Michael Rivera

Welcome to Marfa


Mike grew up in Dallas, TX in a household with Honduran and Mexican parents. He briefly attended college in Texas where he first sought to earn a degree in criminal justice before realizing his true passion for journalism. He went on to receive a degree in Visual Journalism - the first in his family - from Western Kentucky University in May 2013.

In college he served as Chief Photo Editor of the College Heights Herald in from 2012-2013 while serving as a shooter in years prior. In 2012, Michael completed a photo editing internship at ABC News in New York and worked on contract for ZUMA PRESS. Shortly after graduating, Michael went on to work as a staff photographer for the Beaumont Enterprise in Southeast Texas and the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen, TX.

Michael moved to New York in 2013 and worked as a photo editor for ABC News and the Daily Mail Online and the NY Daily News. After 2 years he moved to Chicago where he worked in the photo department of the Chicago Tribune as a two year resident.

He currently works as the acting in-house producer, photographer/videographer, and marketing content creator for CEDARst as well as the director of photography of Northmag.co.

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If we opened up your San Francisco Camera Pack today, what essential equipment would we find inside?

You would find a 5d Mark 3 or 4 and a 50 mm 1.4, 70-200 2.8, 16-35 F4, Theta 360 camera, tape measure, SD and CF cards, 13-inch Mac Book Pro, USB adapter, Fuiji X-100t mirrorless camera with fixed 35mm and a air freshener.

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Who or what has been the biggest influence on your shooting style?

    Bill Cunningham, Casey Dunn, Tim Hetherington, Christopher Anderson and Bob Rehak.

If you could spend the day with any photographer, who would you choose?

    Christopher Anderson since he has a family, and one day I want to know what it's like to work in this field while balancing work and family life.
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