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Guillermo Jorge Navarro Solares, (born July 29, 1955) is a Mexican
cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
and
television director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the prod ...
.Scott, A. O. (November 21, 2001). ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
The Devil's Backbone (review overview).
/ref> He had been a frequent collaborator of
Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
and
Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...
, with his work on '' Pan's Labyrinth'' earning him the
Academy Award for Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. History In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...
. After making directing debut with a music video for Mia Maestro titled "Blue Eyed Sailor", Navarro then shifted to a career as a TV director of series like ''Hannibal'' and ''Luke Cage'', and was an executive producer on the
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
documentary series '' Hostile Planet,'' for which he earned his first Primetime Emmy nomination.


Early life and education

Navarro was born in 1955 in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. He began taking still photographs at age 13 when took a photography workshop in middle school, and built his own
darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...
. He then worked for several years as a freelance photographer, working on everything from album covers to fashion photography. He attended the
National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
, where he graduated with a degree in Sociology.


Career

Navarro began working in the film industry when his sister, a producer, hired him as on-set still and continuity photographer for one of her films. The experience triggered an interest in cinematography, and he began working as a camera assistant. Rather than working his way up through the Mexican film industry the traditional way, he instead moved to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
where he became the apprentice of cinematographer Ricardo Aronovich. He worked for around 10 years before shooting his first feature.


Film

Navarro quickly formed a partnership with filmmaker
Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...
, first by shooting commercials then later his directorial debut ''Cronos'', which won the prestigious Golden Ariel. Navarro moved to the United States in 1994, where he shot several films for director
Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
and worked with high-profile directors
Renny Harlin Renny Harlin (born Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola; 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter who has worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood, Europe, and Cinema of China, China. His best-known film ...
and
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
. He returned to Mexico in 2001 to shoot del Toro's '' The Devil's Backbone.''


Television

Navarro began working as a director in 2013 with an episode of ''
Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...
''. He has subsequently directed episodes for shows like '' The Bridge'', '' Narcos'', ''
Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...
,'' and ''
Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. in 1972, he was the first Af ...
''. In 2019, Navarro worked as an executive producer on the
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
documentary series '' Hostile Planet'', earning him an nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.


Style

His work often features very vivid blues and yellows which often take up most of the image, and the film's grain structure often switches between well-defined and sharp, and somewhat smoothed over or very fine. In '' Pan's Labyrinth'', Navarro and Del Toro had to work with a largely unfamiliar Spanish crew due to their usual crew's unavailability. Navarro shot the film using his personal Moviecam Compact and Arriflex 435 ES cameras and Zeiss Ultra Prime and Variable Prime lenses. He used three different
Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
film stocks: Vision2 200T 5217, Vision2 500T 5218, and Vision 250D 5246, depending on the lighting conditions under which a scene was filmed. Much of the film was shot using day for night, underexposing the film three or four F stops. He purposefully kept lighting effects that could only be attained with sunlight, which jarred the image when it passed itself as night, creating an aura of experimentation. Because of the awkwardly-shaped spaces of the fantasy sets, Navarro had to be creative with his lighting, finding places to put his lamps that also didn't disrupt the image. A lot of light was strictly attained by bouncing it into the set. For certain scenes, the crew also drilled tiny holes into the walls of the set and placed little lights into the spaces.


Filmography


Cinematographer

Feature film Television Music video


Director

Short film * ''Blue Eyed Sailor'' (2012) (Also producer) Television Music video


Awards and nominations


References


External links

*
Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Guillermo 1955 births Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners Independent Spirit Award winners Living people Mexican cinematographers Mass media people from Mexico City Mexican television directors