Ron DiRito received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado. He is currently the Chair of the Photography and Video Department at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Ron’s experience as a photographer, artist, and educator has spanned more than 25 years. His work is based on the time-honored traditions of documentary photography but other projects source various materials which include original and discreet imaging, discrete and vernacular writing, sampling, appropriation, printmaking, installation, artist’s books, audio and video media and super 8mm film.
Ron has received numerous awards for his photography, including: a New England Foundation for the Arts/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship in Photography; a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Photography; a Visual Arts Fellowship in Photography from the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs. His work is exhibited nationally and is held in many public and private collections. He is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Society for Photographic Education (SPE).
Ron is a recognized leader in education, curriculum development, program planning and implementation. At the 42nd National Conference of the Society for Photographic Education he was on the panel Transitions in Photographic Education: Changes in Imaging Technologies and Curricular Structure. His presentation examined a set of processes and procedures to manage the rapidly changing imaging environment, how to integrate new technologies within an existing curricular framework, and how facilities improvements, space reconfigurations, and equipment acquisitions can and should adapt simultaneously and synchronously as curricula changes.
Prior to teaching Ron worked as a freelance photographer for various newspapers, magazines and photo agencies. He has photographed everything from political campaigns and hard news to corporate and public relations work. His photographs have appeared in periodicals around the world, including Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The World & I, US News and World Report, L’Espresso, Panorama, Epoca, Bunte, Paris Match and other national and international publications.