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Felipe Cesarano ready to get a barrel at Pontão do Leblon. Image: Blanco
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This is Jordy Smith, years ago, in the evening lights of Fernando de Noronha. Image: Blanco
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Another angle of Puerto Escondido and another Brazilian surfer: Diego Silva. Image: Blanco
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We spent some days waking up early and putting the jet ski in the water for some tow-outs. Had some great results with these sessions, this is one of them. Marcelo Trekinho in São Conrando. Image: Blanco
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This is Teahupoo. Even small, it's one of the most beautiful waves that I have ever seen. Image: Blanco
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Another black and white shot, now from Hawaii. I think it's Aamion Goodwin. The wave is Pipeline for sure! Image: Blanco
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On an ordinary flat day, you can still take some good photos. This is a very small wave breaking almost on the sand. Image: Blanco
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Nathan Fletcher and Pipeline, thats a photogenic combination. Image: Blanco
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That was my first trip to photograph Fernando de Noronha, an island at the northeast coast of Brasil. Although I didn't see the big waves I was expecting, I saw some new, wild and perfect scenarios that opened my mind and showed me how many possibilities I have in surf photography. Rodrigo Valladares in Cacimba do Padre. Image: Blanco
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That's another kind of experiment I love to do: speed blur. This is Alan Fendrich, a surfer from the south part of Brasil, seeing that time goes by in Rio de Janeiro. Image: Blanco
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A beautiful lonely right in Cacimba do Padre, Fernando de Noronha. Image: Blanco
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That is a really big day in Rio de Janeiro, you can see some surfers paddling on the wall of the wave. As Rio has some big mountains near the sea, you can get a full view of the city buildings and the waves. I went far to get this one. Image: Blanco
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This is Gabriel Garcia flying high during the early light in Rio de Janeiro. I spent almost a year working for photos like these. A year waking up before the sun…Image: Blanco
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This is Junior Faria at Puerto Escondido. Puerto is a very special place. It has some scenic views and the waves are incredible…perfect to shoot, in my opinion. Image: Blanco
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This is another shot from Pipe. I tried to find some different ways to photograph what everybody was seeing from the sand, just not to fall into the "sameness". Bruce Irons in the Backdoor Shootout contest. Image: Blanco
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I really like B&W, but I admit that it's very hard to get a good one. This was an evening in Puerto Escondido, just right after the rain when the light began to shine in between the clouds. Very scenic. Image: Blanco
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I went to Tahiti two times and never got big, good Teahupoo, but I did get to go to a lot of other places around the islands. Image: Blanco
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Cauê Wood, a young Brazilian, making the most of a small day in V-Land. Image: Blanco
As a surfer, photography arrived in my life as a very unpretentious activity. I started photographing some of my friends surfing, but I quickly began chase others things, even took some courses to begin getting more professional about it. I like to be on the beach, and working under the sun is no problem for me. So I spend a lot of time in the sand, even if it is small or not too sunny, and that time has paid off with some good shots.
But the real crack happened to me when I realized that I could develop a personal style in my photography, and surfing was perfect for that. I began to mix photojournalism and art to get my view of the moment. I try to add more elements, or use different angles. Maybe it can come across a bit pretentious, but it was really what paved my way in photography. When everybody was using ultra tele-lenses to get closer to the surfer, I tried to look around and get a little wider frame.
To see more of Luiz’s work visit his ar website or his Flickr
