Maridelis Morales Rosado, 24, Puerto Rican Fashion Photographer thought she was going to business school when she was young. That quickly changed into a strong love for fashion photography and her being a runner at New York Fashion Week. What at first seemed to be the worst job she could have quickly led her into her dream career.
“They (Women’s Wear Daily) are always looking for people to run SD cards from Fashion Shows to the office during Fashion Week. I was like ‘that sounds like the most shitty job ever. It's just running back and forth all day but I was like okay sure I'll do it, That sounds so sick because I was able to just watch fashion shows and be in the fashion shows’,” Maridelis Morales Rosado said. Her drive and determination to be in any location that would allow her closer to fashion with her camera was a place Rosado wanted to be. She quickly reflected, “Without that job, I would've never had experience in it.”
She smiled as she recalled her first New York Fashion Week.
“I would also take a little camera with me even though I wasn't supposed too and I would take photos on the side,” Rosado says.
With the photos she took working backstage, she was able to develop a portfolio. This one gig opportunity turned into a regular semester thing, “Since my junior year, I would take a week off every semester to work at Fashion week.”
Rosado is currently the Assistant Visuals Editor at Wmagazine in New York City. At the age of 15, she started photography.
“When I turned 15 years old I realized I really wanted to start practicing and learning more about photography. I got a camera for Christmas that year, a Nikon D3000 from Costco or something and since I got it I became obsessed and I never stopped photographing,” says Rosado.
Maridelis Morales Rosado during Zoom Interview. (Photo by Shanelle Lopez)
The love she had for Fashion photography grew from the mini photoshoots she would have with her neighbors. Rosado would do their hair and makeup and photograph them either in her own home or out on the streets of their neighborhood. But this was just the beginning for her.
When Rosado was 17 years old she began taking a Darkroom Photography course that she fell in love with. The teacher of this weekly Saturday class was the inspiration behind Rosado continuing with photography and making it her career.
“She really encouraged me, she would say ‘you know you have the skills, you have the eye you just have to work on refining it and learning the technical stuff but you know there’s already something you carry within yourself that lends itself to this world’,” Rosado shared.
Her response to this was a simple, “okay cool.” The simple response came from the worry of getting her parents on board with the idea of their daughter going to art school.
“The conversation with my parents was really hard because they were already chilling because they thought I was going to business school, and then I was like ‘surprise’ I actually want to be an artist.”
Rosado shared that she does not have any art background in her family and this is a subject that is very new to them. Explaining the ability to work and be an artist was something that took them a while to understand but the reassurance of her teacher helped, she would tell them: “There are jobs in this and she’s not going to like die of hunger, she’ll be okay she’s not going to be a starving artist.”
She knew her teacher was right in this instance because of the dedication she showed at this age to this specific class that would help her advance her art. While taking this course she began applying for college for photography and was granted admission to Rochester Institute of Technology for Photojournalism.
“I did my first two years in that major then I realized that I always loved Fashion and it was always an industry that I admired and kind of always wanted to be a part of. But, I also had the idea that it was so superficial, photojournalism is where it’s at.”
Maridelis' work via Instagram (Screenshot by Shanelle Lopez)
The struggles that Rosado faced with photojournalism was the fact that everyone was expected to photograph in a certain style, she wasn’t really allowed to add her own artistic flair to the images she was capturing. This strict outline of photography steered Rosado away from photojournalism all the way into advertising photography. Within the advertising journalism major, Rosado was able to mold her own path because all of the assignments were open-ended.
“It gave me the freedom to find myself in photography and then I was able to combine my documentary style with my fashion interest and realized that my main goal with photography is to find the intersection of why people wear what they do and what that says about their culture and their identity.” This main goal for Rosado’s photography sparked when she attended a Trump Rally and realized all of the Trump-inspired merchandise.
“I started noticing what everyone was wearing there and how they were expressing their ideas through clothing which I had never seen to such a degree.” This was the first election that Rosado was in the states for and that created an impact as well. She never expected a Trump Rally to be the spark to her photography journey.
Rosado has created many images, from photographing events at her college to freelance work in New York City and the photos from behind the scenes of Fashion Week. While she holds her professional work to a high standard she places her personal work on the same pedestal.
“I think it is always important to be working on your own stuff, that you are passionate about because that is what really shows your voice as an artist. If that is what you’re passionate about that’s what you want to get hired in. You have to have something that you are personally proud of.” She claims that the personal work you do will help in the long run.
While the personal work can hold some weight in Rosado’s eyes, she does not fail to mention the importance of connections.
“Connections are really important, especially as a woman and maybe as a Latina to. Sometimes I feel like it’s hard to take advantage of your connections because you feel like you are taking advantage of them,” Rosado says. Although she does use her connections when possible she makes sure that the work done by her is correct to get her to these opportunities.
“It’s better to ask and be told no than never ask and stay where you are if you’re not happy with where you are,” Rosado says.
Although Rosado has found her path for photography and telling people’s stories by what they wear she also admits to just loving the idea of meeting new people.
“I like learning their stories and listening to them, letting them have a voice within their own stories is really important. I think it’s really cool that it brings me to so many different people that if it wasn’t for my job I would never meet otherwise.”
All of the elements Rosado has learned on her journey with photography have led her to the opportunities she now has. She never expected to be where she is now.
“But, when I discovered photography and I took it seriously I knew that it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
