Photo of the Day: SP by night

Post by Discovering São Paulo.

Photo of the day: Threatening yet beautiful

Post by Discovering São Paulo.

Photo of the Day: Aerial Sunset in São Paulo

Post by Discovering São Paulo.

São Paulo Street Life

If you get a chance, go check out the work of Miguel Castello. The exposition called Memórias da Rua is going on right now at Estação da Luz. Miguel`s powerful photographs portray homeless people living in São Paulo. Admission is free, the expo runs until Nov 30th and is supported by the Fundação e Instituto Justiça Solidária.

Memórias da Rua Expo
Estação da Luz
Praça da Luz, 1
http://www.estacaodaluz.org.br

Miguel Castello on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memoriasdarua

Photo of the Day - The Copan Building

Post by Discovering São Paulo.

The story behind René Burri’s iconic photo of São Paulo

Everyone has seen this picture before. Well, almost everyone. René Burri's iconic photograph is perhaps the most famous photo of São Paulo.

Taken in 1960, at a time when São Paulo was on a rapid rise to become one of the world’s most important industrialised cities, the black and white photograph’s timing and composition perfectly captures the both the moment and the historical period.

Burri was born in Switzerland in 1933 where he learned to play with his father’s camera. By the time he was 20, Burri was already a trained photographer of the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts and began documenting life as a cadet during his two years in military service.

Only after this did he have some contact with formal photography studios and starting his own projects. Before long he was published in French magazine Science & Vie and embarked on a trip to Paris to personally show his work to Magnum Photos.

David Seymour co-founder of Magnum was so impressed that he made Burri an associate member of the agency and arranged further assignments for him.

He soon began shooting in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America including Brazil. And it was while photographing in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1960, that Burri worked on an assignment for German magazine Praline and captured one of his most iconic images. The shot is of four shadowy businessmen walking on the rooftop of a skyscraper amid a smoke filled background, tens of stories above the busy streets below. It was a stunning, dramatical image that announced the metropolis of São Paulo's to the outside world.

Besides being iconic, the photograph has historical importance too in that it was a tipping point in Burri`s career. He shot it using an 18mm lens despite Magnum members only being allowed to shoot from 35mm to 90mm. Henri Cartier-Bresson, who had mentored Burri for many years and insisted on not using lenses below 35mm, was kept at a distance after this shot and Burri followed his own path into photography`s history books.

Burri in 2010 at the age of 81

He argued in favour of new and different photographic styles and continues to do so to this day. "Everybody now has a cell phone and can take snaps, which is great - even children," he says. "But my advice for young photographers is to go and cover things that nobody else is thinking about. Put your nose into things. Use the third eye of the camera and don't be completely dependent on Photoshop or the way other people want you to cast the world."

Photo: São Paulo seen from space

São Paulo as seen from the International Space Station

Taken by NASA from the International Space Station the photo of São Paulo (above) shows us what the city looks like when viewed from orbit.

As a huge urban area, it is easy to pick out although getting a good shot is easier said than done. Due to the earth's orbit the city flies by at a speedy 4.4 miles per second. If we do the maths that means that even at a very fast exposure of 1/1000th of a second there is still 7 metres of Earth motion.

The trick behind the São Paulo picture, and other photos taken from space, is similar to high speed sports photography. The camera is panned in the opposite direction to the natural orbit of the earth but at exactly the same speed thereby compensating the effect which would ordinarily cause blur or streaking.

The result is a photo which clearly shows São Paulo's main arteries as well its geographical footprint. You may notice blue-green lighting in and around the centro region and yellow-orange lighting on the outskirts. The reason for this is mercury-vapor lighting is more prevalent int the old centre whereas sodium vapor lighting is common in more recently built areas. 

Renato Stockler's aerial photos of football fields in São Paulo

 

Journalist turned photograhper Renato Stockler took these incredible shots of São Paulo's football fields. All are aerial photos of ordinary neighbourhoods in São Paulo with a communal pitch or "terrão".

A far cry from the lavish world cup stadiums with their green grass and media friendly aesthetics, these are the hardened earth pitches on which you have to play if you are from the impoverished peripheral neighbourhoods of São Paulo.

