Legendary ‘News-Press’ Photographer Rafael Maldonado Retires

A Brooks graduate, a veteran, and an F.B.I. employee walk into a daily newspaper and don’t leave for 51 years. Their name is Rafael Maldonado and that’s no joke. 

A self-described military brat, Rafael bounced around from his birthplace of Santurce, Puerto Rico, to Key West to Jacksonville to Pensacola and back to Puerto Rico, depending on which naval base his father was stationed. He caught the camera bug in junior high and at 14, he got an Ansco film-developing kit from the owner of the dime store where he worked. A bathroom at his home soon became a darkroom where he developed rolls of film from the family Brownie camera. But it was a Nikorex 35mm that his mom purchased with the family credit card that sealed the deal. 

When he returned home from a deployment, Rafael’s father “blew his top” that the credit card had been used, but by then, Rafael had already cleared the debt with $10 payments. When Raf started selling 8x10s for 50 cents a pop in high school, his father was fully on board and suggested he set up a photo studio in the garage once he graduated.