THE PORTFOLIO PROJECT | thinking photography differently: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

ANA CATARINA PINHO | Symbolic Landscape

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Symbolic Landscape is a visual propose which it's objective is looking at the landscape as a human intervention showed in many different amplitudes whether, being plural, thought for a overall from a general and organizational point of view, whether being particular, made on a micro-scale, which happens in a private space like a construction of individual and particular landscape.
These two perspectives: global and particular, are naturally linked, because one is the result of another and both are compulsory at the same space and time, still on photographically way diversified.
The vagueness of landscape becomes the reason of its existence because it is a concept that shows its permanence on contemporaneity.

Paisagem Simbólica

A Paisagem Simbólica é uma proposta visual cujo objectivo é pensar a paisagem como uma intervenção humana, manifestada nas mais diversas amplitudes, quer sejam plurais, pensadas para uma globalidade, sob um ponto de vista organizacional e generalizado; quer sejam particulares, construídas numa micro-escala que se desenrola no espaço privado, como construção duma paisagem individual e singular.
Estas duas perspectivas: global e particular estão naturalmente ligadas, pois uma é consequência da outra e ambas situam-se, obrigatoriamente, nos mesmos espaço e tempo, ainda que diversificadas fotograficamente.
A indefinição da paisagem torna-se a razão da sua existência, pois trata-se dum conceito que marca a sua permanência na contemporaneidade.

Ana Catarina Pinho

ANA CATARINA PINHO | Nomads

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The search for something new or different implies the need to change. It doesn’t matter if it’s a positive or negative change, it will always be a shift on personal habits and routines.
Nomads represent, visually and metaphorically, the relation between the search for a change and it’s inherent consequences. This photographic series translates the fine line between the search for a better future and the tough process of adaptation - by impersonating the classical portrait aesthetics- and its consequences- through the imperfection and disturbing details represented by the bruises on each model.

A busca de algo novo ou diferente implica uma mudança que, seja ela positiva ou negativa, representa uma alteração nos hábitos e rotinas pessoais.
Nomads representa, visual e metaforicamente, uma possível relação entre a procura de mudança e as consequências que lhe estão adjacentes, por intermédio de uma série fotográfica que aproxima uma estética clássica de retrato à imperfeição expressa pelas marcas físicas dos retratados.

Ana Catarina Pinho

MULTIMEDIA |

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

RICARDO FIGUEIRA | Rostos: Portraits of Portuguese people in France

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

"Rostos: Portraits of Portuguese people in France" is a joint work by Ricardo Figueira (photographer) and Elisabeth Machado Marcellin (social scientist). Half a century has passed since the first big wave of Portuguese immigration to France. We have decided to take a look at some members of the community, trying to include people of different ages, regions, professions and social layers, without pretending to make an exhaustive sociological work guided by strict rules.
We have included representatives of the first wave, some young newcomers and members of the new generations who were already born in the country. Based upon their duality of cultures/references, we asked ourselves (and we asked them) what unites them, what does it mean to be Portuguese. We confronted each one of them with the clichés that exist concerning the Portuguese, without wanting to confirm or deny these clichés. Basically, this work is the result of an encounter (between the authors) and the result of encounters, in plural, with some of our compatriots we met during our personal and professional lives in France.

"Rostos: Retratos de portugueses em França" é um trabalho conjunto do fotógrafo Ricardo Figueira e da investigadora em ciências sociais Elisabeth Machado Marcellin. Meio século passado desde a primeira grande onda de emigração (ou imigração, dependendo da perspectiva) portuguesa para França, decidimos lançar um olhar sobre vários membros da comunidade, tentando construir um universo de várias faixas etárias, profissões, regiões e camadas sociais, sem contudo ter a pretensão de fazer um trabalho sociológico que obedeça a regras de representatividade estritas. Aqui cabem emigrantes da primeira vaga, jovens recém-chegados à procura de uma vida melhor e representantes das novas gerações nascidos já em território francês. Com base na dualidade de culturas e de referências, perguntamo-nos (e perguntámos-lhes) o que os une, o que significa ser português. Decidimos confrontar cada um deles com os clichês criados em redor do português, sem querer confirmar esses clichês mas também sem os negar. Este é, acima de tudo, um trabalho que nasceu de um encontro, entre os dois autores do projecto, e de encontros, no plural, que fomos tendo com os nossos compatriotas ao longo da vida pessoal e profissional em França.

