Commitment to Community-- Rhynna Santos, Michael Young, and the Bronx Documentary Center

On this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, we welcome two photographers who are part of the diverse and thriving cultural and artistic life of The Bronx. Rhynna Santos and Michael G. Young are also both members of the Bronx Documentary Center and, today, we discuss their individual bodies of work, the role the BDC plays in their lives and community, and we talk a bit about what makes The Bronx so boogie-down.

Talk about committed, not only is Rhynna Santos a documentary photographer creating long-form series on subjects close to her heart, she leads workshops at the BDC, coordinates the Bronx Photo League and curates the Everyday Bronx feed on Instagram. Her current project, #papielmaestro, profiles her father, legendary musician Ray Santos. This series, which is on exhibit at the Bronx Music Heritage Center, documents her father’s musical legacy and examines her role as her aging father’s caregiver.

Michael Young is primarily a street photographer, but his portrait, event, and street fashion work is so strong, he is hard to pigeon-hole. We talk about his commitment to photography, the ability to take on different styles, and his current project on the people of Claremont Village, a public housing project in The Bronx.

With Santos and Young we discuss the challenges faced by artists of color and those in low-income communities, the value of embracing long-term projects, and how shooting “what you know” with the gear you have is a key to engaged photography. We also take a minute to shout-out a shared mentor, Jamel Shabazz and the role he has played in the artistic development of their photography, and we profile the Bronx Documentary Center, a non-profit gallery and community-oriented cultural center that offers workshops, lectures, exhibits, and a home base for children, adults, and seniors to get hands-on training in photojournalism, filmmaking, and documentary photography. Join us for this inspirational episode.

Guests: Michael G. Young and Rhynna Santos

Photograph © Michael G. Young