He discovered photography through skateboarding and traveling. He started shooting seriously in 2006 and created a photo blog called Lovebryan to share his work and that of his friends. Through Lovebryan he garnered some attention and began landing photojournalism assignments for newspapers. After a few years of building his skillset and developing his visual style, he was followed opportunities to shoot for brands triggering a transition into commercial work, while still maintaining a presence in the editorial world. Some of his editorial clients include New York Times, WIRED, The FADER, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek, and his commercial clients include J. Crew, Levi’s, Uber, Nike, and Palladium Boots. Derballa was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 emerging photographers of 2014.