JOÃO MIGUEL BAPTISTA | Me, Myself and I

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Some time ago I recovered a Polaroid camera in my parents basement`s house. I had purchased it in the 80`s. I shortly photographed with it at the time, when was fashionable to do so. I was more interested in literature and movies than taking pictures.
What fascinates me in polaroids are the snapshots. A quick button press and the image is printed right away. Almost magical. Me, Myself and I is a set of small events, fragments of everyday life. My photography is a intimate diary, a reflection of me shared with others.

Há algum tempo recuperei uma câmara polaroid na cave da casa dos meus pais. Tinha-a comprado nos anos 80. Pouco fotografei com ela na altura em que era moda fazê-lo. Interessavam-me mais os livros e os filmes do que a fotografia.
O que me fascinou nas polaroids foi o seu registo imediato. Um rápido pressionar de botão e a imagem é impressa no momento. Quase mágico. Me, Myself and I é um conjunto de pequenos acontecimentos, de fragmentos da vida de todos os dias. A minha fotografia é um diário íntimo, um reflexo de mim partilhado com os outros.

João Miguel Baptista

website | www.joaomiguelbaptista.com

MÁRIO PIRES | Off duty

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

MÁRIO PIRES | Coimbra-C

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

MÁRIO PIRES | USL-Vol1

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

ALBERTO DE LA CRUZ | Ballet Nacional de Cuba

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Perfection in motion, silhouettes gliding through the air, body shaped music, soul-shaking dance.
It's tough to explain your feelings while watching them dancing, the sweetness of unbelievable movements, the softness of a feather surfing the air.
During my photography studies in the "Recamara.com" I had the chance to enjoy a day of work with the "Ballet Nacional de Cuba".
It was the lights and the shadows, the colours embracing their fight against the gravity which triggered my camera's shutter;
I just enjoyed those geniouses of the body in motion.

La perfección en el movimiento, siluetas deslizándose por el aire, música con forma de cuerpo, danza agitando su alma.
Es difícil explicar lo que se siente al verles bailar, la delicadeza de movimientos inverosímiles, la suavidad de una pluma surcando el aire.
Durante mis estudios de fotografía en la Recamara.com tuve la suerte de poder disfrutar de una jornada de trabajo con el Ballet Nacional de Cuba.
Fueron las luces y las sombras, los colores que acompañaban su dura lucha con la gravedad lo que hizo que el obturador de mi cámara se accionase, yo, solo disfruté de esos genios del cuerpo en movimiento.

JORGE PEDRA | Urban Walls

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

These pictures of mine pretend to be very urban, acting like a portrait of the city – almost any city.

I began photographing the grafitti and "posters" on the walls of my home town, a fairly common procedure in art and photography. Then I decided I could go further and obtain objects that were interesting plastically, working on the slides, scratching, painting, or even burning or melting them. Sometimes I also use coloured or transparent paper and stick it on the film. In a next phase of the work, the film is scanned and lambda prints, 40 inches across, are produced. I also use aluminium to print on or even canvas; in that case, again, the canvas is painted in order to obtain the final effect.

CATH.AN. | Le temps de la promesse + Là où j'ai cru te voir...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Cath. An. works between Nantes and Paris, where she was born in 1981. She found her niche in art history, then architecture from where she got a degree. Her native land is a land of sentences picked up along the books she read or the walks she had. From these, she extracted, in her own special way (maybe due to her Croat origins) poetry. She lives on words ; she lets them settle in her mind, under the shape of some writings or some photos. She turns these gushing emotions into photos. Cath. An. has learnt from her architecture studies precision in constructing anything – whence her «series» which are playful variations of lines and shapes. The core of her quest is in her will to suggest a presence by the absence of a subject. And especially because she wants to share what she feels from the quivering behind appearances under the veil of light.

