Photo by: Laura Avellaneda-Cruz

Oscar is an Alaskan based visual story teller who loves to meet interesting people.

As a first generation immigrant from Colombia to Alaska, Oscar’s photography career began at the age of five with a Polaroid camera and the desire to start his own newspaper. After graduating high school in 2002, Oscar relocated to southern California to study the craft of production lighting as an intern for Ken Hansen of Hansen Photo. Realizing his potential, Oscar returned to Alaska and began freelancing in 2004 with the start of his company Avé Photo. In 2008, Oscar began a profound metamorphosis while working as an office manager/ assistant to Clark James Mishler. Through out his time with Clark Mishler, Oscar refined his skills and started to explore how his talent could benefit the communities that he belonged to.

Oscar’s images are used in commercial and editorial publications, and have won awards including the 2009 Alaska Press Club Award for his portrait of Willie Hensley. Oscar has just completed a journey through the Americas via bicycle, and is currently in the process of publishing a book from his adventures. Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz is one of the founding members and contributor to the Orion Collective.