____________________________JOÃO PEDRO ASSUMPÇÃO BASTOS____________________________

CONTACT: jpab999@gmail.com


GETTING INVOLVED WITH PHOTOGRAPHY

I started photography in late 1974 when I was finishing my Electrical Engineering degree in Porto Alegre, south of Brazil. I was 22 at that time. I managed to buy a Pentax Spotmatic SP II, a lovely camera that gave me motivation for pursuing on photography. In June 1976, I obtained a scholarship from French government for a PhD degree and I moved to Paris. I could say that in France, while working on my thesis, I concentrated my photo activities, learning and knowledge. At the Université Paris XI – in Orsay – I participated in the ASFLO Photo Club with several exhibitions and some prices. At my laboratory, in Orsay, I met Fahd Sultanem, who was working on his thesis as well. He is an excellent photographer and became friends since then . Black and White photography was an intense activity on developing films and practicing printing at the photo club lab. Of course, as much as possible, I photographed Paris and travelled in Europe. In 1984 I went back to Brazil and was hired at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis. It was not easy to re-adapt my photo style here. Indeed, there is an immense change between the (often gray sky of Europe, matching perfectly the Kodak Tri-X film) - and the sunny weather of my country. But the life goes on and my passion for the photography was unchanged. In two occasions (1993 and 2000) I went for sabbatical years to Akron, Ohio, and worked as Visiting Professor with Electrical Eng. Department of The University of Akron. I participated to the ACC – Akron Camera Club – which expanded my photography view to different directions. Maybe because I am engineer, I do like devices and during these stays in the USA I started collecting photo gear with emphasis on 135mm cameras from the 1950s to 1970s. Going from analog to digital was not easy either. I had to leave a classical and familiar domain to another with so much to learn. I must say that I am still trying to improve on digital technique. I started slowly with some Canons Rebels – in 2003 - and then I moved to the Nikon D90. Until about 2008~2009 I employed more analog equipment than digital one. More recently, I am using Olympus OM-D, observing that my regular cameras for films for more than 30 years were the Olympus OM series, with several Zuiko lenses.


TRAVELLING

Working in a research area of Electromagnetic Modeling, I go often to conferences in different parts of the world. Taking advantage of the trips, in the spare time or weekends, I take pictures. Also, some travels are exclusively for vacations and, for photographing, is much better since I have free esprit for it.


TECHNIQUE

I do like technical subjects in general. Concerning photography, I regularly read websites, magazines and books related to, mainly, cameras and lenses, to be - as much as my free time allows me – updated with this important photography front. Therefore, I think that I have a decent level of technical knowledge, particularly with 135mm analog photo and, for digital technology, I am trying to improve it.


CREATING FOLDERS FROM OLD PICTURES

Several folders are related to my old pictures. As you certainly know, scanning old negatives (with my Nikon Coolscan V) is very long. Therefore, for several folders (but not all), I decided to take photos directly from my old BW prints. In theory, there is, of course, a loss. However, I was quite careful when printing my pictures (normally with a good paper, Ilford, for the majority) and, looking my old prints with a magnifying glass, I normally can see the film grain. For these pictures I use a Nikon D90 (and from few months ago, a D7100) or an Olympus OM-D, whose definition is higher than my used films (often Kodak Tri-X and Tmax) grain. Adjustments are made by an editing software. Finally, I believe that, for the purpose of this web site, the achieved quality is correct.


PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE

Certainly 95% of my work is on ‘observation’, i.e., documental and journalistic photography. I like to take my camera and just ‘go around’ taking pictures of what I think that has an esthetical, sociological, human interest. Rarely I go to studios for ‘posed’ photography. Of course, I do take photos of family-friends but it is personal and that is rarely presented in this website. I prefer BW photos by taste and, maybe, because I started with this approach in the 1970s. I practiced much BW chemical laboratory. In the past, I also shot constantly slide films (Kodachrome in Europe and USA and Fuji in Brazil) but nowadays it became more difficult and expensive as well. There are no manipulations on my pictures here presented, except for cropping, brightness and contrast adjustment (few exceptions are indicated).


COPYRIGHT

Please, don't use my photographs without permission. I don't have any particular financial-commercial interest on my work, but I would be pretty desappointed and unpleased if my pictures are used without agreement and credit. Do not hesitate on contacting me for such purposes.


MAIN ACTIONS AS PHOTOGRAPHER:

- several collective exhibitions in France with the ASFLO Photo Club of Université Paris XI and several prices (1976~1984);
- collective exhibitions in Brazil with the NFF (Núcleo de Fotografia de Florianópolis) and the F8 group (a group found in 1994 with 8 former members of the NFF);
-2 individual exhibitions about Paris called ‘Paris Autrement’ in São Paulo and in Florianópolis (1985) with 64 BW photos of my stay (1976-1984) in Paris;
- individual exhibition ‘Da Costa Àraçás’; in 1995 with BW pictures related to the path from Canto dos Araçás to Costa da Lagoa, in Florianópolis;
- exhibition with a friend - Dylton do Valle Pereira – about night photography in Florianópolis called ‘Noturnurbano’, in 1987;
- a worldwide first price of Popular Photography magazine Annual Contest in 2001 in the category ‘Candid – Humor’;
- participation on several juries of photo contests;
- camera collector;
- a book with a F8 partner Antônio Rubilar Ferreira Leão entitled ‘Florianópolis – Autres Paisagens’; it contains BW pictures of our town; in 2002;
- a second book also with A.R. Leão related to the mountain region around Florianópolis called ‘Serra Catarinense: Vidas e Formas’, BW pictures, in 2005;
- exhibition ‘Paris: 30 ans de décalage’ with the partnership of Flavio Gonsalves de Oliveira with my Paris pictures from the 1970s and Flavio’s Paris pictures of 2005; in Florianópolis, 2009;
- the third book with A.R. Leão "Litoral Catarinense: Impressões", related to the coast of Santa Catarina state; released in 2017.



Thanks for reading and interest; do not hesitate on contacting me by my email : jpab999@gmail.com
about any subject concerning photography, mine or general.