Catherine SIMON

website| www.photographe-cath-an.com

CYRIL REZÉ | Parking' Colors

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Cyril Rezé lives and work in Nantes (France).
Graphic designer, web designer and freelance photographer.

" There is a wonderful paradox in Cyril Rezé’s photographs. They tell us about our own human condition with great intensity while the shape of a body is rarely represented. By reveling the hidden beauty of abandoned places and locations we go through without really seeing them – using a detail, often lost in an iridescent reflection, as an entrance point for his pictures – Cyril Rezé makes possible the contemplation of a world that would have been lost to us without him. For this crumbling and unraveling world that is dissolving in intense colors and diffuse contrasts is indeed ours. We only needed an eye to discover it. "
Jean-Daniel Mohier

website | www.cyrilreze.com

HEIDI ROMANO | Am waldes rand (Forests edge)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Initially these images were part of a five-year investigation into the forests of the world. But over time they made me look differently, because behind their great complexity and careful composition, lies a secret.

Photographically I have always been interested in time and how we perceive change. These images illustrate the change of light, the changing direction of the wind and the force of the weather. We see a forest and imagine adventures - dream of discoveries, secret paths, laughter, or playing hide and seek. Yet sometimes a small piece of information dramatically influences the way we perceive, the way we look.

When I took these images I had no intention of documenting a crime scene, but when I unintentionally did, the forest transformed into a dark, mysterious place that spoke of hiding under rocks and escaping the country, of police searches, sirens and helicopters.

In its silence I thought of loss, heartbreak, and the crime committed by a friend - father of a little girl and partner to my best friend.

Short Biography |

Heidi Romano is a fine art photographer and founder of UNLESS YOU WILL - a bimonthly international photography journal that showcases a vision within photo-based art. Her own work challenges the perceptions and expectations we have of our surroundings. Presented in an abstract & minimalist style, her photographs play with ambiguity, while conveying a sense of stillness and isolation.

website | www.unlessyouwill.com | www.talesoflight.com.au/

ELISE BOULARAN | Enigma

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Pictures full of ellipses and silences, dislocating to the enigma. Using tirelessly ambiguity, telling us the privacy. The debris of your memory are picked to be thrown light. Then, the story can be told, true or false… whatever. A memory showing an intimate sphere where human disorders reign; inner fits can be told. My concerns are brought to the human reality of our time. Tirelessly trying to translate the human’s secrets, I reveal what can be private for someone. Through my work we can discover photographs impregnated with ambiguity. Preferring a picture to decrypt than a picture given which is already here, a resistant picture in a way. We can see a research of ambiguity in the pervasiveness of the bodies and in their weakness. Trying another narrative form, like these silent bodies which do not reveal everything. A narrative form that cannot be put in a time space or in a traditional space. It means, taking photographs without giving them a definitive meaning, to be facing a silent privacy. How to make visible through the photography what is hidden, how to highlight this invisible and dumb gesture? This reflection is always corresponding with my photographic work. We are talking now about a kind of parallel reality, an interstitial territory which ignores geographic spaces and political systems, which belongs neither to a reality quite true nor a fiction consciously developed, but is rather enriched by its own rituals and rules of conduct where the distinction between good and evil, happiness and sadness, innocence and perversity, reality and fantasy, fade. These images have in common the evocation below and beyond the assertion, the suspension of action for the expression. This work does not flee the world, but intends to build an interpretation, where something dumb and indefinable is really present. The characters here are not in action, they are like bodies vaguely absent themselves. Portraits where opacity and strangeness resist. Everything happen as their assignment (referential, spatial and temporal) was stopped for a while, as isolated from the world of appearances. So we find in these photographs the utopia of a suspended time and the cruelty of a relapse sensed. The photography is, it is known, the special instrument of this temporal ambiguity. I use ambulation as a creative process. I seek to have, throughout my approach, a perceptual and poetic attitude faced with reality. Wandering, or, we could say, an intense and slow aspiration led me to these places dilapidated, full of history. These places are like equivalents of the body. Most are representations of a melancholy state of mind rather than portraits of specific places. These places are used somewhat as the timeless backdrop of intimate dramas, which are transformed to a garden that retains traces of small personal stories. These images attempt to echo the reality of our time with a melancholy tone surely as a consequence of social evolution, basically characterized by the loss of community.

