Ricardo Pinzón Hidalgo — Colombian photographer based in Bogotá, focused on editorial and portrait photography.
Hi, this is me — literally hanging around.
A friend took this photo while I was practicing yoga, enjoying the light and not taking things too seriously. I wanted to share it because it feels close, real, and very much part of who I am.
Photography has always been, before anything else, a personal space for me: a way to slow down, observe and connect with experience. That relationship with the image is still at the core of my work today.
I am a Colombian photographer based in Bogotá, with a long professional trajectory in editorial and commercial photography, particularly focused on portrait work developed within editorial contexts. Over the years, my portraits have been commissioned and published by leading media outlets such as Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, EL PAÍS Semanal, Gatopardo and through Getty Images.
One of the most meaningful moments of my career was serving as Photography Director of Esquire Colombia for four years. It was an opportunity I never imagined possible — working consistently for a magazine I had admired since I was young, and contributing over time to its visual language and editorial identity. That experience marked me both professionally and personally.
Alongside editorial work, my portrait photography has also been commissioned by companies and cultural institutions including Sony Music, MANGO (MNG Colombia), Apple TV, Editorial Planeta, Editorial Televisa México, and by advertising agencies such as Ogilvy Colombia, DDB Colombia, Leo Burnett Colombia, MullenLowe SSP3 and McCann Erickson Colombia.
Teaching has been an essential part of my professional life. I have worked as a professor in continuing education programs, sharing my experience and approach to photography with new generations of photographers. I currently teach through Domestika, and have been a professor at LCI Education Bogotá, as well as in continuing education programs at Universidad de los Andes.
Alongside commissioned work and teaching, I continue to develop personal photographic projects as a way to reflect, observe and maintain an intimate relationship with photography beyond professional demands.
Personal photographic projects remain central to my practice. Phenomena is an ongoing exploration rooted in time, observation and direct experience with photography.
Ricardo Pinzón Hidalgo – Colombian Photographer and Educator
Ricardo Pinzón Hidalgo is a Colombian photographer based in Bogotá. His fascination with photography began in childhood, through early exposure to photographic magazines collected by his older brother, particularly PHOTO Magazine, a French publication established in 1967. Those formative years introduced him to the work of photographers such as Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton, shaping the foundations of his visual education.
During that period, he began experimenting with photography using a Nikon F3 camera, looking through the viewfinder and imagining images even when no film was loaded. This early contact with photography marked the beginning of a long-term relationship with the medium as a space for observation, contemplation and personal exploration.
He studied Advertising at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá, where he strengthened his understanding of visual communication while developing personal photographic projects. In the early 1990s, his work was selected for the Biennial of Young Photography of Colombia, receiving an honorable mention in its second edition. These experiences marked the beginning of his professional trajectory.
His career evolved through commercial photography and editorial assignments, initially assisting advertising photographers and later working independently on professional projects. He later pursued advanced photographic studies at the Centro Internacional de Fotografía y Cine (EFTI) in Madrid, Spain, where his understanding of contemporary photography and authorship deepened significantly.
From the early 2000s onward, his professional practice became strongly connected to editorial photography. He developed long-term collaborations with printed media and publishing groups in Colombia, working consistently within editorial contexts that demanded visual rigor, narrative clarity and authorship.
One of the most defining chapters of his career was serving as Photography Director of Esquire Colombia for four years. This role involved sustained editorial responsibility and close collaboration with the magazine’s international structure, contributing to the development of its visual language and editorial identity. Working for a magazine he had admired since his youth represented a significant professional and personal milestone.
Throughout his career, portrait photography has been a central axis of his editorial and commercial practice. His portraits have been commissioned and published within editorial contexts by leading national and international media, as well as by cultural institutions and global companies. This sustained work in portraiture has positioned his photographic approach within professional editorial environments, where authorship, context and visual rigor are essential.
Alongside his photographic practice, teaching has played an essential role in his professional life. He has worked as a professor in continuing education programs, sharing his experience and approach to photography through structured academic and professional contexts. Teaching has become a space for reflection, transmission of knowledge and critical engagement with photographic practice.
Today, he continues to work as an editorial and advertising photographer while maintaining an active commitment to personal photographic projects. His work remains grounded in lived experience, observation and a contemplative relationship with photography, balancing professional commissions with long-term personal research.
