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"I think our individual collection of imperfections is what makes us beautiful." photographer Ricardo Muniz tells our Edward Carl
NEVER PRETENDED I'm Puerto Rican. Although I was born on the US mainland, despite the assertion of "native" Puerto Ricans born on the island, I still proclaim and claim my Puerto Rican heritage. Puerto Ricans are US citizens no matter where we are born—island or mainland. There was never a time I pretended to be anything else.
FOCUS ON LATIN CULTURE I've been supporting my Puerto Rican and Latino communities for the past twenty years as an educator, a social worker, a mentor, and, now, as an artist. Equity, parity and justice have been my goals for my people. This is why my work focuses on the beauty, diversity and integrity of Latino culture. This is also why I am based in New York: New York is the cultural capital of the world.
BEAUTIFUL IMPERFECTIONS Um, I don't try getting a "perfect" picture. I think our individual collection of imperfections is what makes us beautiful. This is why I don't use flash or special lighting or heavy editing in Photoshop—Mother Nature does a pretty good job. Who am I to say otherwise?
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BY CHANCE Actually, I fell into photography by chance. It seems that every five to nine years I change careers. I was working as a puppeteer when I bought my first camera. My first joint puppetry/photography exhibit was in 2002. Although the audience liked my puppet sculptures, they loved the photographic images. So, I decided to concentrate on the photography beginning in 2005.
SIMPLE STYLE As for style, I try to keep it simple. I want the natural beauty of the subject to shine through without fillers, filters, makeup, heavy editing or special lighting. I shoot nearly 99% of my subjects in the lighting available at that particular moment in time. I want the audience to see and experience the beauty exactly the way I did at that specific moment.
BACKSTAGE MOMENTS Nearly all of my shoots have been a comedy show—from wardrobe malfunctions to sudden thunderstorms to equipment failures to lost models roaming the streets to rambunctious crowds gathering to watch the "free" show to accident-prone models to police activity to certain body parts making an appearance in a shot when not invited to language communication mishaps. The good thing is that models and participants always laugh.
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SEEING THE WORLD There's been no change since I started working in my community way back when. People are people no matter who they are, what they believe, where they come from, what they look like or what they do in the privacy of their homes. The camera just helps me get this across in different ways.
EXCITING PROJECTS I do have exciting projects coming up with Bello Mag, San Juan Brothers, Mad Skills Magazine, UMM, and Vizeau. I have two charity fundraising projects going on: Escándalo swimwear available at www.wettackleaustralia.com and the soon-to-be-released "Men of Escándalo 2009 Calendar."
PROCEEDS TO LATINO YOUTH Proceeds from the sale of these items will be donated to agencies and groups working with GLBT Latino youth in New York City. I'm also working on my next art photo exhibit, Colores carnales, a provocative photo exhibit of my body art.
Info contact: Ricardo Muñiz
http://ricardomuniz.solomodels.com
www.myspace.com/coquichuloimages
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