The pitches symbolise the precious little public space set aside for leisure in poorer districts. But, being less desirable neighbourhoods does not necessarily mean there is a lower demand for housing and, as many of Renato's photos show, open areas are being encroached on and menaced by property development and speculation.

In other words, this is a photojournalistic essay of a Brazilian endangered species; local football pitches.

In his own words Renato explains the symbolism:

"The reddish tone of a soccer field turns into a stage for the resistance of popular soccer. Some of them have their own football clubs, while others are publics spots. Some of them are mainly dirt, while others are of sand, rests of weathered grass.

"But they are a breath [of fresh air] for the hard daily lives of those who live on the outskirts of São Paulo. These fields show the urgent need for public and communal places to practice sports, a portrait of those who fight for leisure in a city such as Sao Paulo"

Beautiful tilt shift photos of São Paulo

Check out Andre Cese Arantes' amazing photos of São Paulo. He is a Brazilian graphic designer who studied at Senac and uses tilt shift, a photographic technique employed to simulate miniature scenes.

Below are two of his shots:

The MASP in tilt shift

Aerial view of São Paulo

Discover Javier Senosiain's organic architecture in Itu, São Paulo

Located in Itú, in the state of São Paulo, the Amoeba house is just one of the crazy results of mexican architect Javier Senosiain's so called organic architecture.

It is built on a slope, incorporating itself into the natural soundings with no fences or gates. The colour scheme is largely off white and beige with some copper and gold finishing. Interestingly much of the furniture has been built to form part of the house construction itself.

Javier's work has been compared to Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruce Goff, Soleri, Hundertwasser, Gaudi and Rudolf Steiner.

Check out the pictures below:

Gustavo Lacerda's photos of Brazilian albinos

Brazil is associated with many subjects but not so often with albinism, the absence of pigment in skin, hair, and even eyes.

There are, however, many albinos in Brazil and a São Paulo-based fine art photographer has been spending time finding, researching and photographing them.

After some time photographing Brazilian albinos Gustavo Lacerda released an award winning series of colourless yet colourful portraits.

Below is a selection of his best photos.

More are available on his website

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Self portraits by Fabiano Rodrigues

Fabiano Rodrigues is a former pro-skater who lives São Paulo. He's also a photographer and has just taken a wonderful series of self-portraits using a skateboard and a remote control.

If you know the city you will recognise some of the monuments of São Paulo in the background:

Vintage photos of São Paulo in black and white

Below are a selection of  black of white photos depicting São Paulo in times gone by.

It certainly looks a different place form modern day Sampa!

Anhangabau in the 1930s 

Hotel Esplanada 1950s 

Rua Augusta 1960s

Serra Negra 1925 

Theatro Municipal

São Paulo Protests: A photographic portrait

From a  purely photographic point of view below are some of the best photos from the recent São Paulo protests courtesy of the friendly people at Lost Art 

The photos were taken on the 11th, 13th, 17th and 18th of June at the height of the street demonstrations here in São Paulo.

Man in a Guy Fawkes mask    Photo: IG Aronovich

Police firing tear gas    Photo: IG Aronovich

Anti PEC-37 placard    Photo: IG Aronovich

Protester on Avenida Paulista    Photo: IG Aronovich

More photos on Lost Art's website

What would São Paulo's night sky look like without light pollution?

That is the question posed and answered by Thierry Cohen's "Darkened Cities" photography project. By merging two sets of photos he recreates what would be the view from the city, if it were not producing light pollution.

The process involves taking a photograph in the countryside, verified to be at the same latitude as the city shot and using an identical camera angle in order to record the "same" sky a few hours earlier or later. Through this technique Cohen is able to show the "real" sky, the one you should be seeing if the city was not so big and wasn't emitting so much light.

The resulting photos are a powerful warning that as more and more of the world's population becomes urban, and as we lose our connection with the natural world, we become oblivious to our impact. At the same time they are a beautiful reminder of the context to which our cities, and humanity in general, belong:

São Paulo, Minhocão

São Paulo, Paulista Avenue

Hong Kong

Rio de Janeiro

Shanghai

Shanghai

New York