josé

José grew up in Cuba. He remembers little moments from school like playing baseball with bottle corks and broom sticks. José’s family moved to the states when he was young: “It was a trial by fire kind of thing, adjusting to life in the US.” José first became interested in photography after playing with his parents’ polaroid camera. Later his mother gifted him an SLR camera and he started photographing random things like rail road tracks – whatever caught the eye. His shooting career began with a job for the year book at Cornell University. “I could basically photograph anything I wanted to.” Photography gave him access to all sorts of events and sports games. Then came a mix of a master’s degree in photojournalism in Missouri, cross country road trips, and four years at the Miami Herald. José’s first big magazine assignments brought him deep inside the life of Cuban and Haitian communities in Miami-Dade county. From there José went on to shoot assignments for top publications like Time, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Life.

I first got to know José as the cool photographer dad of a friend from high school. I was just getting interested in the idea of becoming a professional photographer and so I requested to talk with José to ask him what doing so would require. José looked straight at me and calmly advised me to consider being a neurosurgeon instead. Later when I was looking for a summer internship, he put me in touch with the operations director of a production company he co-founded. This internship was my first professional stepping stone into the world of media making and I am hugely grateful for it.

José steps out of his workshop and waves me over. He shows me what he’s been working on and we talk while José keeps on cutting and measuring, pausing occasionally to move his hands to the rhythm of his speech. José enjoys building benches and other functional pieces using primarily wood that he finds or was someone else’s scrap. In addition to wood working, José writes short stories, is an avid tennis player, and enjoys painting. Further hobbies include fishing, gardening, and splitting logs.

www.joseazel.com

[77] July 28, 2021