website | www.eliseboularan.com

THOMAS BELLANGER | Athènes

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Succession d'espaces aux apparences similaires mais possédant leur singularités. Athènes se révèle nouvelle à chaque échelle. Ordre microscopique ou chaos macroscopique, ce désordre homogène observé depuis le lycabette est aussi doux et apaisant que la mer à ses pieds. Formes et couleurs se déclinent dans un éventail restreint de dégreadés, renforçant le contrast avec ses quelques excenticités.

website | www.bellanger.tumblr.com/

LUKA BRASE | Art on the way

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

First idea was based years ago when I left my country (Czechoslovakia) and went to Ireland to look for new horizons. A new place to live and new inspiration as well. In a first moment I started to work a lot with spaces around me. Capture him to first drawings from Irish period. As time goes I did a lot of work and start look for another level. I followed more things in the city of Cork, specially the old man captured in my photos. This all happened in a 3 years period. We saw each other in a park a street, in front of a very rich Bank, which was a very sharp contrast. The fancy building of the bank and his old clothes, which he was wearing for already 3 years. His face, body, all movements did presented every fight of the Irish people, all the poorness and religious wars.
The Pieces I made are reflecting the past and history of Ireland in contrast with the future.

Website | www.lukabrase.nl

VIRGINIE PLAUCHUT | Altera + Le Messager

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Photography as obviousness. Over time, the themes become clearer, I explore and wonder about humans. My approach is more narrative, I create a universe of out-of-frame stories. Where the human is ubiquitous... I love this link that photography and intimacy share and nurture. I intend to show these internal exiles, these live's added features, this myriad of beauty in everyday's life.

"Virginie Plauchut uses reality to say something new. Sometimes it sailing, overexpose the subject. She plays with light as the painter with the color. The pictures she keeps whispering secrets."
Ileana Cornea

"Every series is a narrative dimension, Virginie tells and tells stories and gives the series a cinematic camera. She said the photograph seals the time in the image, then opening a space for contemplation, an interior space. And there is indeed something about the intimate consciousness of time, idle time, in parentheses, subjective, a time of dreams and the observation time of abandonment, too, in the atmosphere bathing the photographs that seem to resist the frenzy of the world. A kind of slow but certain resistance against time pressed. In this context the work of Virginie Plauchut is centered around notions of intimacy, introspection, loneliness or even camera. The
search for meaning through his photographs is arguably the exploration of the human. And nature, often present in mystery, from earth to heaven, taking shape as a topos soothing and peaceful, tranquil mirror, guide and index of introspection possible. In an elegant confines of nostalgia and dreams, photographs Plauchut of Virginia, and all their own way, exploring the territories of the endless confrontation sweet
or bitter, and existential, the subject with the world."
Marie Deparis Yafil

Website | www.virginieplauchut.com

EMMANUEL CORREIA | Temps de pose

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Je suis né à Dijon (Bourgogne - France) en 1971. Je vis actuellement dans le Morvan près de Saulieu. J'ai commencé à faire des images trés tôt influencé par un environnement familiale très artistique. D'abord le dessin, la peinture, l'image de synthése et enfin la photographie. Je n'ai pas de formation artistique "classique", je n'ai pas fait d'école d'art. J'ai commencé par la peinture et la photographie à l'âge de treize ans, puis j'ai continué par l'infographie à l'époque de la démocratisation des ordinateurs familiaux. Je travaille essentiellement avec les outils numériques car je suis infographiste dans une agence d'architecture à Saulieu. Je fais le plus souvent des photographies de paysages en format carré et en noir et blanc. J'aime essayer de montrer ce que l'on ne voit pas dans ce qui nous entoure. Créer des atmosphéres qui ne semblent pas évidentes dans l'instant mais qui sont lá, sous jacente. Pour cela j'utilise souvent la pose longue et une profondeur de champ réduite.

