INSIGHTFUL ARTICLE IN 16 BLOCKS MAGAZINE about Marino's current status in a small Virginia college town.

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ARTISTS MISSION STATEMENT - "My personal thrust is to produce images that are provocative, intelligent, and positive, and to explore the human condition. I challenge myself to create compositions that contain a dynamic tension, forcing the viewer's involvement. I find this approach to be far more inviting than the mere static duplication of reality. My discontent has been my greatest stimulant allowing me to greet new challenges head on."

"The Henri Cartier-Bresson 'decisive moment' has long been a driving force in my work. Closest to my heart are photographs that come from being in the right place at the right time and somehow I've instinctively known how to capture that perfect fraction of a second, freeze it and bring it home for all to feel."

BIOGRAPHY - MARINO COLMANO has been a Photographer since picking up a camera in college in 1966. He moved on to become a Cinematographer - Director - Producer - Writer and Editor. But arousing emotion in a single still frame has always been a primary passion.

Italian-born with an international flair, his many years of intimate portraiture for models and actors as a Still Photographer translated perfectly to direction and cinematography of over a hundred famous celebrities and stars. His unique visual style, creative vision, and technical expertise was in demand by hundreds of actors and models throughout the seventies in San Francisco.

"For as long as I can remember I've had more than a flirtation with the fine arts. When I was about eleven years old, my parents noticed I was drawing cartoon characters to perfection, and asked me if I'd like to study formally. During that time, we lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was enrolled at Carnegie Institute in adult evening and weekend classes. I believe that everything I draw upon to this day was subconsciously formulated and deeply embedded during that year."

"Being a teenager in high school in Blacksburg, Virginia was like being in a four year coma, with the exception of a great art teacher, and a passion for oil painting. However, when it came time to choose a college, my father's advice was to study commercial art so I could at least, in his opinion, make a living."

"I enrolled at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Part of the curriculum included photography and how it related to advertising. It wasn't long before I realized how prolific I could be with a camera. I was further encouraged by the publication of one of my very first color photographs in the prestigious Camera Magazine of Switzerland (see Shadowplay at left). I transferred to San Francisco Art Institute to continue my studies of photography and film. In January of 1972, I graduated from the Art Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Film. I had been given a Full Tuition Scholarship and Early Graduation Award."

"I immediately took off for Europe to begin my career where I had begun my life. I spent many months in Italy refining my first language and set up several exhibits and publications. I then traveled throughout Europe and the Far East as a budding Photojournalist. My work was featured in numerous exhibitions and publications, including one-man shows in London, Milano and Bologna."

After six months of circumnavigation, I returned to San Francisco and established my own photo studio. Ten years of shooting and about 20,000 negatives & transparencies later I decided I was finally ready to make a change. I'd always been enamored with filmmaking. I found myself starting a production company and shooting documentaries inside San Quentin Prison. This lead to directing a television special about the making of a Dustin Hoffman movie and I was set for Hollywood.

In 1979, I packed up my Alfa Romeo with all my portfolios and films and drove to Los Angeles. Starting a film career with virtually no contacts was an incredible challenge and bordered on major insanity.

Despite the odds, I've made it all work out. I've managed to become a Producer, Director, and Director of Photography (see my production bio). I've had a chance to do it all using cutting edge technology while garnering more than thirty international film festival awards along the way. Best of all, I'm still making images and still love it. Much of my work over the decades has been focused on the human face, our most astounding road map of complex emotions. The transition into film and video allowed me to create moving and often thought provoking portraiture of over a hundred major celebrities and stars.

Biography continues on selected pages.Here is an example of a how to article written for Peterson's Photographic Magazine about PHOTO IMPRESSIONISM