A Note: Website Redesign
When I first started meeting with my mentor, Bill Bamberger, back in September, my portfolio read like a resume. It was divided into the places I had traveled to and the projects I had completed. My body of work was organized in this way because I wanted to prove to my family, my peers, my future employers, and anyone really, that I could do it all. At the end of the day, it was a just collection of images that were fragmented into different sections and only loosely came together.
Refining my body of work over the past few months has been a taxing, laborious, cathartic, and profoundly moving process. It is never easy to let go of photographs for my collections but in doing so, I have been able to find myself once again through my art.
My portfolio is now a true encapsulation of my lived experiences.
In “Body of Water,” I reflect on my beginnings as a photographer. I come from a family of so-called water people who dream about what extends beyond the horizon and under the sea. Creating and finding those fantastical worlds has always been my greatest aspiration.
From there, we enter “Sense of Place.” At UNC-Chapel Hill, I have been able to go well beyond any horizon I had ever conceived of in my childhood thanks to the Morehead-Cain Foundation. From the peaks of the North Talkeetna mountains in Alaska, to the broad beaches in Cape Town, to the bazaars in Jaipur and New Delhi, the past three and a half years have been nothing short of a dream. In this gallery, I revisit the experiences that helped me better understand who I am and who I hope to become.
In “Coming of Age,” I arrive at the present. I have always been afraid of growing up, but I am beginning to realize that there is some beauty in it. In this collection, I look back on all the changes that have happened in my life – the movement, the contrasts, the growth, the freedom, all of it. These fleeting moments and this wild adventure are worthy of celebration.
Finally, in “People,” I pay my respects to the individuals I have met along the way. I never intended on becoming a portrait photographer, but this journey has shown me that people make each lived experience more vibrant.
I have always said that my work is intimate and vulnerable. And for the first time, I can say that my portfolio shares my truth with others.
Beyond curating my collections through a storytelling lens, I have gathered my commercial work into its own gallery, revised all of my written work, strengthened my personal statement, and transitioned my video work from YouTube to Vimeo.
I’ve spent much of my young adult life dreaming about what could be. This year, I have to begin the process of acting on those dreams, giving them a new life, and pursuing them more fervently than ever before. I believe that reconfiguring and redesigning my portfolio is the first step in that process.
I am always grateful for the opportunity to keep growing and learning, so thank you for giving me the space and time to do so.
Big love,
Rodrigo Bustamante
Thank you to anyone that has paid me for my work, asked for a print, shared a post of mine – you have given me the platform and resources to keep going.
Special thank you to my advisor Julie DeVoe for believing in me since day one when I honestly did not believe in myself. To Bill Bamberger for taking me under his wing and teaching me more about art and photography than any class I have ever taken. To my mentors at Patagonia and Sonos – namely, Rachel and Amit, respectively – for helping me find my voice within a corporate setting and allowing me to explore the bounds of my creativity. To all of my collaborators over the years for bringing my wild ideas to life. To my Vintage Blue team for entrusting me with the creative direction of our brand, it has been the greatest experience of my life to develop this platform with y’all.
Thank you to my parents, brothers, and extended family for trusting in me and supporting me through it all… I love you all more than I could ever properly express.
And finally, thank you a thousand times over to my dearest friends at UNC, in Miami, and all those I have met along the way. To Anshu, Ashley, AT, Bailey, Ben, Brenda, Buxton, Cachine, Carly, Caroline C., Chandler, Clare, Drew, Griffin, Hannah, Helen, Helena, Isa, Jessi, JJ, Kenny, Lizzie, Logan, Luke H., Maxwell, Miles, Miller, Nisarg, Olivia, Pavani, Rabina, Raheem, Rishika, Schuyler, Scott, Shawen, Smitty, Spence, Tori, Tyler, and SO many more special people – this life and my work would be far less colorful without you in it! So much love for y’all.