Portraits inside outside

Sens

Last Saturday I covered AliPresents and Muna Group event at Sens. It happens that Ivan Sampson, the nightclub reviewer for the local San Francisco paper The Examiner, was present. He did a piece about Sens and used three of my photos to illustrate his writing.

You can view the full article at the Examiner.com. Click here for the link.

Arpeggio Chair

This is a cardboard chair designed by Stephen Beemer. It is called Arpeggio. The chair is very sturdy, and has a lounge look to it. I could have this in my living room!

Bay Area Derby Girls'

Great game. Girls in roller skating playing very interesting strength, speed and thought group work. Here's a detail.

More dancing from last night

Tiefschwarz

Pics from Tiefschwarz visit to San Francisco. enjoy!

prepherens

Several times when I come from a gig I am confronted with pictures to choose from. Sometimes the images are really similar, or there are slightly different qualities that I appreciate. Man, editing can be hard. Now, I ask you to choose for me. Last night I covered this great indie rock concert in a small venue in San Francisco. The vocalist was a riot! which pic do you prefer?

Style Dj

Polaroid

It's no news that Polaroid is going out of business. So they came up with a software that makes digital files look Polaroid like. Check the results with this image taken at San Francisco Supermarket Street Sweep.

Dj

Ghana and People

During the month of August I covered the work of several Non-profit organizations in Ghana. I had the possibility to see Ghanaian people getting together to help the community about several issues. HIV, manufacturing goods, loans, teaching, architecture, workshops in trauma, to name a few of the projects covered.

Too see the all the images go to my website at www.dugo.zenfolio.com

Billie

What are portraits all about? connection, security, trust, relaxation, tension, anger, frustration?

Tennis

Sports photos happen fast, so better have a high shutter speed in case the photographer wants everything sharp. If not, there is the exciting gamble to get just enough blur to make the shot interesting, while retaining sufficient detail.

Hermanos

In Brazil Latino means people of Latin origins, such as Uruguay, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Panama or Italy. It is a very general denomination, and I find very few South and Central Americans using the word. In the United States, Latino is used as a marketing strategy, targeting a great percentage of the population.

The North American non-profit organization Remezcla, makes intelligent use of the word Latino. The company seeks to promote Latino events in several U.S. metropolitan areas. Their home base is New York, where Remezcla already has a great variety of events to put in its calendar.

The images below are from the launch party for the San Francisco website. If you want to know what is going on in the Bay Area we have one more source: sfremezcla.

Light

It has been a long while since I posted something in the blog. So I found this image in my archives and decided that this may bring some inspiration and ideas on what to post.

Carne Val

Sometimes Brasil arrives in the States, usually just for a few minutes. It was fun to take pictures of these girls. They were dancing with their huge outfits in a crowded dance floor!

Enjoy, it's yours

Spring 2008 started well for City College of San Francisco students and community. Running over the budget, the school finished the Student Wellness Center. The complex has gymnasium, swimming pool, gym, dance and martial arts rooms. The highlight is the pool area, with glass walls very similar to the new wing of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Below are a photo inside the gymnasium where students play badminton, the pool and the outside of the Student Wellness Center.

Hell! Inferninho

Last night I encountered some of the best dancers in San Francisco, or at least the most animated ones. The three images have different feelings and colors. I went to photoshop and changed each image to a look that I judged better suit the images. I did so with confidence because the theme is pretty obvious and having all of the photos looking alike would be monotonous to present as a trip tich.

Maria

Last Night!

I guess I don't have much to say, except: it was fun!! good people interacting.

Self Portrait

Both self portraits were taken in the same afternoon. The woman is a friend Marcela and the guy in the bathroom I don't know. I like his awkward yet discrete look.

Relaxed

I took these two photos more than a year ago. It was a relaxed session. We started with the gray background and after an hour we changed to the white one. At that point, Nicole - model - was more comfortable resulting in this very strong look. The stretching in the first photo probably helped Nicole to get into the mood.

The moment

When I saw this scene I knew it was not going to be a "pretty" shot, but I felt a connection. The three people looking at the camera kind of slowed down their dance for me to take the photo, but at the same time they were still doing their thing. I believe they knew they were making a good image. It was a rare opportunity where the moment stopped in front of me, instead of trying to run away from the camera.

