC Oceans, NHK & National Geographic, in remote corners of the planet.

Luis has led, collaborated, and consulted on scientific and filming expeditions exploring active deep-sea volcanoes, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, unexplored seamounts in the deep Pacific, the deep Atlantic, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia & Australia.

At the Advanced Imaging & Visualization Laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he designs & conceptualizes new imaging technologies to integrate into robotic exploration missions, worldwide. Inspired by the complex technical challenges inherent in image making & storytelling in one of the planets most hostile, mysterious, unknown & awe inspiring domains; the deep ocean & abyssal zones.

Since 2008, Luis has worked on assignment for National Geographic Magazine on technically challenging underwater stories, often utilizing & designing custom camera & lighting technologies to capture images of high-tech subsea exploration & open ocean wildlife. He has worked on over 14 assignments for the magazine, yielding six feature-length print & multimedia stories, including "Bahamas Caves, Deep Dark Secrets", "Seamounts, Mountains in the Sea", "Dolphin Intelligence", "Great White Mystery", "Saving our Oceans", & several currently in production.