Rey Rey Rodriguez

Rey Paul Rodriguez (born 13 March, 1978) better known as Rey Rey Rodriguez is an American photographer, artist, photojournalist, entrepreneur, web-marketing expert, filmmaker, poet, entrepreneur and a marketing expert. Rodriguez is the founder of The Mind of Rey Rey ®, a multimedia and branding company headquartered in South Florida. The company offers multimedia, branding, and influencer, digital, and creative marketing services. Rodriguez is the founder of The Mind of Rey Rey, a multimedia and branding company headquartered in Florida. This company offers services related to photography, videography, graphic design, web design, digital marketing, and fine art sales.
Rodriguez is best known for his artistic style that dwells on a darker side, which is inspired by his troubled youth, his other life experiences and his surroundings. He successfully captures the essence of human emotions like pain, despair, violence, anger, and lust in his collections of dark, erotic, fight and horror photography, which is visible in his prominent works. He successfully captures the essence of pain, violence, and lust in his collections of dark, erotic, and horror photography which is visible in his prominent works like When the Devil Calls, Blissful Torment, I Remember, Taking a Trip and The Evil Within. Rodriguez is one of the world’s best known underground visual artists and has worked with several renowned personalities.
 
Rodriguez is one of the world’s best-known underground visual artists. He has worked with many renowned personalities, and his artworks can be found displayed worldwide. 
Rodriguez has been featured for his work in a number of media outlets including: Entrepreneur, Forbes, GQ, Playboy, Loaded, The Good Men Project, Vogue, This is 50, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Influencive, Disrupt, Business Insider, TechCrunch and Inc.
== Early life and education ==
Rodriguez was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, but moved frequently throughout his childhood with his family. In South Florida, he attended Miramar High School, where as a freshman Rodriguez found his passion for art. This newfound love was triggered with Rodriguez’s hobby of writing poems and how they affected his audience and peers. Art was a subject that Rodriguez wanted to pursue, but he unfortunately dropped out of high school in his senior year.
In 2003, Rodriguez enrolled in Broward Community College, where he pursued an associate’s degree in Science, majoring in Emergency Medical Technology (EMT Paramedic). Soon after its completion he pursued another associate’s degree in Arts, majoring in Nursing Education, graduating in 2008. During his time at Broward Community College, Rodriguez engaged in multiple activities and took an “Intro to Photography” class taught by visual artist Teresa Diehl, which turned out to be a life changing experience for him. He has credited this class with reigniting his love for the Arts, and soon began the hobby of photography and creating short films. He was soon after appointed as the president of the Broward College’s Film and Broadcasting Club. 
In 2009, Rodriguez pursued a bachelor’s degree in Film & Video and a minor in Photography from the Florida Atlantic University. During the course of his study at this university Rodriguez produced multiple short films and presented them in festivals such as “Blissful Torment” which was screened at the 4th Annual 1:1 Super 8 Cinema Soiree, IWAN The Bubble in Fort Lauderdale, FL in 2011. His photography works were displayed in local galleries, and several poetry publications such as Broward College’s literary magazine “P’an Ku,” published a collection of his poetry throughout the years such as: When the Devil Calls, Dark Desires, Nightmares, Searching for the Master, I Remember, and Taking a Trip, along with several of his photos including: “The Evil Within” and “The Face for My Fans.”
== Career ==
Rodriguez started working as a paramedic initially and during this time he began shooting as a freelance photographer. Soon after, Rodriguez made a name for himself as an acclaimed visual artist, photographer and a photojournalist in South Florida by getting involved in non-mainstream, underground circles such as outcasts, thugs, fighters, alternative lifestyle communities, private events, fraternities, piercing and body modification groups, and several other people that enjoyed a taboo lifestyle.
Rodriguez would accept paramedic assignments on the set of films and TV shows which got him offered a number of acting roles as a paramedic like in Caso Cerrado, a Latin television show and on Shaquille O’Neal’s live TV series Shaq's Big Challenge. 
By 2012, Rodriguez’s notoriety as a photographer had grown throughout the underground art community. He soon founded The Mind of Rey Rey, a company that first began as a small photography business.
In an interview with Miami Wire, Rodriguez said, “In 2013, I used my social media accounts such as MySpace, Facebook as a way to connect with others, get feedback on my artwork, market myself, and my portfolio.” 
Rodriguez incorporated marketing tactics that were new and unorthodox for the time, by posting his most shocking artwork in Facebook groups, forums, MySpace pages, email marketing, and AOL chat rooms. Rodriguez also used aggressive marketing measures to dominate the competition by posting his promotional advertisements and artwork on random profile comments, in users private messages, and in unrelated forums. Soon the name “Rey Rey Rodriguez” would become both popular for great artwork and considered spam by some, and he would become one of the first photographers to gain over a hundred thousand followers on Facebook. 
Rodriguez would soon be forced to expand his company The Mind of Rey Rey into a multimedia and full marketing and branding company, incorporating his diverse range of artistic capabilities and helping to promote and grow others. In a 2021 interview Rodriguez states, “I wanted a professional website that would showcase the work I had created throughout the years. So I created myself a website, added my artistic touch, and finished product was much more impressive than I expected. After helping a couple of friends and artists build theirs, word of mouth spread and offers began coming in from many wanting to hire me as their web designer. People also bugged me for advice on growing their social media, so I figured it was time to profit from all of this.”
With increasing popularity Rodriguez soon brought his aggressive style into the world combat sports, revolutionizing the industry by combining fine-art photography and photojournalism into the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ). As he became to go-to photographer for the top UFC, Bellator MMA, and Mixed Martial Arts fighters, other photographers began mimicking his dark fine-art style, changing the way photography was captured in the fight world.
Rodriguez has worked with many personalities including celebrities, politicians, renowned musicians, fighters, organizations, athletes, activists, businesses, and professionals from all walks of life.
==Artistic Influences==
Rodriguez cites a number of artists and public figures that have influenced him. In a 2019 interview, he mentioned, “I’ve been influenced by a broad group of people in different ways. The poetry of Edgar Alan Poe, The films of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Salvador Dali, and Alfred Hitchcock, and the music, music videos, and appearance of Marilyn Manson would all trigger my urge to create dark art. Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Felix Trinidad and Hector “Macho” Camacho fueled my love for combat sports photography. All other forms of artwork inspirations are just fueled by my environment combined with my mood at the time.”
== Awards ==
Rodriguez is the recipient of the Irene Fischley Award for Excellence.
== Personal life ==
Rodriguez currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Although known as an influencer and artist, he maintains a private personal life.
== Gallery ==
== In the media ==
<youtube width="300" height="300">K-9kLmUEE3M</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">PzKzOrJBo9M</youtube>
== References ==
== External links ==
* Official website
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* Rey Rey Rodriguez on MySpace
* 
* 
* 
Category:American entrepreneurs
Category:American businesspeople
Category:American photographers
Category:American artists
Category:American filmmakers
Category:American poets
Category:American photojournalists