Tryptich

When I arrived at this club I knew it was going to be a slow night. Not very many people were there. The bartender also agreed with my opinion. While waiting for things to pick up a little more I ordered a drink, talked to a few people and wondered around as if I were not working. The clubs had a cool set up of lights, which was very helpful. The fact that the night was slow for shooting portraits I have had more time to explore other facets of the night club.

At the Club

Another image at a night club. People were dressing with Halloween costumes. Econtrei Eva.

Dance babe dance

The weekend before Halloween I went shoot at two night clubs. As the tradition goes people dressed up in their costumes. Some had a full outfit, others went for small details like bee antennas and devils horns. I like that at clubs people feel free to do whatever and do not care for the guy taking pictures.

More Glasses

Another image with glasses. This time with a bright white background and three colors. By the way, the colors of the Brazilian flag. I think the arrangement of the glasses create a nice dynamic, and both the colors and the amount of water add to it. There are so many variables in a photo that has so few elements. That is one of the reasons I enjoy so much to work with just a few props, it is a cretive challenge.

It is movie time!

Going back to the audio & visual series it is time for the Viewlex. It is a versatil equipment that allows use of both 35mm slides and film strip. The condenser houses a 150 watt bulb that according to the manufacturer provides greater screen brilliance than 300 watt bulbs. The relic is perfect condition! I wanted to present the Viewlex in a different fashion from the Audiotronics described below. I decided for composing in photoshop a detail of the Viewlex with the product shot. I have some mixed feelings about the compositing, but decided to do it anyway.

Glasses Rock

For about two and a half months I dedicated my photographic time to shoot glasses. I wanted to keep the props reduced to glass, water, color and light. I used soft boxes, strobes, hot lights, lit in different ways. Here in the blog I will post different ways that I worked with the glasses. What I learned the most is that glasses are very fragile not only for being easy to brake but they also respond intensely to light. When I understood that, I interpreted the relation between glass and light, and was able to use it in my favor.

Amusement Park Game

Continuing the series in the amusement park, this image was taken in a game where they had the air compressed guns that throw tennis balls. The person in the image works in the park. The interesting is that while people were playing, the worker was squatting, which can be uncomfortable position if done for long time. Then she had to go get the balls stuck underneath the targets. When I understood the process described above, I realized that the worker may be a good target for my image. There it was! A gun, some tennis balls and a worker leaning. I took a couple shots until I got close to the gun, and there was my image. It was a bright afternoon, but inside the shooting area was dark, so I changed the ISO for 400 and released the hounds. The digital noise in my opinion ads to the image.

Have you ever used one of those?

While working at the audiovisual department of City College of San Francisco, my supervisor Mark Albright realized that the school was throwing away much of it’s old equipment. Mark had the idea of making an archive with all the relics. The first part of the process was to discuss which machinery to photograph, and how to do it. Then I went to studio several times with a number of different equipments, both experimenting and learning. The first of a great series to come here in Connection is the Audiotronics 300 VT. It fits long plays, and has its own speakers. Also has a neat little handle, that made my life easier, because I had to carry the equipment around campus. The Audiotronics is quite heavy. I wanted to be faithful to the color because it is linked to the period in which it was made.

Search For Food

Here we go! The scene that inspired me to start the photo shoot in the kitchen. Mixed light, mundane situation and sleeping clothes only adds to the message in the image. I used a little bit o photoshop to bring the highlights a bit higher. For me, the image has a feeling of midnight snack.

Eat the Salad

It was a Sunday. Billie wanted a bite to eat. Everything was fast, when I realized I was shooting. The first section was with the fridge door open. I followed her around the kitchen, getting the ingredients, washing the lettuce, preparing the salad and finally eating. When she sat at the table I wanted to be more careful, and not invade too much her privacy. I think the mystery for not revealing all her face makes the image more intriguing.

Amusement Park

The amusement park has a magical touch to its atmosphere. People from all ages and races get together to play. I have to admit that there is a feeling of nostalgia. When I first arrived at the park it was as if I had gone back in time. There was many people over there during that warm Sunday afternoon, but it did not feel too crowded at all. We were all respecting each others space. The noises of people chatting, roller-coasters spinning and the screaming coming from the wildest rides made it a very auditive experience. When the sun came down the light started to get gold and have long shadows. It also diffused through the park structures, creating beautiful light patterns.

Glass and Paint

This image was a result of some experiments with glass and paint. Mixing the colors and creating patterns by moving the glass plate resulted in a motion of colors.

Greeting

This is a space to share experiences. I will be posting my photographs with some thoughts about the image. I welcome you to the blog Connection and hope you enjoy.