Albert Ortega Jr.

Born on February 26, 1967 at Broatman Medical Center in Culver City, CA. Albert grew up in the West side of Los Angeles to a home maker Lupe and an engineer Albert Sr. The eldest of 3 children Richard and Isabel, he attended grammar school at Westwood Elementary where he met his two best friends, Chris an African American boy from a modest home and Brent an Anglo child from privilege. The trio spent recess and lunch in the library sketching and talking of superheros. While most children spoke of becoming doctors and lawyers, Albert had a fantasy of moving to New York to draw comics books for Marvel Comics. As he grew older he met Meredith Cutts, the son of a film director and producer John Cutts who had shot the film "Sherlock Holmes In New York" and was exposed to films and the art of comic book collecting. During his early years he found a love for Science Fiction firmly cemented after the viewing of Star Wars. Although Star Trek was a regular Sunday Night staple for Albert and his father, he didn't become a real fan until the release of the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. During his High School years at Saint Monica's in Santa Monica he served as a cartoonist in the school newspaper and during his senior year he was appointed Photo Editor of the campus yearbook. While working at his father's dry cleaners, Starbrite he would work on layouts he would sneak home with. On days off he would cover sporting events normally ignored with his camera in hand and work on layouts others would sneer at like the underclassmen. It was during this time that he met his girlfriend and current wife Maya Acuna. They wed at after graduation and Maya gave birth to a daughter Christina Ashley Ortega. After High School Albert attended junior college at Santa Monica College majoring in Child Psychology with a minor in art. During this time the Heavy Metal movement was extremely popular and wife Maya was trying her hand at Rock photography, it was during a NAM (National Association of Music) after party in Anaheim that Albert was smitten with the notion of taking photos of the rich and famous. From there it was onto the concert halls of Los Angeles, fighting in the pits and taking snaps of the "hairbands". Making the rounds for then Guns N Roses upstarts Little Caesar baptized Albert into Rock magazines like RIP Magazine. But as the Heavy Metal movement began to subside it was time to find a new gig. Enter the Paparazzi scene! Hollywood memorabilia store owner David Elkouby (Starworld) was the boss of Maya and would give the couple tips of where to see the rich and famous for autographs. After staking out joints like Spagos on Sunset and nightclubs such as The China Club in Hollywood it was time to bring a camera, but how would Albert make money? Whilst Albert worked as a manager at a Beverly Hills dry cleaners he would spend the night taking pictures until in 1989 he officially signed on as a full time Hollywood photographer with the Michelson Photo Agency. As time went on he would catch the eye of veteran Paparazzo Ron Galella (famous Jackie-O photos) who took him into his organization and brought him to the attention of some of the largest magazines like People, US, USA Today, Life, Cosmo, Vanity Fair, etc. He learned all the tricks of the trade, staking out hotspots, nightly Madonna chases, covering Hollywood premieres and award shows. After several years in the limelight it was time for a change to Celebrity Photo Agency in Los Angeles with veteran photographers sharing the workload. 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 of their affinity for 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 in 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 smut king 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. The time was right to begin a career as a freelancer, owning one's own images and creating a new avenue for people to view them! 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. After Free Enterprise former Sci-Fi Universe contributor Anthony C. Ferrante sold the idea of putting a weekly web magazine to film maker Dean Devlin. It was going to be called Eon and it was going to carry the spice and excitement that once belonged to the original Sci-Fi Universe. So then who to lead the team? Mark A. Altman was on board as advisor and Editor Emeritus, Anthony 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. Original and twisted adventures were created from the film making mind of Ferrante including the funny and sometimes disturbing Deep Space Nina advice column. From there the Christmas strip Hispana Claus and Gringo haunted the internet and the readers loved it! The fans shared their affection at the first appearance of eon at the San Diego Comic Con. The panel was a standing room only event moderated by Editor Emeritus Mark A. Altman. 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 (responsible for the blockbusters Stargate, ID4, Godzilla and The Patriot) joined forces with the Sci-Fi Channel and USA Networks in the Summer of 2000. The Centropolis Interactive Dept and eon editors Anthony and Albert were flown to New York to meet with Sci-Fi Channel executives complete with a trade shot orchestrated with Dean Devlin and USA Networks chief Barry Diller, the money men! The previous night a party was held with guests of honor Centropolis Entertainment at some swanky, trendy club. Editor in chief Anthony C. Ferrante also returned to his filmmaking roots releasing the Star Wars/MTV Real World spoof The Surreal World: Tatooine Episode 1.5 making its debut at The San Diego Comic-Con to a packed crowd that welcomed the comedy short with thunderous applause. Not only did Albert Ortega serve as unit photographer but he also had a cameo as a Vulcan along with writer Eric Moro as the two Starfleet recruiters. The short can currently been seen at www.countingdown.com in the Theatre section. He also worked on the internet series Dark Commandos that can be seen at www.darkcommandos.com. Since then Mothership has been terminated after a slew of other websites shared its fate and Albert has parted ways with his photo agency of 3 years, Sipa Press in Paris, and is currently freelancing for his former mentor Ron Galella and internet service www.wireimage.com, where some of his material can be viewed. He also keeps the U.S. office of Dreamwatch Magazine and contributes to the genre magazine Fangoria, The Official Buffy and X-Files magazines as well as Titan Books and the website Netbroadcaster.com. His work has also graced the site of Hollywood.com and AnchorBay.com. He is also a frequent contributor to Hispanic periodicals such as People En Espanol, Cinemania, Selecta, Christina, Latina and Estylo. Albert is also the featured photojournalist for the new entertainment site - "Entertainment Zone", covering major Hollywood events, primarily Red Carpet Premieres. Albert finally takes a moment to reflect in which he shares that he would one day like to open his own agency entitled Image Consordium Inc., finish a script, work on another film and just "relax". He also hope to get his degree and take more classes and once again pick up his pad and pencil...