| BIOGRAPHY
OF RON SOLIMAN, PHOTOJOURNALIST
Through his everyday experiences, photojournalist
Ron Soliman can¹t help but look at life through
a camera lens his preferred choice of visual presentation.
His lens seeks a story in everything he shoots,
from a simpleblooming flower to a compelling, tension-filled
revolution and his eye for
detail is only matched by the compassion in his
heart.
Ron is a Washington state-based photojournalist
specializing in documentary photography. His major
projects include photo-documentary of the Chiapas
Refugees, the Holy Week in the Philippines, The
rise in power of Philippine President Joseph Estrada,
The plight of the Aetas in Mt. Pinatubo, Sikhism
in Hollywood, and Hsi Lai Buddhist Monks, and many
more.
Ron is presently the photo editor at
The Olympian, a Gannet newspaper in Olympia, Washington.
Before moving back to the states in 2003, Ron spent three
years in the island of Guam working as the Photo Editor at the
Pacific Daily News.
Born in Angeles City, Philippines in
June 1972, Ron took photography very seriously at
a young age. He was often seen carrying a small
camera, a gift from his mother, everywhere he went.
He was a teenager when he took his first photojournalistic
photograph of the Philippine President Cory Aquino.
Ron was educated by the Salesians of
Don Bosco from high school to College.
After completing some college at Don Bosco Seminary
College in Canlubang, Philippines, he migrated to
southern California. Soliman arrived with the intention
of continuing his education of becoming a priest.
He was in a seminary, but left when another calling
came — the call of the camera. Ron shifted
gears from pursuing a religious vocation into doing
documentary photography. He believes that through
his photographs he can serve God by using his talents
as a visual communicator.
Ron enrolled to California State University-Fullerton
and majored in Communications where he emphasized
in Photojournalism. As a dedicated photojournalism
student, he always finds his ways to work on projects
that amazed his professors. One of his most memorable
projects was his excursion to the southeastern part
of Mexico, where he documneted the social struggles
of refugees in Chiapas.
It was December 1997, when he and a
photographer friend saw on the news the massacre
of indigenous women and children by paramilitary
groups in the small village of Acteal in the state
of Chiapas. Many had believed the Priista paramilitary
group was secretly supported by the government to
help take land away from these indigenous people.
Residents from nearby villages were fleeing out
of fear of the Priistas, who accused many of sympathizing
with the Zapatista rebel group. At their own expense,
the two obtained journalist visas, flew to Tijuana,
Mexico then on to Chiapas. There, they visited two
of the biggest refugee camps, Pohlo and La Realidad.
Everywhere they travel in the region they hassled
by armed soldiers.
For three weeks the pair stayed at
the two camps. Ron saw up close how horrible the
situation was. He witness how these people suffered
the lack of food and bad sanitation. Ron held his
camera up to them to record their plight. He strongly
believed that other people had to know about such
an injustice. It was Ron¹s only way to help.
Ron graduated from California State
University-Fullerton in June 1998. He interned for
the San Gabriel Valley Tribune¹s community
newspapers and the Orange County Register Community
News in California. While shooting for these small
community newspapers, Ron has developed a unique
style in
newspaper photography, a style that has become easily
recognizable. Photographers from big metro papers
in the L.A. area became his inspiration, including
his mentor Mark Boster of the Los Angeles Times.
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Ron was so passionate about his
career as a photojournalist that as a newly graduate,
he wrote a letter to the Vice president of the Philippines
in 1998 to request his permission to document his
campaign for presidency. Weeks later, a response
arrived in his mailbox from the office of the vice
president allowing him to come and document his campaign.
This resulted in an exciting experience for a rookie
photojournalist like Ron to get a close encounter
with a major international event.
This led to Ron¹s first professional job as
a photojournalist when he was hired by the Los Angeles
Times Community Newspapers as a staff photographer.
Ron covered the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles
and South Orange County. A year later he was offered
a job at the Desert Sun Newspapers, a Gannett paper
in Palm Springs, CA.
Ron made a positive,
immediate impact on the Sun¹s photo department.
He organized an in-house photography contest as
a motivating tool to the department, to encourage
everyone to be more creative and competitive in
story-telling through pictures. That is what drove
his supervisor to promote
him to assistant photo editor.
Ron also got to flex
his skills as a photographer when he shot such events
at an Oscars after-party at Spago¹s in Beverly
Hills, and a celebrity golf tourney where Celine
Dion was the star attraction. He¹s also photographed
Philippine celebs Martin Nieverra, Jessa Zaragoza,
Rudy Fernandez and Lorna Tolentino, Vina Morales,
The Hunks and more. Ron won¹t trade his job
for anything else. He loves the mix of adrenaline
rushing while photographing breaking news, and the
fun when he is on the scene at red carpet parties
where gorgeous celebrities are smiling at his camera.
The opportunity to move to Guam presented itself
in the year 2000, and Ron jumped on it. He liked
the fact that there was a big Filipino population
on Guam, and that it is only a three-hour flight
away to Manila. Ron is always up for an adventure
and his moving to Guam was a big adventure in his
life.
In October 2000 he was hired as the Pacific Daily
News¹ Photo Editor. He¹s had opportunity
to travel throughout Micronesia to cover U.S. military
exercises. Since then, he has received awards for
his works from numerous American organizations such
as the National Press Photographers Association
and the Society of Professional Journalists. He
also expanded his portfolio to include fashion photography.
He¹s published in local bridal magazines, and
of course has done a fair share of beach shoots
for swimsuit spreads.
In the past four years Ron Soliman covered four
international events including the Filipino peaceful
revolution in January 2001, crucifixions in the
Philippines, refugees in Chiapas, Mexico, and the
1998 presidential election in the Philippines. He
finds inspiration in stepping into the lives of
others and telling their stories through his camera
lens. Documenting
these events is a reflection of his passion, dedication,
and commitment to photojournalism.
It is these stories and more, that Ron hopes to
bring to people for years to come.
To contact Ron, please send email to
:
ron@ronsolimanphoto.com |
