Through Rick Rocamora’s Lens: A Story of Art, Advocacy, and Social Justice
By Juliana Parente
parente.juliana@gmail.com
Learning a new skill often leads artists to seek inspiration from well-established partners. For any aspiring documentary photographer, words of encouragement from the legendary African American photographer Gordon Parks would be a dream come true. “I met Gordon Parks in Washington D.C. and showed him some of my photos. He said they were good and encouraged me to continue,” recalled Filipino award-winning photographer Rick Rocamora.
That encounter was a turning point. At the time, photography was only a hobby to Rocamora – something he dabbled with using a single-lens reflex (SLR) a friend had given him. But from that moment, a life seen and experienced through the lens of a camera started to take shape.
The choice required boldness. Rocamora would eventually leave behind a six-figure annual income, business-class trips, and many perks of his successful career as a salesman in the pharmaceutical industry. His body of work now focuses on marginalized communities, covering topics such as homelessness, mass incarceration, and the injustices faced by immigrants. “My eyes are drawn to situations burdened with stigma. I like the idea of creating a visual story around issues people talk about but don’t want to see,” said Rocamora, who has been dedicating his career to documenting civil rights and social justice across the globe.
His talent for capturing marginalized individuals and exposing discrimination caught the attention of Sandra S. Phillips, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art curator (now curator emerita). In 2013, she selected two of his photographs from a project featuring World War II veterans for the museum’s permanent collection. Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston – and yes, Gordon Parks! – are among the prominent photographers whose work is also featured there.
Rick Rocamora reviews one of his many books, Oakland. Calif., Aug. 16, 2024. Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman
“Rick puts photos in front of us and demands change. I believe the images he captured in Philippine prisons contributed to saving lives, especially when we consider the risks of agglomerations during the COVID pandemic years later,” said Kim Komenich, a photographer and professor of photojournalism at San Francisco State University. The two first met at a protest outside the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, where Komenich was covering the event for The Examiner. Rocamora approached him to say hello, sparking a connection of over 30 years.
When you meet Rocamora, there’s an immediate sense of closeness. That’s no accident but a result of his self-taught photography techniques. As a personal choice, lately kept as a professional signature, he stays physically close to his subjects to capture their emotions as authentically as possible. He creates a setup for this: Rocamora doesn’t use zoom, and his longest lens is 60mm – ideal for close-range situations like portraits. He often snaps photos with his camera hanging from his chest, keeping his fingers busy while making direct eye contact with his subjects.
Following Gordon Parks’ footsteps
Parks used to say his camera was a weapon against social wrongs, and Rocamora continues that legacy, adding the power of personal connections to his own fight. A contact referred him to the Supreme Court in the Philippines when the country’s Justices started looking for photographers to document overcrowded detention centers to push for reform.
Another connection helped secure the necessary logistics. “We attended the same university in Manilla and are part of an online group for alumni,” said Abdiel Fajardo, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, when asked to mobilize resources for Rockamora’s project. “Through that group, Manong (a respectful Tagalog term for an elder brother) sent me a message explaining the project and asking if I could help with logistics and the finances, as it was a pro-bono assignment.”
A book by Rick Rocamora, “America’s Second-Class Veterans.” Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman
The results of this six-year project can be seen in the exhibition Bursting at the Seams, currently on display at City College until December, and in the book Human Wrongs, published in 2018.
Rick Rocamora is now working on two new projects: one on divorce in the Philippines – a country where the dissolution of marriage is not legally recognized – and another on the contributions of immigrants to the development of the United States. “He’s very good with people; he likes to spend time with them, and they feel at ease around him. This helps create the intimacy we see in his photos,” said Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School and author of the foreword to Human Wrongs.
Parks was also a pianist, and Rocamora enjoys playing the percussion. Parks once motivated donations to help a young Brazilian boy and his family buy a home after photographing their life in a slum. Similarly, Rocamora photographed a homeless girl studying on the streets of the Philippines, and an anonymous benefactor, moved by the image, fully paid for her college tuition. After meeting Parks, Rocamora, then a salesman, knew instantly that his life would never be the same. Some encounters can change a life; a few can change many.