EAST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Robert Altman once said, “Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes,” which explains why so many of us in L.A. are drawn to the entertainment industry.

The glitz, the glamour, and hopefully immortality. But for every A-list director, there is a cadre of talent below the line that helps them shine. Most notably, the cinematographer.

“So this is my RED. This is my baby,” said Dominic López as he builds his camera. “I find for my aesthetic, it’s the perfect tool to tell the stories I want to tell. It cost quite a bit of money. Pretty much the same as owning a luxury vehicle, but that’s okay because I didn’t get a chance to go to film school and so owning this equipment and practicing every day or as often as possible, it is my film school.”

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Cinematographer Dominic López estimates he’s spent over $100,000 on equipment including cameras, lenses, lights, and everything else you need to shoot a movie.

“I want to get the sun into it and test out what the flares do,” said López to his girlfriend actress Kelsey Gunn as they set up a shot.

It is a huge investment, but for this aspiring cinematographer, the opportunity outweighs the risk. Whenever he has a chance, he is out shooting short videos to improve his craft.

“So one of the things I’m always doing, I’m always updating my reel and creating content,” said López. “I just like flexing my creative muscles and most importantly, I just got a new lens that I'm really excited to try out.”

For someone who is constantly investing in himself, it hasn’t been easy. López moved to L.A. from Reno to chase his Hollywood dream, so he recently decided to turn down work as a grip to concentrate full-time on his cinematography. But his camera costs more than his car so he is working to pay it off by shooting commercials and products for brands and social media.

“One of the most challenging but rewarding aspects of cinematography is working with the director in order to create the proper visuals,” said López. “What’s also exciting about today is new technology that makes it simpler and easier but expands your possibilities into the images and you can create and it's like this wonderful collaboration of now art and science.”

López has produced numerous short films and worked as a director of photography on six independent features, but his ultimate goal is to break into studio motion pictures and to work with the great directors.

“Cinematographers that I really look up to first and foremost will be Roger Deakins. He's the reason why so many movies look the way they do today,” said López. “Bradford Young following up in his footsteps is just fantastic. And even Rachel Morrison I think she's just phenomenal. I look up to them because they've all developed their own voice and their own aesthetic and that's the journey that I'm on is trying to figure out what my voice is and what my aesthetic is.”

If Hollywood is the stuff dreams are made of, López is in the right business.