Photographer #452: Julio Bittencourt

Julio Bittencourt, 1980, Brazil, started his photographic career in 2000 as a photographer and assistant photo editor for the newspaper Valor Economico in Sao Paulo. Since 2006 he has been working as an independant photographer. In his series In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building he documented the residents of possibly the largest squat in the world. The building had been vacant for over a decade. In 2003 the 'Movement of the Homeless' had moved in hundreds of homeless families. They created a new community who drove out the vermin and drug dealers and created workshops and a library. In 2006 the new residents were told that they would be evicted. The project was released as a book in 2008. For his project Citizen X he focused on the housing problem in Brazil again. He shows abandoned spaces that represent "both a testament to the magnitude of the problemas well as a source of potential hope for change."  His personal project Ramos focuses on an artificial salt water lake surrounded by 15 favelas run by drug-trafficking gangs. Even though violence plagues the favelas, the park has been mostly free of problems. It is a crowded and polluted place where people enjoy the beach, sun and Brazilian rum. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions worldwide and published in prestigious magazines as Time, Stern and GEO. The following images come from the series Ramos, Citizen X and In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building.

Website: www.juliobittencourt.com

Photographer #315: Marcus Hausser

Marcus Hausser, 1975, Brazil, is a commercial photographer with a long list of clients for whom he has shot campaigns. His career started by assisting renowned advertising photographers in Brazil. In 2002 he launched himself as a freelance photographer, opening a large studio in São Paulo. Amongst his clients are large names as Fiat, Harley Davidson, Sky, Unicef and Fedex. He has been published in editions of the Lürzers Archive 200 best ad photographers worldwide 2008/2009 with four works. His ads range from including a lot of humour to very serious matters. The following images come from the campaigns for ADESF, Abramet and Amnesty International Argentina.

Website: www.marcushausser.com

Photographer #279: Claudio Edinger

Claudio Edinger, 1952, Brazil, is a photographer with a long history in the photographic world. He started with photography in the 1970's and hasn't stopped since then. Since 1983 he has released an amazing number of monographs covering images of the famous Chelsea Hotel (1983), Venice beach (1985), Brazil's Carnaval (1996) and São Paulo (2009) amongst others. Madness covers images of Latin America's largest insane asylum. It took him several years to find a publisher who was willing to publish it in 1997. Today Claudio works with a large format camera. He uses selective focus and an experimental use of color. With this technique he has focused on architecture, landscapes, cityscapes and portraiture. He has created impressive portraits of Paris, the Amazon region, Homeless people sleeping in the streets and recently on Downtown LA. Claudio has received the Leica Medal of Excellence twice amongst many other awards. The following images come from the series Downtown LA, Rio de Janeiro and Madness.

Website: www.claudioedinger.com
(Video in Portuguese)

Photographer #143: Renan Cepeda

Renan Cepeda, 1966, Brazil, has been doing research with infrared film since 1991, making especially landscape photography essays using this technique. More recently Renan has worked with Tungsten film making images at night. Using a flashlight, long exposures and color filters he has created stunning and surreal images of people and abandoned houses. The following images come from his series Night Paintings, Vão de Almas and Corações ao Alto.

Website: www.renancepeda.com

Photographer #120: Mona Kuhn

Mona Kuhn, Brazil, 1969, released her latest book Native in 2010. She lives in Los Angeles, but for this book she went back to her native country Brazil photographing the human body and natural landscapes. Throughout her career her work has been concentrated on the human body. In 2004 her first monograph Photographs came out and only three years later she released Evidence. The images from Evidence were all taken in France. The following images come from Native and the portfolios: France 2002-2008 and B&W 1996-2002.

Website: www.monakuhn.com