On the Level: Master Photographer Ruben Dario Cruz by Erica Wright
Tamron shooter and macro photography specialist Ruben Dario Cruz offers tips on how to improve your macro photography in the field
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| On the Level: Master Photographer Ruben Dario Cruz by Erica Wright Article rating: 7.70 |
Click here to read Ruben's Ten Tips on Improving Your Macro Photography in the Field
In her influential book On Photography, Susan Sontag claims that "photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire." But what if you take away the element of miniaturization? What if, for example, the photographs are life-size? Then you have macro photography, Ruben Dario Cruz's specialty. I'm not talking about cardboard cutouts of celebrities, but rather, photographs that look at things their own size. Insects, flowers, human eyes. The result is to enter a world of overlooked detail. It is this other-worldliness that first attracted Cruz.
In my recent interview with him, Cruz described being "drawn to seeing a whole other world on such a tiny level." This pull toward macro photography took place about five years ago, more than a dozen years after Cruz began his photography career. At that time, he was pursuing his fine arts degree at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury. His undergraduate education led right into a graduate degree from the same school, during which he worked as a lab assistant, studio assistant, and adjunct instructor. Despite the lack of health insurance, Cruz recalls this triple duty as valuable part of his education.
Cruz's enthusiasm for learning is obvious. He keeps a list of things he does not know on his desk and steadily checks them off. Despite the systematic nature of such a pursuit, the result is all excitement. When I asked him about challenges, Cruz didn't miss a beat: "I think that's part of the fun."
Cruz's enthusiasm extends to teaching as well as learning. At heart, Cruz is a generous photographer, wanting to share the knowledge he's acquired, to get others to look at the tiny vistas in their backyards. He leads workshops and just returned from Wyoming where he was teaching a hands-on macro class. Even his current position with Tamron is linked with learning; Cruz handles the school market as well as territory sales in Texas.
Cruz reminded me that everything grows bigger in Texas. How appropriate, then, that he should turn his lens toward June beetles and blue damselflies. Overgrown, perhaps, but still often unnoticed in such big country. Each of Cruz's images does indeed capture Sontag's so-called piece of the world and by capturing it, even at life-size, makes it larger.