Website | www.emmanuelcorreia.com

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | Blue(s) Project

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Strolling. Felt the blue colour of the sky and the melodic blues invading me. Everything was transformed in theatrical scenery and its characters and scenarios suddenly appeared so I could capture them in that melancholic Blue(s) act. A lomography series with an Holga.

Vagueando. Fui sentindo a cor azul do céu e a melancólica melodia dos Blues a invadirem-me. Tudo se transformou num cenário teatral e os seus personagens foram aparecendo para que eu os pudesse capturar nesse acto melancólico. Um trabalho de lomografia com uma Holga.

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | While Driving

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

My car always represented my freedom. A series about expressing this feeling always lived inside my car. A view of the world while I am simply passing by…A work of iphoneography in progress.

O meu carro sempre representou a minha liberdade. Esta série expressa este sentimento que sempre vivi dentro do meu carro. Uma visão do mundo, enquanto estou simplesmente a conduzir e a passar…Um trabalho de iphoneografia em progresso.

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | the DReAM

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Devotion. My father. Affection. A dream. The dream. Of death. Of life. Of anguish. Of joy. A dream of affections. Purely. On a self-portrait iphoneography work.

Devoção. O meu pai. Afecto. Um sonho. O sonho. Da morte. Da vida. De angústia. De alegria. Um sonho de afectos. Puramente. Um trabalho de iphoneografia em auto-retrato.

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | Lo-Fi Lisbon

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

…suddenly Lisbon became a wonderland in a low fidelity mood and I was Alice in “that” Wonderland. Once upon a time…

…de repente Lisboa tornou-se no país das maravilhas, em modo de baixa fidelidade, e eu transformei-me na Alice “nesse” País das Maravilhas. Era uma vez…

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | Emptiness

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Emptiness. Abandonment. Cobwebs. Past. Memories. Stories lived. Never forgotten. A work of iphoneography.

Vazio. Abandono. Teias de aranha. Passado. Memórias. Histórias vividas. Nunca esquecidas. Um trabalho de iphoneografia

ANA FILIPA QUINTÃO | Elements

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Void. Images of a Japanese philosophy, in which Earth, represents the hard, solid objects of the world. Fire represents the energetic, forceful, moving things. Wind represents things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement. Water represents the fluid, flowing, formless things. Void, also meaning Sky or Heaven, represents those things beyond our everyday experience, particularly those things composed of pure energy. A work of iphoneography in progress.

Terra, Fogo, Água, Vento e Vazio. Imagens sobre uma filosofia Japonesa, em que a Terra, representa os rígidos e sólidos objectos do mundo. O fogo representa tudo o que se move de forma enérgica e vigorosa. O vento representa tudo o que cresce, se expande e que goza de liberdade de movimento. A água representa o que flui e não tem forma. O Vazio, que também significa o Céu, representa tudo o que está para além da experiência quotidiana, principalmente o que é composto de pura energia. Um trabalho de iphoneografia em progresso.

ALESSANDRO PUCINELLI | Mare

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Power, Harmony, Elegance and a Huge Sense of space and Freedom which manage to fit together in total harmony in the same element, the Sea.
I'm so attached to the Ocean, that to some extent, the sea has been my guide throughout life and I think of the Ocean as both an example to learn by and a source of knowledge and inspiration.
It can seem to be larger than anything else, both empty and full at the same time, similar but never the same, its waves, as described by Jack London, are "the knights of the infinite sea army" bearing simplicity, elegance, power and freedom.
This project has been conceptually influenced by Romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich and William Turner, their idea of being so small in front of the Nature as well as their evocation of the infinite, fits very well not only what I had in mind for this project, but, also my philosophical approach to life.
I decided to use BW to help me show the elegance of the element sea and to use the square format to compress the power as much as I could within frames.
My relationship with the sea derives from my passion for surf. After learning photography as a commercial photographer, I decided that mixing the two main passions in my life (the sea and photography) it would have been the best way to produce some personal projects on a more deep level than my daily commercial photography and, at the same time, don't feel guilty when I'm on the beach.

