From the Catwalk to the Crime Scene
A former fahsion photographer lends her lens to solve crimes.
Photo by Kristin Laughter
Fashion photography wasn’t enough for
Campos, who now documents autopsies at the
Medical Examiner Department.
In the late 1990s, a 9-year-old girl was shot and killed by her father in a mall parking lot in Miami.
Forensic photographer Belmarie Campos says she couldn’t help but think of her own 9-year-old daughter while photographing that girl’s autopsy.
“The way the shots were in her little body, it was from such a close distance,” Campos says. “It took me to that parking lot, and all I could think was, ‘This little girl saw her daddy shoot her.’”
Campos has worked at the Medical Examiner Department since 1999, utilizing her photography fervor to help solve cases and fight crime in the Miami-Dade area. She works in the Forensic Imaging Bureau, a high-tech facility within the department.
Campos’ photography career began at New Jersey City University and led her to the high-fashion district of New York City, where she worked as a freelancer in the 1980s. Shooting album covers and fashion photography in the Big Apple just wasn’t enough. She needed to do something more with her passion.
“I saw myself trying to get into something more challenging,” she says.
After moving to Miami, she got an internship in 1997 as a bio-medical photographer, where she worked for nearly two years.
Her shift from fashion to medicine eventually landed Campos her job at the Medical Examiner Department photographing autopsies and crime scenes and documenting cases for agencies such as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“I’m doing my part in the world,” Campos says, explaining that photographs are such a major part of investigations because they catch things the naked eye can miss. She says she feels like she uses her photography as a tool to solve cases.
“The camera shows exactly what happened in the scene. We take photographs from beginning to end.”
Her work with the bureau reflects her love for the documentary art form.
“You have to have a passion for photography,” Campos says. “Every photo that I take, I try to make sure it’s a beautiful shot, like an art piece. With lighting and composition, I try to make the photo look the best possible.”