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Ricardo
J. Ferro is an award-winning photojournalist, international
visual consultant and the owner of FotoBanc. He worked
for three years as a photographer for The Tampa Tribune,
and then moved across the bay toThe St. Petersburg
Times. He worked there for 32 years, 30 as a photographer,
and the last two years as a photo editor. He retired
June 1999 to focus on teaching and consulting. Ferro
was born in Cuba in 1941 and was educated at the University
of Villanovas branch in Havana, where he finished
two years of engineering in 1961. In September of
1961, soon after the government closed the Catholic
University, he left his native country for the United
States, where he became a citizen in 1968.
His first contact with photography came in a photo
lab in Tampa, Florida. One year later the Tampa Tribune
hired him as a lab technician and in two years he
worked his way up to staff photographer. While working
for the Tampa Tribune he won the 1965 Florida West
Coast Press Photographers Association Photographer
of the Year Award. The St. Petersburg Times hired
him soon after. While with the Times, he was the recipient
of thePhotographer of the Year title in 1966, 1968
and 1969.
He has won the title of Photographer of the Year for
the Southeastern United States in the National Press
Photographers Associations Region 6 Contest (11 South
Easter states ) in 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1974 and has
been runner-up for four other years.
During his 30 years as professional photographer his
photos have received over 135 awards, and has been
nominated four times for the Pulitzer by The St. Petersburg
Times.
He has developed a group of inter related management
software for the newsroom, the photo department, production,
and archives, called Agenda Control, PhotoControl,
and ArchiveControl, they are being used in most of
the newspapers that he has visited.
His photo assignments have ranged from the earthquakes
in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, San Francisco, Twelve
Hurricanes ranging from Honduras, Mexico, and US.
Also the US invasion of Grenada, the War in El Salvador,
The Gulf War in Kuwait, the disaster in Armero, Colombia,
the Contras in Honduras, the National Conventions
for Presidential Elections over the past 20 years,
the 1984 Olympics in L.A., the PanAmerican Games in
Indianapolis. Most recently to Israel, Jerusalem for
the Peace Treaty.
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