Guest Speaker: Bay Area Documentary Photo Legend Rick Rocamora

Rick turned 76 this year and he has been supporting photojournalism and documentary education in the Bay Area since 1988.

Rick will present his work at 12:30 in HUM 307 as part of the Photojournalism Sequence’s “Lunch with a Pro” series. All students from our department as well as students from campus AAPI groups are invited. 

At 2:00 Rick will meet with the J435 Capstone Photojournalism class in HUM 374 to discuss the buts and bolts of documentary photography and long-term photojournalism projects. If you are not a student in J435, please email Kim Komenich komenich@sfsu.edu to reserve a seat. 

Rick’s 2008 work “America’s Second-Class Veterans” was exhibited at the U.S. Capitol and was instrumental in Rep. Bob Filner’s campaign for the repeal of the provision of the 1946 Recission Act that gave only 50% of veterans benefits to Filipino soldiers who fought alongside U.S. soldiers and Marines in World War II. In order to receive their benefits, the aging veterans had to move from the Philippines to America. Rick’s photos showed how sometimes six or eight veterans would share a tiny room in a Tenderloin hotel, living off of soup kitchens, so that they could send their benefit checks home to their families in the Philippines. Rick's photos were instrumental in the repeal of the law.

Rick’s project “Human Wrongs” shows the impact of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs had on the Philippine prison system. As many as 120 prisoners were housed in cells made for 20 and hundreds of prisoners died from tuberculosis, heart disease and jail violence due to overcrowding.

Please join us this Thursday to welcome Rick to SFSU!

This event will count toward the Journalism Event requirement. Please sign in through the QR code posted in the room and notify your journalism professors that you attended.