About

Melinda Reyes is a Massachusetts-based photographer deeply driven by social justice. After earning her BFA in Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology and attending a year-long photography residency program in Salzburg College in Austria, Reyes traveled throughout the U.S. working as a freelance photographer and in studios, labs, and galleries. Ten years later she became fully invested in social welfare and advocacy, earning a Master’s of Social Work at Simmons University. Currently fusing both professional paths, Reyes utilizes the power of documentary photography to initiate awareness and change in vulnerable populations.

Her series “The Quiet World of Aging” has been given national attention and has included three solo shows and has been in many group exhibitions, publications, and books. It was a finalist in Photolucinda’s Critical Mass in 2019 Top 200 and Editor’s pick in both Lensculture’s Portrait awards and Emerging Talent award andt was selected to be part of the 9th Edition of Photoville’s The Fence. A segment of the women within “The Quiet World of Aging” was given an honorable mention in the 22nd Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards.

Her documentary series “Inside the Walls: An Intimate Look at our Elderly during Covid-19” also gained national attention and has had 2 solo shows and has been in multiple group exhibitions. It has won many awards including 1st place in the portrait series of the 16th Annual Julia Margaret Camera Awards. The series was a finalist in Photolucinda’s Critical Mass 2021 Top 200, the Lucie Foundation’s “The Portrait Project”, as well as with Photoworks and the Photographer’s Eye. She was short listed for the Siena Awards.

Reyes was invited to discuss both of her projects - a Zoom talk via Freedom Public Library and for a documentary photography class for students at George Washington University’s Cordovan School of Art and Design.

Her series “Passages” was the Fine Art series winner in the 18th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and was exhibited/published in A Smith Gallery’s show “Story” 9/2022.

Her time has also been spent immersed in a personal, ongoing documentary “As Parts of You Unfold” which has spanned the last decade and explores the intimacy and connection between her and her granddaughters. It was the Fine Art winning series in the 18th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and garnered 5 Honorable mentions in the 22nd Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Awards in multiple categories and was exhibited in Barcelona in April-May 2025 and published in the World of Photography Volume II. It has been part of a half dozen group exhibitions.

Ms. Reyes took a hiatus from being an active photographer in the late fall of 2021 when her father was tragically killed. She has spent the last three-and-a-half years quietly processing her grief while examining many aspects of the homicide. It has been during this time of solitude that she began creating images and sculptures as a way to move through the loss. This opened up time to work with a mentor in-depth on self expression while also channeling the work into a much needed and broader dialogue on the personal experiences one has amidst an unsolved homicide. This body of work, “Winslow Gray Road” and “Conversations with You” are still emerging but are ready to be shown to a larger audience. The project won first place in the Documentary category of the 25th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, was featured in Lenscratch 10/1/24, and most recently placed as a Top 200 finalist for Critical Mass. Melinda has been invited to share this project in the exclusive Portfolio Reviews in Santa Fe via CENTER 2025.

CV upon request.