Born and raised East of East LA, the eldest son of Sabino and Ophelia Patiño, the self-taught photographer and artist learned his craft by trial and error; burning lots of images on film and reading all he could while trying to find himself artistically in the early 1980s. Originally attending college to be a graphic artist.
he was led “astray” by the magic of photography. Surprisingly, this man wasn’t always a people-person, but luckily the camera was able to give him a “new voice” in the art of dealing with the various clients and models he has had the pleasure to work with over the years. Way back in the summer of ’91 he had the distinct pleasure of meeting “the old guy with the pink hat,” mister Dick Deloach, the technical editor at Lowrider Magazine. It was during a show at Cantwell High School when Dick approached Marco and asked him if he’d be interested in doing some freelance work for LRM. Of course Marco said “yes” and went to meet with then publisher/owner of Lowrider Magazine Alberto Lopez. With no formal portfolio, just a handful of 4×6-inch glossy photos, Marco had that fateful meeting with both Dick and Alberto one Tuesday afternoon. Marco had known about both Dick’s technical writings and had met “Al” at a few of the local events but never thought he’d be working for the man in just a few short weeks. At first he was given assignments such as local car shows and a feature or two before deciding to leave his regular job as an auto parts counterman for Nissan. Encouraged by his former co-workers, Marco dove in camera first into the world of spectacular cars and people behind them and is very grateful to señor Lopez for taking a chance on him.
He continues to learn from his peers, young and old and is currently working on Lowrider Today with friends from his magazine days that will feature his work with film over the years.
“Working both in film and digital gives me the best of both worlds; (shooting) film is like a tradition to me, like driving an old Chevy down the boulevard on those occasions when the cruising bug bites hard. I have old cameras I still use and enjoy the ritual burning a roll or 10 on whatever sparks my interest.
