Photos That Will Remain In My Memory

Data: 23.02.2012

Ocena recenzenta: 8/10

“Stories That Only Exist When Remembered” (“Historias que so existem quando lembradas”) – a movie directed by a Brazilian director Júlia Murat was premiered in Poland at the 7th World Cinema ALE KINO+ Festival (the event is held in couple of polish cities but it always starts in Warsaw). The audience was very impressed with the movie itself but also with some great pinhole photos used in it. I tried to google the author of those shots but Google wasn’t able to help me. That’s why I decided to contact the producers and asked them directly.

I must say I was quite surprised when I got an email from Júlia Murat herself. She informed me that the author of these photos – Quito – would be glad to know that I asked about his works so she decided to forward my email to him. It took some time but after a while Quito emailed me and all in all he agreed to answer a couple of questions.

[Photo by Quito]

Here’s the interview:

Me: How long have you been taking photos? Is that what you do for a living?

Quito: I started to take photos professionally 6 years ago, after 3 years working in design and advertising agencies. One day I decided to have vacations, I bought a bike and a camera and rode it from the south of Brasil to Argentina. In there I started to make portraits of the people in my hostel. After 1 month, already working in photography in Buenos Aires, I called my boss in the advertising agency in Rio de Janeiro and said that I would not come back.

My daily work is almost always connected with photography, I have some Brazilian artists and musicians (and now film makers) as clients which I cover exhibitions, the processes and, in the case of the musicians, the concerts. I also work with them helping to create and design their exhibitions. Since a few months I started to film for some of that artists and musical video clips. I'm graduated in design and since the university I made my path in art, passing by (and later giving up to be happy) design for advertising. Meanwhile that jobs I also do my artwork.

Me: Do you publish your photos somewhere in the Internet (I would love to show it to my friends and acquaintances)?

Quito: I have some photos published in Brazilian magazines and sometimes I participate of some exhibitions, but mainly I have the photos presented in blogs in the web. I just organized the pinhole photos I made for Julia's film in that link: http://500px.com/Quito They were my first pinhole photo project. Now I'm working on a new project, which I take daylight long exposure pinhole photos in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. The favelas are very busy, there is a lot of movement, and with the pinhole cameras I can "record" all that human movement without the humans being visible, evident, in the photos, but their signs and presence marks.

[Photo by Quito]

Me: What do you think about this Brazilian village portrayed in Julia's movie? Did you like the place and the atmosphere?

Quito: I would say that the village portrayed in the movie in some way is quite similar to the reality (if you do not consider the presence of churches and the television). The abandon and the sense of stagnant time is real. It was very interesting to be immersed in that flow (specially coming from a accelerated urban feeling, that disappeared after some weeks). And in some way I was living it in a very solitary way, while the others were filming I was exploring the city, the abandoned stations, knowing the local people and living this time.

Me: Was it your first cooperation with the filmmakers?

Quito: Yes, it was my first cooperation with the filmmakers.

Me: Was the composition of photos used in the "Stories..." totally your idea? Or maybe Julia told you how these photos were supposed to look like?

Quito: Julia was totally generous with me, giving me a lot of freedom to compose the photos. I was participating in the movie from since the screenplay was being written, so I was very into the history. So I proposed Julia to consider Rita, the character of the young girl, to be a pinhole photographer, specially because and the matter of being very artisanal and time living photography.

It was far from a typical interview so it ended with hugs and greetings. Quito occurred to be not only a very talented photographer but also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met online. I keep my fingers crossed for him and can’t wait to see more of his projects.

Quito’s photos are available also at Flickr: