Cassandra Giraldo is an award-winning photojournalist and documentary cinematographer based between Los Angeles and New York City. She was previously a staff producer and cinematographer on VICE News Tonight on HBO from 2016-2020 where she continues to contribute as a freelancer.
During her four years at Vice News Tonight, Cassandra traveled across the U.S. and Latin America shooting and producing both short and long-form documentary news stories relating to juvenile justice, mental health, immigration, and just about every major news event in between. Her most notable long-form work at Vice News Tonight included "World of Hurt," an ongoing series that highlighted communities impacted by the opioid epidemic, and a 25-minute special report "Committed: Kids & the Mental Health Crisis" which she reported, produced and shot additional camera on over the course of a year.
In 2021, her coverage of the civil unrest in Chile was nominated for a News and Doc Emmy for Outstanding Feature Story in Spanish. She was among a team of cinematographers recognized with an Emmy award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast as part of the newsroom's extensive team coverage of the George Floyd protests across the U.S.
Cassandra began her career as a photojournalist, cutting her teeth as a newspaper photographer, and becoming a regular contributor at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times where she covered local and national stories. Various photography organizations including Getty Images, Instagram, NPPA, American Photography, and the Eddie Adams Workshop have recognized her photography.
She still takes on regular photo assignment work for a diverse range of editorial and commercial clients including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR, ESPN, The Marshall Project, Reveal, Nike, Wieden+Kennedy, Rivian, and Patagonia. Presently, Cassandra is focusing on her cinematography work as director of photography, DP-ing, and camera operating on various documentary productions. She excels in intimate character-driven story-telling and vérité shooting. Her documentary production skills are guided by a camera in hand and are informed by her background as a photojournalist which allows her to put people at ease and to problem solve under various contexts.
Cassandra is a graduate of the ICP's Photojournalism and Documentary Program (2012) and holds a Master of Science degree from Columbia Journalism School's Stabile program for investigative journalism (2017). She speaks Spanish and French and is a proud member of both Women Photograph and the Documentary Cinematographer's Alliance. She's also trained in battlefield first-aid after two hostile environment training sessions for journalists and has an FAA Part 107 drone certification. Cassandra is available for projects worldwide and is always available for a friendly coffee to discuss future collaborations - non-fiction, narrative, artistic, journalistic... I'm down to capture it all!
Get in touch: cassandrarian.giraldo@gmail.com
During her four years at Vice News Tonight, Cassandra traveled across the U.S. and Latin America shooting and producing both short and long-form documentary news stories relating to juvenile justice, mental health, immigration, and just about every major news event in between. Her most notable long-form work at Vice News Tonight included "World of Hurt," an ongoing series that highlighted communities impacted by the opioid epidemic, and a 25-minute special report "Committed: Kids & the Mental Health Crisis" which she reported, produced and shot additional camera on over the course of a year.
In 2021, her coverage of the civil unrest in Chile was nominated for a News and Doc Emmy for Outstanding Feature Story in Spanish. She was among a team of cinematographers recognized with an Emmy award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast as part of the newsroom's extensive team coverage of the George Floyd protests across the U.S.
Cassandra began her career as a photojournalist, cutting her teeth as a newspaper photographer, and becoming a regular contributor at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times where she covered local and national stories. Various photography organizations including Getty Images, Instagram, NPPA, American Photography, and the Eddie Adams Workshop have recognized her photography.
She still takes on regular photo assignment work for a diverse range of editorial and commercial clients including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR, ESPN, The Marshall Project, Reveal, Nike, Wieden+Kennedy, Rivian, and Patagonia. Presently, Cassandra is focusing on her cinematography work as director of photography, DP-ing, and camera operating on various documentary productions. She excels in intimate character-driven story-telling and vérité shooting. Her documentary production skills are guided by a camera in hand and are informed by her background as a photojournalist which allows her to put people at ease and to problem solve under various contexts.
Cassandra is a graduate of the ICP's Photojournalism and Documentary Program (2012) and holds a Master of Science degree from Columbia Journalism School's Stabile program for investigative journalism (2017). She speaks Spanish and French and is a proud member of both Women Photograph and the Documentary Cinematographer's Alliance. She's also trained in battlefield first-aid after two hostile environment training sessions for journalists and has an FAA Part 107 drone certification. Cassandra is available for projects worldwide and is always available for a friendly coffee to discuss future collaborations - non-fiction, narrative, artistic, journalistic... I'm down to capture it all!
Get in touch: cassandrarian.giraldo@gmail.com