by Jerome D.
Introduction
Eduardo Ortiz (b. 1990, Los Angeles, Chile) is a Chilean street and documentary photographer whose nomadic practice — built across South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia since 2016 — has made him one of the more distinctive voices in contemporary colour street photography. He grew up in San Antonio, Chile, and considers Valparaíso the city where he woke up as an artist. He studied classical guitar before turning to photography, and that musical formation — attentive to rhythm, timing, and the internal logic of a composition — is visible in how he constructs images.
He has lived and worked in Morocco, Sweden, Germany, France, Turkey, and Italy, among other countries. His photography practice developed in parallel with his travels, beginning seriously around 2018 through sustained walking, self-study, and engagement with art, cinema, and painting. He describes his approach as rooted in light: "I approach photography with curiosity about life and my love of light. Travelling I learned to embrace light and shadow."
His stated photographic influences include Ernst Haas, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harry Gruyaert, René Burri, Fan Ho, Fred Herzog, Saul Leiter, and Alex Webb. His pictorial references are equally significant: the luminism of Joaquín Sorolla, Impressionism, and Luminism as a tradition. He describes colour not as decoration but as narrative structure — citing the principle that it is easy to make colour look nice, but harder to make it serve the story.
He curates the Instagram accounts @dreaminstreets and @streetphotographybrazil, teaches colour theory workshops, and publishes A Photography Journey, a Substack newsletter with thousands of subscribers documenting his creative process. He has collaborated with photographers including Andreas Kamoutsis, Mark Fearnley, Richard Kopacz, Matt Hall, and Gareth Danks.
"Street photography is the sort of photography that best suits my way to see and approach the world."
Camera Gear Used by Eduardo Ortiz
Ortiz shoots entirely with the Fujifilm X system, chosen explicitly for size and shooting experience: "I use Fujifilm cameras for their size and shooting experience." His system is compact and discreet — suited to the close, immersive street work he practises across unfamiliar cities and cultures.
Camera Bodies
Fujifilm X-Pro2 — his primary body, confirmed in his own words in The Pictorial List interview and corroborated by the Independent Photo profile, which describes his "trusty Fujifilm X-Pro2 camera" surviving a dip in the Ganga River. The X-Pro2 is a 24.3-megapixel APS-C mirrorless camera in a rangefinder-style body — larger optical/electronic hybrid viewfinder, compact form factor, and the tactile aperture-and-shutter-speed-dial interface that distinguishes Fujifilm's X-Pro line. Its hybrid viewfinder — switchable between optical and electronic — gives it a working feel close to a traditional rangefinder, consistent with his stated preference for a particular shooting experience over pure specification.
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| Fuji X-Pro 2 Find one at MPB |
Fujifilm X-E3 and X-E2 — also confirmed in The Pictorial List interview as part of his working system. The X-E3 and X-E2 are the slim, electronic-viewfinder siblings of the X-Pro line — even more compact, without the optical viewfinder option, but sharing the same sensor and lens mount.
A consistent feature of his digital workflow: he sets the camera's viewfinder to black and white when shooting monochrome projects, so that previews and imports match. This disciplines the eye to read light and form rather than colour during the shoot.
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| Fujifilm X-E2 Find one at MPB |
Lenses
Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 R (≈ 28mm full-frame equivalent) — his declared favourite focal length. His own words: "28mm is by far my favourite focal length." On the APS-C Fujifilm sensor, the 18mm achieves the 28mm full-frame equivalent he prefers — the widest of the classic street focal lengths, placing the photographer physically within the scene rather than at a comfortable remove. This is the focal length associated with Garry Winogrand, William Klein, and several of his stated influences, and its wider angle of view demands proximity and decisive framing.
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| Fujinon XF 18mm f2/R Check price at Amazon |
Fujinon XF 23mm f/2 R (≈ 35mm full-frame equivalent) and Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro (≈ 90mm full-frame equivalent) — also confirmed in The Pictorial List interview as lenses he works with. For the Chukiyawu project in La Paz, he made a specific compositional choice: "instead of using a 50mm or 18mm, I used a 23mm or 35mm to compress everything a little more" — selecting a slightly longer focal length to enhance the density and compression of the Andean city's layered visual environment. He also notes: "I even used a zoom lens, which I never do" — confirming that zoom lenses are not part of his standard practice.
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| Fujinon XF 23mm f2/R Check price at Amazon |
Flash
For his Chukiyawu portrait work in La Paz, Ortiz uses flash positioned below the subject to emphasise facial structure: "I use flash from below to emphasize wrinkles and expression lines." He also uses flash in daytime black-and-white street work for the same reason. This is an intentional departure from his ambient-light colour street approach — a technical choice made in service of the specific emotional register of a project.
