Last month Blackmagic held its first Expo, and one of the keynote speakers was Fotokem colorist Walter Volpatto. He was born in Italy and grew up on a farm, quite a long way from his current life in Los Angeles.

Volpatto originally got into this industry as a broadcast engineer, but his path continued, and when computers became more a part of this world, he started learning about photography and how computers interact with images.

“I was in the right place at the right moment,” he says. “I was lucky enough to be working with color timers who helped train me and my eye to the color, the image, the feeling and the world they were trying to create. So I was technical first and artistic second and that creates a unique blend.”

And the power of color? Volpatto says, “It’s kind of like when in the 1800s impressionists took over the world of painting; it’s the same now with the colorists. They can create a look that was impossible in-camera, and colorists can now give life to what the camera captured and every shade in between. I’m more on the naturalistic side, but it’s difficult because you have to be able to create what the client wants, but do it in a way that doesn’t step on their photography.”

We were lucky enough to get some quality time with Volpatto — we asked him about his recent high-profile color work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, how he got started as a colorist and more…