| I am a Brazilian ,born in 1956, that began to photograph after I entered Veterinary College in 1975. As a gift, my grandfather, a rancher from the pampas, gave me money to buy a VW bettle, I gave up the car and bough me an Asahi Pentax camera gear, with the money left, I hit the road back packing from southern Brazil to Peru in a 3 months long trip. I got married in1978 and went to live on a ranch located on the border close to Argentina and Uruguay. In 1981, I moved to the Mato Grosso State to live and work in a horse breeding farm located on the Highlands of Chapada dos Guimaraes. In 1998, I decided to give up country life to dedicated myself full-time to photography, so I started to work as a professional. Since 2000 I joined the staff of National Graographic Brazil magazine, having so far numerous commissioned projects to me . I was warded with important prizes of photojournalism for works done for NG Brazil. I divide my time between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo where I am professionaly based. Above all . Im interested in exploring and documenting those still unknown aspects of Brazil and Latin America culture an geography, tracing the remote aspects of our ancient Iberian, Indian and African heritage. I derive my inspiration from the great masters of 20th century photography, specially from Manoel Alvarez Bravo, Walker Evans and Sebastiao Salgado. |
