Portrait

The BODY Project - Elora

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Music: Start The Clock — Ivy Lab

The BODY Project is a way of exploring visually what I have always admired — people who can express themselves with their body. It sprouted spontaneously in front of my camera and has grown with every photo shoot.

This wasn't the first time I've photographed Elora (@eloraaaah) — she's actually quite popular on my Instagram feed.

She has been visiting Lisbon regularly over the past few years for her own dance projects and we've gotten together several times to shoot just for kicks.

Maybe that familiarity was what made this shoot so special (or maybe it was just because she is such an amazing dancer!) In any case, what we planned as a "1 hour shoot in the studio" turned into a full day of making pictures and even shooting some footage.

This was a collaboration in the truest sense of the word — not just the cliché used on social media — where both of us contributed with our best efforts and energy to make art for the sake of art.

Studio Test Shoot

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There is a special kind of creative freedom in a test shoot. And that is both amazing and scary: "what do I do?..."

"Relax, this is a chance to pull one of those ideas out of the drawer and finally make it come to life!" — That's what I said to myself a few days before this shoot.

I'd been wanting to play with color gels and this was the perfect opportunity.

My challenge was to get as close to the final result as possible, in terms of color, in the studio and I think I managed that (check out the before & after of one of the images — the one on the left is straight out of the camera).

So on the day of the shoot I set out to make some nice portraits with some interesting colors, but I got a lot more than that. My beautiful model Funmi (@thefunmiofficial) delivered character, emotion and flow, breathing life into every picture!

A portrait is truly a collective endeavor — I can only get so far from my end of the camera.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Studio Lighting or Natural Light?

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I never understood the "Studio Photographer vs Natural Light Photographer" debate. There, I've said it!

Light is light. It doesn't matter if it's coming from a bulb in our living room or from a giant incandescent sphere, 150 000 000 km away (our beautiful Sun). In photography what matters is how we use it. And, as any cinematographer will tell to you, emulating natural light it's just a matter of budget.

In the studio, we have a level of control that's impossible outside — I can shoot for 8 hours straight and have exactly the same beautiful light in the first and the last picture.

Outdoors, if we pick the right time of day and know how to work with the available conditions, we are rewarded with the most amazing ambient light. And we have the option to use it "as is" or modify it to our taste with reflectors, artificial lights, flags, etc. But for a limited time. The sun waits for no one.

So, which is better?... Studio light or natural light? The annoying answer is, of course, "it depends"!

As a photographer, I stand firmly on both camps. If I'm seeking to make an environmental portrait, where the surroundings are an important part of the image, I will probably go with natural light. If I need the consistency that only studio lighting can provide, artificial light it is.

These are two of my favorite portraits to date, one was shot in the studio with strobes, the other outdoors with 100% natural light.

The first one was not meant to look like it was shot outside. It was supposed to have a strong, contrasty, almost stage-like lighting, to enhance the idea of “achievement”.

The second one was a matter of opportunity. I was actually waiting for the perfect sunset light on the opposite side of the building, so with a few minutes to spare we made some pictures in a nice shaded area. And I'm so glad we did!

 

Just as a side note, digital post-production also plays an important role in my photography, but that's a whole other discussion. Anyway, here are the before & after of these two portraits.

Creative Headshots for Veterinary Clinic

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When Centro Veterinário de Alverca (CVA) hired me, the job was to update all the staff pictures for their website. You know, that nice professional headshot that everyone should have. But I've met more than a few people who work in animal health and they are a fun bunch, so I suggested making a fun picture to go along with the standard one and — lucky me — the client said yes.

Now all I had to do was get everyone to play along...

I admit I was expecting some resistance because people were in the middle of their work day and not everyone loves having their picture made, let alone having to collaborate with some photographer's crazy idea of a creative portrait. But to my surprise, the large majority welcomed the challenge and together we came up with a photography concept that was a caricature somehow related to their specific role at the clinic.

Of course some cheated and just got a cute pet to pose with them!

Vanessa Pereira - The girl behind the athlete

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It was a great day, the one I met up with Vanessa for a cup of coffee to discuss “making a few pictures for her”.

Not only did the (5x) triathlon national champion give me total creative freedom, but she also agreed to let me turn this into a longer project, with several sessions in different situations, that would illustrate the girl besides the athlete. An irresistible challenge for me!

Over the next few weeks, expect to see a lot of triathlon photos both here and on my social media. So get ready!

 

The Matrix

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“There is no spoon..."

Some places literally beg to be photographed, and this elevator at LX Factory (Lisbon) had been asking for it for a long time…

I had just finished a studio shoot with Elias for another project (if you’ve been following this blog, you guessed it - athlete’s portraits) and we decided that there was time for a few more photos, “Matrix style”!

Totally nailed it, didn’t he?…

Funny thing is that Elias is the most cheerful, less sinister person you will ever meet, which just goes to show that he is also a good actor!

 

Anatomy of a Photomontage

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"How fast do you want to go?”

 

Step 1: dig up an old (and boring!) photo taken at Marvão (Portugal)

Marvão, Portugal

Step 2: throw it into Photoshop and beat those pixels up until you squeeze the speed out of it!*

As Frederick Van Johnson, host of the This Week in Photo podcast often says “pixels were born to be punished!"

*(in this case, motion blur, noise, contrast, saturation) 

speed road

Step 3: photograph a cool biker

Biker

Step 4: join them together and… BAM!

speed bike photomontage (composite)