Behind the Lens: Marc Montocchio & Ronnie Constantino
Born and raised on the east coast of South Africa, Marc grew up around the Indian Ocean. The warm sub-tropical waters played a big role in shaping who he would later become. After being certified as a scuba diver at 15, Marc served as a South African Navy clearance diver, then a multi-agency scuba instructor, traveling around the world on and under the water.
During the late 80s, while serving at the Navy Diving School as an assistant instructor, Marc found an old Nikonos camera system in the stores. After using Navy time, Navy cameras, Navy film and Navy darkrooms, a camera was never to leave his side, eventually becoming a full-time career choice in 1996.
After many years of editorial and commercial stills photography, Marc finally made the shift into moving images and commercial film production. Taking his decades of technical experience, Marc has been able to translate that unique perspective through the stills lens into telling stories for his clients with film.
He has embraced the technology around camera movement and image stabilization in the most difficult of situations, on water and in the air. As a camera operator, Marc is at home in a helicopter, driving his dynamic high-speed style, or underwater, managing the complexities that it brings to the set, as well as everywhere in between.
"The greatest lesson I learned over time behind the camera is relationships, with film crews and especially with the clients. Being part of their vision team and being able to explain what the gear can do for the look and feel of their product is the biggest asset I can bring to the table. I pride myself in being solution orientated and continually being able to surprise clients with new ideas and looks," says Marc.
Marc is also very much at home in the postproduction environment, shepherding the projects through edit, color grading, sound design, to final mix and master delivery, should that be needed by the client.
For almost a decade, Marc maintained a downtown gallery in his hometown of Morehead City.
Editorial and advertising credits include National Geographic, Marlin, Yachting, Power & Motor Yacht, Boating, Southern Boating, Sea, Yachting Art, Passage Maker, Outboard Magazine, Outside Traveler, Africa Geographic, BlueWater, Alert Diver, Tide, Out There, Guy Harvey Magazine, Voyages de Pêche, and many more.
Commercial clients include TUUCI, Ocean Alexander Yachts, Tiara Yachts, Pursuit Boats, Sunbrella, Restoration Hardware, Shearline Boatworks, Mark Willis Customs, Qurich Foods, Tombras Agency, and Basecamp Creative.
Written by Amy Gobel // Photography provided by Marc Montocchio
Ronnie Constantino grew up boating, water skiing, surfing, and fishing on the east coast of Florida, along the Indian River Lagoon. Ronnie's passion for photography, film processing, and printing started in the seventh grade. He began flying small planes and shooting aerial photography of powerboats running offshore from the Sebastian Inlet.
In 1984, Ronnie founded Atlantic Photo Tech., a custom photographic laboratory and graphic arts facility, supporting aerospace and defense, commercial business, and environmental agencies. As a graduate from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, his diverse work portfolio has sent him around the world to support customer missions and capture images. Ronnie has been working with Pursuit Boats since 1996. His photography and graphics expertise has supported hundreds of new model launches and customer conferences.
Written by Meaghan Lawrence // Photography provided by Ronnie Constantino