Julio Rodríguez

Julio Rodríguez Ramos (; born June 27, 1956) is a Mexican landscape photographer and cultural promoter based in Baja California, Mexico. He was born in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, and during his childhood he enjoyed photography, which later became his profession. After several individual and collective exhibitions, Rodríguez released a photo-book titled Baja California: De Mar a Mar.

In 2005, Rodríguez funded Entijuanarte, an arts festival held at the Tijuana Cultural Center created to provide an exhibition space for independent artists. Following his departure from Entijuanarte, Rodríguez created FotoFilm Tijuana, a photography and film festival, also at the Tijuana Cultural Center; in 2017. In 2010, Rodríguez was awarded the Tijuana's Tourism Merit by the city's Tourism and Conventions Committee for his work promoting the city, his photographic career and cultural lobbying.

Background and photography career Rodríguez was born in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, on June 27, 1956. At eight years old he developed an interest in photography and during his youth he won contests sponsored by Kodak. Since 1985, he resides in Baja California and has worked as a business manager and as managing director of multiple radio stations.

After deciding the state should do more to promote its natural resources, in 2000, Rodriguez started traveling and photographing its landscape. The same year, an exhibition titled "Desierto, Migración y Frontera" ("Desert, Migration and Border") was held at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC). About the book, Rodríguez said: "few populations in the world count on the geographic privilege of Baja California, a land that joins sea, desert, valleys, mountains, art rock and vestiges of missions that as a whole it is a worthy natural treasure, not only to worship, but also worth enough to document". an arts festival that includes a program of cultural and artistic intervention of the northwest of Mexico. After a visit to the ArtWalk in Little Italy, San Diego, Rodríguez thought the format could be replicated in Tijuana, The event was intended for independent artists to exhibit their work. In 2017, it was announced that Rodríguez would leave Entijuanarte to pursue new projects.

FotoFilm Tijuana Following his tenure in Entijuanarte, Rodríguez created a photography and film festival called FotoFilm Tijuana, after noticing the rise of audiovisual recordings with smartphones and tablet computers. As part of daily life, recording videos and taking photographs, "is within everyone's reach", Rodríguez said to Mexican newspaper Milenio. The second edition of the festival (July 27–31, 2018) expanded to five days and included 60 different activities.