Herminio Rodríguez is a professional commercial and conceptual photographer based in San Juan, Puerto Rico and works around the world. He holds a Master in Fine Arts in Photographic Arts and Science from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Through his photographic work, Rodríguez explores the marginality of society from a conceptual perspective. In November 2011, Rodríguez won First Prize and Acquisition Prize of FOTO MAC, the First Fine Art Photography contest sponsored by the Puerto Rico Contemporary Art Museum and UBS. Currently, Rodríguez works as a full-time photography professor in the Communication Department at Inter-American University of Puerto Rico. Rodríguez also works as a stringer photojournalist for agencies and newspapers including The Associated Press, The Guardian, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times among others. In 2015, Rodríguez produced a photographic campaign in Puerto Rico called Contaminados (FB #contaminados) to raise awareness of the use of coal as an electric energy source. During his 2018 summer visiting fellowship at PLAS, Rodríguez will continue his work on a long-term photography documentary project about Santiago Apostol (St. James) procession in Loíza, Puerto Rico, as a heritage study of religious syncretism, that he started in 2000 and which he hopes will conclude with a book publication and photography exhibition. Rodríguez will be at PLAS from August 5 to 18, 2018.