Background

Héctor M. Méndez Caratini was born on August 5, 1949 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the eldest son of Hector and Gloria Mendez Caratini Bertran; Hector has also two sisters: Ileana and Gloribel.

Education

At an early age Méndez Caratini became interested in photography. In 1968 Hector entered Boston University to study liberal arts; in 1970 he transferred to the University of Puerto Rico, where he studied literature, anthropology, sociology, and political science, at the same time taking formal classes in photography at the UPR (University of Puerto Rico) School of Architecture. Méndez Caratini graduated in 1972, and in 1973 moved to New York, where he studied at the Germain School of Photography and also attended workshops at the Friends of Photography. He earned a master’s degree at the Center for Advanced Studies in San Juan, where he produced photo-essays.

Career

Since 1973 Héctor Caratini has been a freelance photographer and a medical photographer at the School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, in the Ophthalmology Department. He has been a member and president of the Asociacion Fotografica de Puerto Rico, and a founding member of the Consejo Latinoamericano de Fotografia since 1978.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Hector Mendez Caratini - The Eye of Memory: Three Decades, 1974-2003

    (Exhibition Catalogue)

  • Tradiciones: Álbum de la Puertorriqueñidad; Fotografías de Héctor Méndez Caratini

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  • Santiago Apostle mask, Masquerade

    1980

  • Andrés Figueroa Cordero, The Patriot’s Dreams

    1979

  • Cachúas, Gagá & Voodoo in the Dominican Republic

    1993

  • Charity: Faith, Hope and Charity

    1995

Membership

• member and president

  Asociación Fotográfica de Puerto Rico

• founding member

  Consejo Latinoamericano de Fotografía

  1978

Connections

Hector M. Mendez Caratini married Annette Lopez in 1972. He has the only daughter Nannette Gabriela and a grandchild Diego Fernando Mendez Figueroa (born in 2013).

Father:

Hector Mendez Caratini

Mother:

Gloria Mendez Caratini (Bertran)

Spouse:

Annette López de Mendez

Annette López de Mendez is a director of the Educational Research Center in San Juan.

Sister:

Ileana Mendez Caratini

Sister:

Gloribel Mendez Caratini

Daughter:

Nannette Gabriela Mendez Figueroa

Grandson:

Diego Fernando Mendez Figueroa

son-in-law:

Joel Figueroa

Friend:

Arnold Newman

Friend:

George Tice

Friend:

Duane Michals