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BIO

Full Name: Albert L. Ortega
Birthday: February 26 (Pisces)
Birthplace: Culver City, CA.
Height: 5’9
Eyes: brown
Weight: 250
Status: married to Maya since 1986
ETC: 2 children, Christina (20 yrs) Kyle (12 yrs)
Hobbies: Art, comic book collecting, toy collecting, Science Fiction, films, music

 The eldest of 3 children Richard and Isabel and the son of Albert Sr. a dry cleaning repairman and Lupe a homemaker; grew up in middleclass West Los Angeles. Attended Westwood Elementary and transferred to Catholic School St. Sebastin, Aspired to become an artist as early as grammar school, when first introduced to the medium by neighbor Meredith Cutts the son of a Motion Picture Director John Cutts (SHERLOCK HOLMES IN NEW YORK).

 Enrolled in Saint Monica’s High School where he worked as a cartoonist on the school newspaper he was appointed photo editor of the yearbook in his senior year. His editor Maya Marie Acuna became his spouse after high school and their prom. They wed after graduation and had their daughter Christina Ashley Ortega at UCLA Medical Center.

 Further education took place at Santa Monica College with a major in Child Psychology and a minor in art. As a side hobby photography took the form of the local music scene in which he captured images of the Heavy Metal scene as well as newly signed Geffen band Little Caesar. Photos began to appear in the pages of RIP magazine, feeling lost working 9 to 5 at a Beverly Hills Dry Cleaners he took the plunge in 1989 as a full time celebrity photographer.

 Al cut his teeth on the celebrity circuit covering events, restaurants, nightclubs for Michelson Photo. Once established he went to work for veteran Paparazzo Ron Galella, famous for his Jackie-O images. Under his tutelage he went on to become a regular at Hollywood events with publication in some of the world’s largest publications like People, US, USA Today, Cosmo, Vanity Fair, The New York Daily News and Life.

 After 5 years wanting to switch gears he joined the prestigious Celebrity Photo Agency in Los Angeles covering a variety of events while stretching his wings to begin the foundation to eventually branch out and work for himself in his favorite genre.

In between shoots Albert kept in touch with his "fanboy" self getting the opportunity to meet childhood heroes like Stan Lee and George Perez. It was while on the set of a video shoot in Van Nuys, CA. that Albert met a then aspiring magazine publisher Gareb S. Shamus. The two spoke for their affinity of comic books and from there sprung a working relationship that would take Albert from San Diego to Chicago and Philadelphia to cover conventions for the widely popular Wizard Magazine. But it was during that video shoot where Albert met a then rising star Todd McFarlane popular for his stint on Spider-Man that he showed off a then new idea for a comic hero, Spawn and which later became the birth of Image Comics. From here on end Stan "The Man" Lee lamented that Albert was his own personal Paparazzi! Albert still makes what he calls his pilgrimage to San Diego every year!

It was during this time that Albert met Mark A. Altman, the editor and chief of a new Science Fiction magazine entitled Sci-Fi Universe published by Larry Flynt. It was at the first annual Universe Awards held at the Universal Hilton Hotel with the sheer amount of Sci-Fi talent that compelled Albert to attend. While covering this prestigious event Albert notice that the official photographer was missing key photo ops and the like; he had been accustomed to shooting all the known Sci-Fi actors over the years so he knew his way around. After that evening he presented his card to editor Andrew Ashe and called it a night. Pleased with his shoot Albert answered a frantic call from Altman claiming that his photographer's shots had not come out and he was desperate for photos. Albert agreed to bail him out as a favor and once upon seeing his work Altman asked him to come aboard as staff photographer.

Albert went on to shoot a cover for Sci-Fi Universe, original art pieces for the magazines and to cover the broad spectrum of Science Fiction complete with set visits and convention coverage. When the magazine was sold off Mark Altman employed Albert as the unit photographer for his film FREE ENTERPRISE. The independent feature starred STAR TREK Captain Kirk himself William Shatner and a then unknown Eric McCormack of WILL AND GRACE. After the film's release opening to critical acclaim it went on to receive several prizes including the AFI Award. Albert later did a day of shooting for the superhero comedy THE SPECIALS with Rob Lowe.

With the rise of the internet film maker Dean Devlin (Independence Day)  was looking for a portal and content to be provided by the best in the medium. Thus eon was born with Mark A. Altman was on board as advisor and Editor Emeritus, Anthony C. Ferrante was the driving force as Editor-in-Chief and Albert was appointed Photo Editor with his biting humor in all his captions. Jeff Bond served as Executive Editor and a myriad of freelancers including Christopher Alan Smith, Arnold Blumberg, Abbie Bernstein, Scott Corolla, Catharine and M. Steven Felty, Eric Moro and others filled in the gaps. Eon was a success, the hits went through the roof with no advertising as the editors promoted the site on their off time and in a grass roots campaign. Eon returned a second year and a third year under the new moniker Mothership.com. In a new joint merger; Dean Devlin's Centropolis Entertainment , joined forces with the Sci-Fi Channel and USA Networks.

Al went on to work with international photo agency SIPA Press as the Los Angeles correspondent for 3 years to eventually land at Wireimage.com where he currently provides material as a contributor. His current clients include SCI-FI Magazine, Titan Magazines, Selecta, Ez-Entertainment. In addition to that  he serves as the photo editor to CFQ Media’s Femme Fatales and Cinefantastique.

My wife Maya gave this card with my name's meaning and I think it totally applies to my personality.

 "Albert"

His fine personality reflects his inner self,
and he is gentle as a lamb.

Keenly intelligent and discerningly
witty, he is a staunch man whose
loyalty is unswerving.

He is quite humble, and his positive
energy allows him to get through his
heavy work load.

It is easy to forgive his intransigence.

An introvert by nature, he shies away
from the harsh realities of life, talking
refuge in the cozy warmth of his imagination.

And there he dwells on private
thought that he reveals only to his
intimate friends.

His beloved can rely completely on
his steadfastness...