STREET MOMENTS

ABOUT THE PHOTOS AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER

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Daniel Cardoso is a street photographer currently based in Dublin, Ireland. He was born and raised in Brazil, in a town near the country's largest city, São Paulo.

 

When I first came across Daniel's photos, I felt they weren't only pictures of people in places; they seemed to capture people's relationship to those places and the traces they leave behind. They show the relationship between the visual aspects of the street - the architecture and colors- and the person or people in it. 

 

Daniel seems to get a strong sense of a place and is then able to translate that feeling into a photograph. The signs, buildings, movement, and graffiti all seem to contribute to the place's atmosphere and identity. 

 

When asked about the process, he explains: "If I am taking photos in the place I am living, I like to go to different neighborhoods and try to capture what makes that part of the city unique: architecture and the people that live in that area."

 

The photographs are captured during walks around cities, capturing people and buildings. Daniel explains that he wants to capture a piece of history, and that societies are constantly changing.  

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The photos are digital, mostly shot on his Fujifilm X-Pro1, but he learned to shoot analog when he briefly studied photography before studying cinema.

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The compositions feel discovered, instead of arranged or pre-planned. Daniel once explained that he walks around with his camera at chest height, and I think this spontaneous attitude gives the photos a certain life to them. At the same time, the photos are not accidental; they seem carefully considered even as they feel spontaneous.

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The people in Daniel’s photos are often caught in movement or transition, and the photos become fragments of a larger context that we get a glimpse into. "If I am traveling, I just walk freely, but I always try to choose non-tourist areas, because there are too many people with cameras there," Daniel said.

 

Another thing I really appreciate about Daniel's photos is his attention to geometry. Arches, poles, buildings all create a framework and sometimes becomes almost a stage. The photographs also have a certain physical energy; it feels like I get to experience a city that is alive and meet the people in it.

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These are moments and people from São Paulo, Dublin, and Paris.