Ruben Natal San Miguel, and his work are an amazing discovery to me. His way of capturing the raw visually saddening scenes around the island of Puerto Rico are stunning to me. He manages to keep everything very real and doesn't really manipulate anything in a noticeable way at least. I appreciate the amount of vivid colors captured in the images as Puerto Rico is a beautifully colored place, and even somehow beautiful in its own way after the hurricane. His inclusion of dynamic tension in some images is very interesting too because I enjoy seeing line-work even in more natural settings.
San Miguel's conceptual ideas cover a variety of different intents. He wishes to document the revival of the island on which he was born and where his family still lives. Also, he wants to capture the sense of community resolve to rise from the ruins within his four photography trips to the island (this series is only from the first trip). And finally to record a people's determination to restore strength and pride in culture. His images also have a lot of natural beauty despite the fact that the images in this series are of turmoil, Puerto Rico is just a naturally beautiful place no matter what in my eyes.
The intents of the photographer and his overall images are very incredible to me because I can personally relate to them. Being Puerto Rican, I know how beautiful the island is even after the hurricane because I have been there many times before, after, and I was born there/lived there. All of my family is there and when the hurricane happened it was very saddening and scary to know that my family could be in danger. I have seen destroyed areas first-hand and it is very heart-breaking knowing that memories from previous trips stood in the spots of where now collapsed buildings are. Ruben's work is very strong through capturing many emotionally charged images.
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