Photo Journal Monday: Carlos Jaramillo
Woman sleeping in the parking lot as her husband fish on the sound © Carlos Jaramillo
Text and Images by Carlos Jaramillo
The series Roc was created during the beginning of quarantine in early 2020 while living in Rockaway Beach, a small peninsula on the edge of New York City. It’s a unique neighborhood and a popular summer beach destination. The series budded unexpectedly after a two-year creative slump, stemming originally from my cancer diagnosis, followed by the pandemic.
Water cup and fish © Carlos Jaramillo
Everything felt so dark and hazy, and picking up a camera for the first time again allowed me to reflect those qualities through these black-and-white photographs. It felt reminiscent of my early years shooting film and was the beginning of me creating photos again that I liked and in a way, it was a way of starting over.
Man walking around Rockaway Beach neighborhood with his birds © Carlos Jaramillo
Being bilingual, and in ESL and speech therapy for most of my childhood, photography has always been a medium that allowed me to express emotions and thoughts that I otherwise do not always have the skills to communicate complexly. I wanted to portray these emotions, and this series became more of a personal catalogue on Rockaway and my feelings during that time of healing creatively.
4th of July at Rockaway Beach © Carlos Jaramillo
Family eating lunch and feeding the seagulls on the beach © Carlos Jaramillo