I was born in Pisa (Italy) and moved to Australia when I was 23. This was where I had my first experiences of commercial photography and where, above all, I started to observe the nature around me from a very different perspective.

17 years later, I divide my time between Pisa and Lisbon (Portugal) where I have found just the right balance between European lifestyle and Nature in a pure form.
Today, I continue to work on some commercial projects and in the future, I envisage myself as a photographer on an eternal exploration of the worlds I hold most dear, amongst which, of course, is the Ocean.

website | www.alessandropuccinelli.com/

CARLOS BARRADAS | Nacional Um

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Shot throughout my return to home after teaching some 60km far away, this essay displays the road that has been my companion during the last 3 years, the Nacional 1. It was, long before highways were built, Portugal’s most important road, connecting the two major Portuguese cities, Lisbon and Oporto. As an anthropologist and a photographer, it has always intrigued me, especially in a contemporary context, in which only the great routes of communication (either physical, such as highways, or virtual) have undeniable value. This led me to think of other kinds of routes, smaller and less visible, that over time have lost prominence in the flow of people and goods. Some, however, resist this removal of importance and are often a repository of socio-cultural characteristics or, I dare to say, have some kind of memory. The voyages, transactions and other initiatives that are settled in any roadside restaurant, the trucking company or warehouse, reinforce the construction of an utmost weird ambience.

At night, beyond the road’s border, a feeling between abandonment and an ulterior life persists. Other arrangements of work, pleasure and leisure emerge. This road, the Nacional Um, is an awkward place to be. And travel.

LUÍS PINTO | Gilberto, The last Bolero

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Eighty years old. Forty of them working in the docks, and another 20 working on a fish factory. But wait. Don't let your mind be fooled by the nude torso, nor by the skin and bone looks. Summer temperatures in Cuba are high. And when you are at home and don't expect any visitors, you make yourself as comfortable as possible. And the asthma doesn't help either. Walking two blocks to the hospital for your regular visit is a demanding task, which you face as calmly as possible, stopping several times along the way. And when you arrive home, extenuated, and you look at the mirror and see only half of what you were, you have one of two options, either you give up, or you keep on fighting, believing in something.
For Gilberto, this means believing in yourself, in your work, in your capacity to leave something valuable for your children and grand-children. So you try to control your breath and focus on the tasks you have imposed yourself. Copying your boleros and your short stories to new notebooks keeps you alive, with a sense of mission.
Composing boleros, his passion, started while working in the docks. At night he would carefully dress himself to join the Cuban nightlife. Always well dressed, with good manners for the ladies, his life gave him all the material he needed for his boleros. After writing the lyrics and composing the music by ear, he visited a musician to translate his ideas into musical scores. Success came in the form of recorded discs and many Cuban singers and groups singing his music. And its success extended overseas. But Cuba is Cuba. A unique country. Offering unpaired beauty along with adverse life conditions. And Gilberto was just another Cuban.
Nowadays that musical tastes evolved, his music is less heard. Boleros are less fashionable. Cuban youth doesn't want to hear old and innocent lyrics about love. They want explicit lyrics and a fast paced rhythm in music. And royalties are getting smaller and smaller each day. Especially those from Europe.
Even with his physical condition, when we look and talk with him, one cannot avoid feeling this powerful sense of dignity. He has adjusted to its life conditions. He does not ask for anything. Except for the royalties for the recordings of his music made by a Spanish producer, some years ago, which left Cuba with a promise still to be fulfilled.
Latter in life, his passion evolved towards written histories, some of them hitting the radio stations. Sitting in his living room, amid his musical scores and notebooks filled with lyrics and stories, he grabs another notebook, a pen, and starts copying one of his short stories. He tries to play a tape with a radio recording of one of his stories, taped by one of his grand-daughters some time ago. But the radio doesn't work properly. He concentrates on his writings. In the hope that, with them, his daughters and grand-children will have the opportunity he missed. He is living his last bolero. And the female role is played be life itself.

