While people never asked for a photograph, they responded to the presence of the camera without self-consciousness or vanity. Consider the man with bedraggled hair sitting on a bus, his small dog tucked neatly inside a sweater vest, or the turbaned woman in a cut out dress playing to the camera as matrons smile on admiringly during an art opening at the de Young Museum. Ramos found moments of mutuality in these passing encounters, capturing them with effortlessness.
“To me, all the people I photographed were beautiful, similar to drawing a model in the classroom,” Ramos says. “I felt connected to everyone I photographed, as if we were all one. I think that was what I was trying to convey in my photography.”
A Fearless Eye: The Photography of Barbara Ramos is published by Chronicle Books.
Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.
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