{"id":2375,"date":"2011-04-13T14:41:07","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T18:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2011-04-13T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2011-04-13T21:01:26","slug":"interview-with-rui-palha-black-and-white-street-photographer-extraordinaire-from-lisbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/13\/interview-with-rui-palha-black-and-white-street-photographer-extraordinaire-from-lisbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Rui Palha, Black and White Street Photographer Extraordinaire from Lisbon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Facebook<\/a> when I asked for a recommendation for my next interview, many of you\u00c2\u00a0directed\u00c2\u00a0me to the work of Rui Palha. His images are full of soul and transport his viewers into a new world. Not only that, but I have never seen black and white street photography nearly as inspirational as his. Continue reading and see his inspirational images and words. <\/p>\n

1. Rui, you have phenomenal black and white street photography. Can you tell us the story of how you first got started in street photography?<\/h2>\n
\"RuiPalha_Street_Photography\"<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First of all, I need to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153say\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that I am not so good expressing my feelings nor my thoughts through words. I prefer try to do that through images, but I will try to put in words what you want to know about me. Photography is a hobby since the 14 years of age. I had my own darkroom, but to be honest, I only liked, since I was a kid, to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153press the button\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the streets. I felt always amazed, hypnotized even, with the movement of people, with their expressions, their reactions… I felt it was a fantastic challenge trying to capture all the bustle of everyday life and a way to learn a lot about the surrounding world. In my photographic world all people are unique and the most important part of my photographs. This sentence defines my way to be in photography: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Photography 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…”<\/em><\/p>\n

2.\tHow long have you been shooting street photography and what were some obstacles or difficulties that you encountered?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photography is a hobby since the 14 years of age (as I wrote before), with great interruptions up to 2001, since then almost all the time is devoted to street photography and to long term sociological projects in problematic neighborhoods of Lisbon. Here, in Portugal, to be a street photographer isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t very easy. There are many \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forbidden places\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 underground, shopping centers, problematic neighborhoods, etc. but, probably, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the danger that somehow attracts me, tease me and drive me up the adrenaline. Sometimes I have problems with security staff or with people that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be photographed, but everything can be solved with frontality and an honest conversation. Anyway I can tell that per times I had some problems with very aggressive people and after some words (sometimes a long talk) we became a kind of friends and, since that moment, any problem in that specific place is finished for me and I become a type of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153over protected\u00e2\u20ac\u009d person. I have lots of memorable experiences and stories while doing street photography and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have time or space enough to tell this now. I think… in fact, I am sure, that the street is a school, so a big percentage of me was build with what I had learned in the streets.<\/p>\n

3.\tWhat do you wish to convey to your viewers through your photography?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, but I think I try to be a story teller using images, telling to the others what I \u00e2\u20ac\u0153see\u00e2\u20ac\u009d everyday during my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street walks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. My photographic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153world\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is in Lisbon, 90% of my photos are made in my own town, where the anonymous people are the main actors of my photographs. I try to gain an insight into their feelings, thoughts with the help of their gestures, motions\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I always try to show, among the real life scenes of the everyday life, the beauty that always exists inside the unknown People, my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street models\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, the beauty of the human race independently of the color, the religion and the politics. As you know I am an amateur and I will have this status until the end of my life. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only way to do what I want and not what the others want I do. Everybody has to be (and feel) free to create, to reflect what is inside themselves.<\/p>\n

4. When you are out on the streets taking photos, what inspires you to capture a certain scene or image?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So many factors\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the moment itself framed as better as possible, the magic of lighting, a framing that pushes my eye, a scene I construct inside my head, the graphism that people \u00e2\u20ac\u0153design\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while they are moving\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Henri Cartier Bresson said about Photography \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. We have to be able to anticipate, to understand, to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153see\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153feel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and the finger in the same axis. And I think this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153axis\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, this characteristic, is indispensable to be a street photographer and not an ordinary \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street shooter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Many times you must be invisible, make part of the scenery\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6this will allow you to be closer of some kind of problematic situations. Other times you have to establish a fantastic connection with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street people\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, talking with them, hearing them, respecting them. We have to enable our capacity to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153look\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153see\u00e2\u20ac\u009d interesting moments\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6funny moments, different moments, creative framings\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we have to understand the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lighting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and try to use it the best way as possible. We have to pick up all the beauty and personality of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street model\u00e2\u20ac\u009d talking with him\/her, listening to him\/her, respecting him\/her\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 this way we are going to learn a lot every day. You must love people\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and respect them. Street photography is not an easy way to make photography\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we have to be brave, astute. We must have the capacity to anticipate the moment before it happens.<\/p>\n