LUÍS PINTO | Fighting for a life

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The kids start to arrive, one or two at a time. Young kids, 15 to 18 years old. Some arrive in silence; others talk about the school, or about their work; or about the school and their work; or about girls and cars; about their dreams.
They respectfully greet the staff at the entrance and, as they cross the small hall, they are involved by a spartan decoration, anticipating the kind of ambience you will perceive long before the day is finished. There is the inevitable statue of José Marti, a small table with a chess game, just waiting for two opponents, and a first-aid box at one corner. Their eyes cannot avoid looking at the wall were they can see a few hanged pictures from famous fighters that started their professional life at these premises. These, along with the low wooded ceiling, both convey a certain sense of intimacy.
As they cross the door on the other end of the hall, they have to readjust their eyes to the intense blue sky that covers the internal open space where the boxing ring is located. Covered by a metal roof, the ring clearly dominates the space. The surrounding yellow walls are old and dirty. No fancy equipment on the walls. Nor shower facilities. Just the barely essential. Like the line of old tires, hanging from the wall at slightly different heights.
The space is quiet. You can hear the sounds from the street over the wall, while they prepare themselves. They dress what they can afford. Sometimes an old equipment, others just a pair of shorts made from a pair of old blue jeans.
Boxing tradition in Cuba is a long one. One of the things that make this sport so special in Cuba is the lack of professional boxing. All professional sports were banned with the revolution. And as such, boxing does not promise high salaries nor a sumptuous house or the last flaming car. But in the Olympic Games, Cuban boxers can bring more medals than all other countries together. Promising boxers are pitched early, thanks to an effective selective system, which starts in first grade schools.
Life is not easy in Cuba. Getting punched during the training sessions is like a coaching session for the real life outside the boxing school. And these kids apply themselves to the hard study. A one hour session each day. Sometimes two sessions per day. They sweat their souls out. They try to prove themselves and others that they are capable of something more in their life. On a country were opportunities for a better life are scarce as water on the desert, they literally fight for a better future.

MANUEL LUÍS COCHOFEL | Peripheral

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Peripheral*

This project was made in a two week trip to the city of Venice and its outskirts, in the Summer of 2009.
I wanted to look into the other face of the well known city, by trying to obtain different images than the ones we usually get. I believe we have to go beyond appearances to really know someone and that this principle also applies to a city. By strolling off the beaten path you can reach deeper into the spirit of any place.
I have some kind of fascination for the details most people don’t care about and for the spots no one bothers to photograph. Most of the time, I try to find beauty within those unique common places.
These pictures where all made with film, the majority with an Hasselblad (6x6), some with a Pentax 645. These last images where cropped to a square format. They are meant to be enlarged to a size of 90x90 cm.

website | www.cochofel.net/

* A peripheral is a device attached to a system unit but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the system unit. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core. (in Wikipedia)

CARLOS BARRADAS | EN1

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In the current paradigm of the relentless appreciation of the great routes of communication (either physical, such as highways, or virtual), there are other, smaller and less visible, that have lost prominence in the flow of people and goods. Some, however, resist this deprivation and are often a repository of socio-cultural characteristics of a specific region in that it accumulates a historical memory, supported by several decades of operation. The trips, transactions and other initiatives that are settled in any roadside restaurant, the trucking company or warehouse, often fleeing to elsewhere, reinforce the construction of this ambience.

At night, beyond the road’s border, a feeling between abandonment and an ulterior life persists. Other forms of work, pleasure and leisure emerge. This is an ackward place to be. And travel.