Inspired by an Instagram Activist

Photo by Ruddy Roye

I recently discovered Radcliffe Roye through the Instagram blog.  His work is brilliant.  It is raw and inspiring.  His profile describes him as an “Instagram activist.”  I was intrigued by that description and once I starting looking through his feed, I was hooked.  I couldn’t stop.  I think I spent half an hour going through his gallery and reading each caption.  I got lost in the stories of the people in his community.

Radcliffe Roye is a Brooklyn based photographer.  His style is gritty documentary photography.  He documents the lives of the people he sees in his community of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brooklyn. Sometimes his images break my heart and sometimes they make me smile.  Beyond the images, his captions tell the stripped-down stories of the people he photographs.  His work is honest and beautiful.  I’ve read that some people find it hard to look in the face of the needy and disenfranchised people he photographs, but isn’t that what society should be doing?  I am inspired by the work of Radcliffe Roye.

You can check out his work @ruddyroye on Instagram, ruddyroye.tumblr.com or http://www.ruddyroye.com.

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