From behind her lens, photography student Rosamaria Zamarron does more than take photos. She sees people and gives others a chance to see them, too.

“In life, people pass by too afraid to talk to others,” Zamarron said. “That’s one rewarding part of photography: talking to people.”

Zamarron, who will graduate this spring, has made telling people’s stories and connecting to their emotions an integral part of her work.

To grow as a photographer, she enrolled in the Social Eye documentary class at the beginning of her senior year at GVSU. For her project, she chose to return to her hometown of Detroit and take photos of the people and buildings on Vernor Street, an area with a high Hispanic population located in the southwestern part of the city.

“I photographed the establishments to give a different view of an area that’s actually thriving because people have the perception that Detroit is shambling,” she said.

In many of her photos, her subjects were the men that visited the various barbershops scattered along the street.

“I was trying to capture the faces of the people, of the life there,” she said. “Eventually, I want to photograph the whole city.”

For her senior thesis project, Zamarron created an untitled abstract piece that melded shapes and colors.

“A lot of people try to identify what’s in a photo, and I think it’s important to step away from that,” she said. “It was about having the viewers step beyond what they see. I want them to put themselves in the piece and react to it.”

Zamarron does not want to tell viewers what to think about her photos or what to feel. She wants their emotional reactions to be genuine.

Her focus on capturing human life and emotion through film relates to her inspiration – she people-watched during her childhood. Her father made taking photos for family albums his hobby.

“I always saw him with a camera,” Zamarron said.

She watched her father tinker with his camera and fill pages of photo albums.

“But they weren’t just the typical smiley kind of photos,” she said. “They were artistic. He liked to play around with the camera, and he gave me a different perspective of photography.”

She also saw her grandfather haul around his Polaroid camera, and she flipped through the pages of “National Geographic.”

“I wanted to create images like that,” Zamarron said. “I wanted to emulate those photographers.”

At age 10, Zamarron moved to Detroit after her parents divorced. She attended Cass Technical High School, where she fostered an interest in environmental studies and science. A decision to join photo club in 11th grade, however, showed her another path.

During meetings, teacher Mr. Willard taught the basics of photography – using a dark room and developing film – but he also taught her photography could be more than just a hobby.

“I didn’t even know I could make it into a career,” she said. “I was very excited.”

Today, Zamarron is ready to make photography her life’s work. In addition to photographing the city, she plans to return to Detroit and intern under another photographer after graduation. She is also considering attending graduate school, but her ultimate dream job is to work for “National Geographic.”

“Photography for me is almost like therapy,” she said. “When I have a camera in my hand, when I’m studying photographers or when I am in a dark room, I feel like myself. It has become more than a passion. It is a way of life.”

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