Luis Afonso Photography

b. 1972

The city, as a point of potential encounters, is the privileged space for the meeting with the Other. This encounter is not only an encounter with the Other as an individual, but also with the space.
Ana Filipa Prata in "The Encounter of/in the Postmodern City: An Analysis of Some Late 20th-century Portuguese Urban Chronicles"

Since I bought my first camera, in the winter of 1997, I've been trying to capture the triviality of life in the city. These moments, often simplistic visions of a normal life, tend to capture my focus again and again. My photos are not technically perfect, nor do they pretend to represent the perfection in life (or nature). They are just portraits of my everyday. If there is some merit in them, it's mainly the inner stories they suggest.

Photographing in the public space is an art on its own. You're exposed and sometimes you feel insecure. Seeking for eye contact with a strange person, registering that moment, is like shooting a goal in a football game. Most of the times, you miss. It also takes a great deal of luck to be in the right place at the right time. There is never a second chance. The moment is there and the next minute is gone. I find that highly inspirational.

In the early days of digital photography, my first camera was a point-and-shoot Kodak DC280. From that time, I've been carrying a camera to every city I go, trying to capture every moment, every ordinary scene for future remembering. My number of shots per journey increased exponentially as did my photographic experience.

In that process, I discovered a passion for urban architecture. Cityscapes began to be the main subject of my photography: cities like Berlin and Rotterdam proved to be remarkable experiences. The citizens, apart from being a spring of surprises, helped me give the necessary scale to the public space.

Nowadays, I own a DSLR and a compact Canon G2. Still in love with being "in the city", its everyday life and the beauty of unfamiliar encounters, I keep going out in public aiming my camera whenever a situation or a place holds my eye for more than a second. I'll try to keep you posted...