Technique and Style
Eduardo Ortiz's street photography is defined by the primacy of colour as a compositional and narrative tool. His approach to colour is structural, not decorative: he thinks in terms of the proportions and relationships of colours within the frame — their balance and tension — rather than their saturation or vibrancy. "It's easy to make colour look nice, but it's harder to make colour serve to tell your story." This principle, which he teaches in his colour workshops, is directly visible in his images: the colours are often warm, specific, and in deliberate proportion to one another rather than equally vivid.
His influences from painting — Sorolla's treatment of Mediterranean light, the Impressionist and Luminist traditions — are not incidental references but active tools. Before a project, he studies how painters handled the specific quality of light in the geography he is working in. The SunTracker app is part of his preparation: he plans shoots around the position and quality of light at specific times and locations, rather than simply going out and working with whatever the day provides.
He shoots with intention and selection — around 100 photographs a day — and edits each image in approximately five to ten minutes. He composes mostly in camera and crops little: the framing decisions are made at the moment of exposure, consistent with his classical music formation and his stated admiration for photographers who waste no corner of the frame. Fellow photographer David Cremin has described his work as "meticulously composed" — each image structured so that "no corner of the frame" is wasted.
His practice moves between colour and black-and-white depending on the project. His colour work — in India, Morocco, Istanbul, and across South America and Europe — uses warm, balanced colour to convey the specific sensory texture of each place. His monochrome work — most developed in the Chukiyawu series in La Paz — uses deep shadow and flash to build the quality of magical realism he associates with Andean urban life. The choice of medium is always project-driven: "I chose black and white to heighten its surreal feel."
He typically goes out with an idea or concept in mind, though he leaves room for improvisation. His method is immersive and extended — he enters a place, learns its rhythms, returns repeatedly, and builds a body of work over time rather than extracting images on a single visit.
How to Shoot Like Eduardo Ortiz
Treat colour as proportion, not saturation. His core colour principle is about the balance of hues within the frame — the ratio of warm to cool, of complementary colours to neutrals — not about vivid processing. Before shooting, practise noticing colour relationships in a scene: which colour dominates, which provides contrast, which creates depth.
Plan around light, not just location. He uses a sun-tracking app to identify when and where the quality of light he needs will be present. Go to a location you know at the wrong time of day to understand what the right time looks like — then return.
Work close with a wide lens. His preference for the 28mm equivalent (18mm on APS-C Fujifilm) is inseparable from his method of physical immersion in a scene. The wide lens forces proximity; proximity forces engagement. If you find yourself shooting from a comfortable distance, you are likely outside the scene rather than inside it.
Choose your medium for the project, not for convenience. His decision to shoot Chukiyawu in black and white — and to use flash within it — was driven by the emotional register of La Paz and the quality of magical realism he was pursuing. Before beginning a project, ask what quality of light, what medium, and what focal length serve the story you are trying to tell.
Edit with discipline and minimum intervention. Five to ten minutes per image, composing in camera, cropping little. The decisions should happen in the street, not at the screen. If you are spending significant time correcting composition in post-processing, reconsider the moment of shooting, not the moment of editing.
Projects and Publications
Understanding Colour (self-published zine) — His first publication, documenting his transition from black-and-white to colour photography through images from India. He describes it as a gathering of what he had learned about colour at that point in his practice: "I created this zine to bring together what I've learned so far on my journey into the world of colour photography." Available through his Substack and website.
Chukiyawu — La Paz, Bolivia (ongoing black-and-white project) — His most developed monochrome project, named after the Aymara name for the Andean valley — meaning "golden farm" — that became La Paz. Shot with flash, using longer focal lengths than his typical street work, the series builds a visual world between documentation and magical realism. Featured by Collater.al.
A Photography Journey (Substack newsletter) — His primary publication platform, with thousands of subscribers. He uses it to document his creative process, share technique and colour theory, and connect his work to questions of vision and perception beyond technical concerns. Available at eortizfoto.substack.com.
Where to See Eduardo Ortiz's Work
- Website: eortizdelacruz.com — his main portfolio and workshop information.
- Instagram: @eortizfoto — his active personal account.
- Curated accounts: @dreaminstreets and @streetphotographybrazil — the community accounts he curates.
- Substack: eortizfoto.substack.com — A Photography Journey, his newsletter on creative process and colour theory.
- LensCulture: lensculture.com/eortizfoto — his profile, including the Understanding Colour zine listing.
Conclusion
Eduardo Ortiz shoots with the Fujifilm X system — primarily the Fujifilm X-Pro2, alongside the X-E3 and X-E2 — chosen for their compact form and shooting experience. His preferred focal length is the 18mm (≈ 28mm equivalent), supplemented by the 23mm and 60mm for specific projects. He shoots colour and black-and-white depending on the project's demands, uses flash deliberately for portrait and monochrome work, and approaches colour as a structural and narrative tool rather than an aesthetic finish.
His practice is nomadic by design — built across a decade of immersion in cities and cultures far from his native Valparaíso — and his images carry the quality of someone who has learned to see as a guest: attentive, respectful, and genuinely curious about what each place's light, colour, and human life has to offer.
"I approach photography with curiosity about life and my love of light."
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