During his own time, he pursues his passion for documentary photography. In 2005, he covered the state of Chad's refugee camps following the influx of more than 200,000 displaced Sudanese. This coverage won the NPPA student quarterly clip contest and the Sports Shooter monthly student clip contest. Ruiz recently graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Visual Arts 2006. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay area after immigrating to the United States at the age of two from El Salvador. He is currently based in South Orem, Utah, and is represented worldwide by ZUMA Press and available for assignment: 949.481.3747.