The exception goes to those photographers that had some historical importance in the photography World, those that influence(d) me, those that I believe can move others like they moved me, humanitarian photographers, and that normally live in the "shadow" of the same old Features and references.
Today I have the pleasure and honor to bring you Rui Palha.
Talented photographer and a really good person.
There is little information about Rui Palha. We know that he was born in 1953, is Portuguese, lives in Lisbon, and considers himself an amateur. Well, if all amateurs photographed as Rui, the World would not need professionals.
Photography is his hobby since he was 14 years of age. Had his own darkroom, but preferred to "press the button" in the streets.
The sentence that defines his photography: "Photography is a very important part of my space… it is to discover, it is to capture giving flow to what the heart feels and sees in a certain moment, it is being in the street, trying, knowing, learning and, essentially, practicing the freedom of being, of living, of thinking…"
This story teller uses images and "try to show, among the real life scenes of the everyday life, the beauty that always exists inside the unknown People, my "street models", the beauty of the human race independently of the color, the religion and the politics".
Quoting Rui Palha: "Henri Cartier Bresson said about Photography "It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis". We have to be able to anticipate, to understand, to "see", to "feel" a street scene in a fraction of time and we must capture that moment in a meaningful framing. The composition is fundamental, too. Not only the moment capture. So you must have the head, the eye, the heart…and the finger in the same axis. And I think this "axis", this characteristic, is indispensable to be a street photographer and not an ordinary "street shooter".
He uses a point and shoot camera in his pocket for problematic places like underground, big shopping centers and places where a camera is a bait to attract problem. This means he doesn't avoid those places. Weapons of choice: a Leica Dlux 4 with a 24-60mm; with SLR/DSLR cameras uses a 20mm, 35mm and a 50mm lenses; and very few times, with the Nikon D700, uses Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 zoom.
I really admire this humble, talented Man and photographer, and subscribe the way he thinks: "You must love people… and respect them. Street photography is not an easy way to make photography… We have to be brave, astute. We must have the capacity to anticipate the moment before it happens."
The hard part is to choose some examples of his art…
Rui Palha
Estudio14a
Portfolio
Flickr
Erik Kim Interview
