Raafi Riveroimages and ideas

 

Raafi Rivero is a filmmaker, photographer, etc. Click here for professional inquiries.

These missives have been posted at varying intervals since 2006 when “moblogging” was a thing. Please explore work and ideas here, elsewhere, or on the social platform of your choice:

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poster for a screening of Bring Your Name: the Sean Bell All-Stars at Gersh Park in Brooklyn on June 20th 2025

One fun byproduct of working in both film and design is that whenever I make a film it becomes a big design project, too. I get to design posters and flyers and websites and title cards in the exact ways that, for whatever reason, rarely pass muster with clients. Often those designs are the ones that result in the most positive feedback. A favorite comment of the many I received after posting and texting and emailing this flyer out was from a friend who replied with one word. “Wow.” I’m happy with it, too.

We’ve got a screening tomorrow at Gersh Park, should be a blast.


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When people ask me where I’m from I’ve started saying “the Amtrak Northeast Regional.” And if that gets a laugh then I tag it with “Train 154.”

This Fall brought me to Newark, New Jersey, where I walked through Branch Brook Park nearly every day for a couple months during my fellowship at NJIT. Walking is the photographer’s secret weapon and so I moved and saw and snapped many times over.

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This year I spent 6 months working on an 8-part docuseries about the NBA Playoffs that just released on ESPN and ESPN+. (Wrote a pretty extensive post about it over on social media). What I’ll say here on the personal dot-com is that it felt great one night a couple weeks ago to sit in my favorite bar and the bartender Jamie had it on the TVs. At one point he dimmed the lights and turned the sound up. People clapped afterwards when my credit popped onscreen. One of those bucket list type things.

Here’s a map of the places I went:

As for the first photo – it was taken back in June. The Cs had just won it all and there I was standing in the locker room as a guy brushed past me carrying the Larry O’B. That and a million other stories we’ll have to share over a beer sometime.


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I’ve posted several pieces of writing about this film elsewhere covering the process, the namesake, its significance to Unarmed. There’s even a dedicated website with more details and behind-the-scenes photos. And there are a million things I’m proud of about it, most notably the film itself, the collaboration with Jon Lopez, and also the trailer, the design, the poster, the reception.

Rah Wiggins coaches DDN/Sean Bell All-Stars at the Gersh Park basketball tournament in Brooklyn, New York

Maybe this kaleidoscope of images can paint in a few more details:

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© 2006 – 2025 Raafi Rivero.