5. \u00c2\u00a0Who are some photographers that you look up to, and how have they affected your work?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henri Cartier Bresson, indeed, and Garry Winogrand, Elliot Erwitt, among others are my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inspiration\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I learnt a lot observing their work.<\/p>\n

6. Describe the favorite street photograph you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken. When and where did you take the photo, and why is it special to you?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a favorite street photograph, to be honest\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I am always looking for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153THE\u00e2\u20ac\u009d moment, I feel I never captured it, and I will look for it forever. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 all my street photographs are important for me because they always have a human story behind them.<\/p>\n

7. What type of camera and which lenses do you use for your street photography? How do you use your equipment to capture your amazing images?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I use several types of equipment, depending on what I want to produce as a final result and the places I go. I always carry in my pocket a point and shoot camera for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153forbidden places\u00e2\u20ac\u009d like underground, big shopping centers and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153problematic places\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Lately I am using a Leica Dlux 4<\/a> (with a 24-60 lenses) With SLR\/DSLR cameras I only use a 20, 35 and a 50mm lenses. Sometimes, a very few times, with my Nikon D700<\/a> I use a Nikon 14-24 f\/2.8 zoom<\/a> I agree completely and I try to follow the quote of Robert Capa: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

8. On flickr you have a wonderful community of other photographers who support and comment on your work. How did you build such a strong following?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The internet is very important to me, but not to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spread\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my work. I learn a lot seeing lots of photographs of many photographers all over the world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a way to see how the world is going on, too. Probably that community you are talking about thinks the same way I think\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I think you should ask to them why they comment my work. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know exactly.<\/p>\n

9. What tips would you give to aspiring street photographers in the community?<\/h2>\n
\"Rui<\/a>
Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my humble opinion, I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not possible to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teach\u00e2\u20ac\u009d street photography, at least for me, as you know (I always said that), I am and I will be an eternal apprentice\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6every day I learn something new in the streets, with people, with life. The way I use to learn \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photography” is the way they can use to learn, too. Some tips I read somewhere, but with which I agree:<\/p>\n

1. Get close to the subject, make them the primary object in your frame.<\/h3>\n

Street photography is all about observing people, their actions and juxtapositions. Keep your eyes open, look for interesting connections. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re more likely to get a memorable photograph when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of the scene and reacting to the emotions and drama that is being acted out around you.<\/p>\n

2. Be casual about the camera and keep it away from your face as far as possible.<\/h3>\n

Try to avoid looking like a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153photographer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As a side effect, trying to hide your camera and sneaking a photograph in when possible may make you look suspicious. Like I said, be casual about the camera.<\/p>\n

3. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take too much equipment and travel light.<\/h3>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make you less obtrusive and you will be able to move around for the best shot quickly. Anticipate moments between people before they happen. Have your camera out and ready to shoot at all times. Things can move quickly on the street so if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not ready you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll miss lots of opportunities. In conclusion:<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Love People<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Respect People<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Have always the ability to listen People, they are true lessons of life<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Try to understand People, their thoughts, their movement, their feelings, their soul<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Be brave and courageous<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Try to be as close as possible to the People you photograph. This way you will know and feel their soul and vice-versa.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/strong><\/p>\n

    10. Thank you for this fantastic interview. Are there any final comments that you would like to give?<\/h2>\n
    \"Rui<\/a>
    Rui Palha<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Always be happy with your own street work before spreading it everywhere. Be very critical and demanding with yourself. Enjoy People, Life and Street. This way you are enjoying the entire world and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a way to grow up under all the aspects.<\/p>\n

    Links:<\/h2>\n

    See more of Rui’s amazing work below.<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.ruipalha.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.estudio14a.com\/ruipalha#!__ruipalha1<\/a><\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ruipalha\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    <\/a> http:\/\/ruipalha.portfolio.artlimited.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Make sure to show Rui some love and leave him a comment below!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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