Rolando Gomez

Rolando Gomez (born 1962) is an American freelance photographer and author for Amherst Media. His professional career began in 1980 with the help of Texas photographer Michael Badough, then established itself during his service with the US Army. He founded the website GarageGlamour.com (now Glamour1.com) in 1999, and is one of the original 30 Lexar Media Elite Photographers. His work has appeared in Parade Magazine, Rangefinder Magazine, D-Pixx Magazine, Peterson's 4-Wheel Drive, Stars & Stripes, Army Times, Airman, Soldiers, Playboy.com, Netscape.com, Studio Photography & Design, PMA Daily, Leica World News, and many nationwide newspapers. He uses Leica, Canon and Olympus digital cameras, with Hensel lighting, for most of his work.

Early career
Gomez picked up his first camera in 1972 at the age of nine. His interest in photography continued and in high school he spent three years as the photographer for Victoria High School in Texas. After working for various photo labs and studios, he entered the U.S. Army in 1987 where he spent 8-plus years as a combat photographer. For four of those years, he was assigned as the personal photographer for Gen. George A. Joulwan; first in Germany, where Joulwan was the V Corps Commander, then in Panama when Joulwan became the Commander-in-Chief, United States Southern Command. Gomez spent 26 months in Central and South America documenting the Drug War, often working with the CIA, DEA, NSA, U.S. Customs, Delta Forces, Navy Seals and other Federal agencies in support of Operation Support Justice covering 19 Latin American countries. In 1993, Gomez was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) by Gen. Joulwan.

Gomez, in 1991, graduated from the The Army Advanced Photojournalism Course at the University of South Carolina where he was the only photographer out of the ten participants attending. The course, hosted by the U.S. Army, Office, Chief of Public Affairs, selected nine journalists and one photographer to attend the coveted course that year from the entire U.S. Army.

In 1994, Gomez was selected as one of the "Top Five" U.S. Military photographers at the Department of Defense, World-Wide Military Photographers' Workshop hosted by the U.S. Army's 55th Signal Company (Combat Camera) at Fort George G. Meade, Md.. by noted (civilian) photographers Bernie Boston, Eli Reed, Susan Biddle, James Nachtwey, Ken Hackman, and Mary Lou Foy.

After leaving the Army in 1995, Gomez obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and Electronic Media from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and served 4 years as the Chief Pictorial Branch, Army & Air Force News Service, Air Force News Agency and covered many feature stories as a photojournalist. Gomez worked for nine years at the Agency including his last three years there as the Chief, Multimedia Branch, where he oversaw the integration of photography, radio and television internet products for the U.S. Air Force website. In 1997 he was selected by the Agency as the Senior-Level, Civilian Employee of the Year. He left the Agency in 2003 to pursue his career in glamour photography.

Glamour Photography, Teaching, and Publications
In 1999, Gomez founded the website GarageGlamour.com (now Glamour1.com), consistentantly ranked in search results by Google.com as one of the top glamour photography sites. He is credited with the discovery of a Penthouse Pet, Jana Adams (October 1986) and Playboy Playmate, Holley A. Dorrough (April 2006), plus six models for Playboy Special Editions.

Gomez frequently gives private instruction in digital photography and from 2002 to 2008 has taught over 300 glamour workshops from Mexico to Canada, including exotic workshops in the Virgin Islands and Maui. Gomez also lectures and teaches at the Palm Beach Photographic Center, Samy's Camera Digital Photography Institute in Los Angeles and the Julia Dean Photo School in Venice Beach. In 2007, he conducted a 7-city European workshop tour, sponsored by Calumet Photographic and California Sunbounce, through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

He has spoken as a Lighting Master at the Photo Plus Expo in NYC, the Photo Imaging & Design Expo in San Diego, and FotoFusion in Florida. Gomez' first book, Garage Glamour : Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple. (ISBN 1-58428-183-9) features the April 2006 Playboy Playmate, Holley A. Dorrough on the cover. His second book is Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images (ISBN 1-58428-210-x) and his third book is Rolando Gomez's Posing Techinques for Glamour Photography (ISBN 1-58428-238-X). Author Michelle Perkins includes and entire chapter on Gomez in each of her books, Professional Portrait Lighting: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers (ISBN 1-58428-190-1) and Professional Portrait Posing: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers (ISBN 1-58428-211-8).

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