About me

Bio

Carlos Javier Ortiz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He’s currently working on the Too Young To Die documentary which he started five years ago as a comprehensive examination of youth violence in the United States and Central America. The project documents the lives of youth victims of violence as well as the teenage perpetrators of these crimes.

As a teenager, his love of photography led him to work at a traveling carnival to save money for photography equipment and college tuition. Later, Carlos Javier attended Columbia College in Chicago, where he studied photojournalism. Following college, Carlos Javier was a staff photographer for Chicago In The Year 2000 (CITY 2000), a year-long project documenting the city and its inhabitants.

In 2009 he won the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights: Domestic Photography award for “Too Young To Die” He has also been a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography and the Alexia Foundation professional grant. He was named the 2008 Illinois Press Photographer Association Photographer of the Year and has also won the Peter Lisagor Award for Photojournalism.

His work has appeared in Ebony Magazine, Newsweek, Washington Post, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, NPR, Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) The Guardian, Stern Magazine, the Biography Channel and other publications.

Adjunct Lecturer

Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism

Courier-Post Newspaper New Jersey, NJ April 2002 – August 2004

Staff photographer, responsibilities include researching, planning and executing a minimum of one full photo-story a week

City 2000 (Chicago in the Year 2000) Chicago, IL January 1, 2000 - June 1, 2001

Staff Photographer, one of eight full-time staff photographers for a one-year photographic project documenting Chicago in the year 2000

Awards/Grants

2010 Finalist for the Alexia Foundation professional grant. “Too Young To Die”

2009 Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights: Domestic Photography award for “Too Young To Die”

2008 Finalists for the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for “Too Young To Die”

2008 Illinois Press Photographer Association Photographer of the Year – 1f place

2007 Illinois Press Photographer Association - Portfolio of the Year – 2nd place

2006 The Community Arts Assistance Program Grant

2005 Illinois Press Photographer Association Portfolio of the Year – 3rd place

2002 Peter Lisagor Award for Photojournalism – General Features Non-Daily

Exhibitions

2010 “Too Young to Die” Catherine Edelman Gallery, The Chicago Project Chicago, IL. USA

2009 “Violent Realities” Gun Violence in the Americas. Gage Gallery, Chicago, IL. USA

2009 “Too Young to Die” The Midwest Photographers Project, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago, IL. USA

2008 “El Sueño” Catherine Edelman Gallery, The Chicago Project Chicago, IL. USA

2009 “This Side of Hope” The Architrouve, Chicago, IL. USA

2000 “You Are Here” Chicago in the Year 2000, group show, Chicago Cultural Center Chicago, IL.