Pedro Stephan

Pedro Stephan (contact: pedro.stephan@gmail.com), has in the last decade worked in the systematic documentation of several aspects of the sexual minorities. One of the most visible works was the young gay couples for the São Paulo 2005 Pride Parade posters that had an initial output of 100'000 posters.

His work was presented in the "Leitura de Portfólio" workshop on the FotoRio event, the international photo mega-event that happened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in May and June of this year.

In this event, professional photographers present their work to critics, photographers and other professionals in the photography arena. Stephan's work was highly regarded and he was invited by Pedro Meyer to be present in his website "ZoneZero" the most visited professional photography website on the internet.

Meyer chose 20 photos from Stephan, for the "Brazilian Homosexual Culture" exhibition on the ZoneZero website:

ZoneZero

The Selected Photos

Photos from gay rights events, couples, gay-scene personalities, artists, snapshots of pride parades, and as expected some homoerotic images.

The soundtrack is the song "Cangoma", a re-creation of a religious afro-brazillian theme by Carlos Trilha and Fernando Morello.

Sthephan's work is recognized in the brazillian gay scene including works for the SG Press, Mix Brasil and G Magazine, and has had his work published abroad in the USA, Germany, Portugal (at PortugalGay.PT website) and France where he did a photo shot of 7 pages with the most beautiful Ipanema men edited by the Tetu Magazine.

About Pedro Meyer

A true pioneer in many areas, Pedro Meyer is one of the first photographers to successfully make the transition from analog photography to the world of digital images. A life long innovator, he created the Latin American Colloquiums of photography, now into their twentieth year. He also founded Zone Zero and the Mexican Council of Photography from which other major photographic institutions in Mexico have stemmed.

Working at times in the tradition of American and European street photography, and at other times in the tradition of magical realism which has defined Mexican art and photography, Meyer has produced a body of seamless digital photographs that are at once both documentary fiction and digital truth. His images show that photographs can be edited and transformed on a computer with the same ease that sentences can be moved and altered on a word processor, highlighting the transition of the photographic medium from its darkroom origins to its new electronic foundation.

About the "Leitura de Portfolio"

One of the main events in FotoRio 2005, it gathered photography professionals from all over the world. The main objective of "Leitura de Portfólio" (Portfolio Analysis) is to give visibility to the work of photographers. This is an unique chance to present their work to professionals in all areas of photography.

About FotoRio

FotoRio 2005– International Encounter of Photography of Rio de Janeiro, has the purpose to valorize the photography as a cultural good, by showing larges public and private collections and Brazilian contemporary photography production. For the accomplishment of this goal, it included exhibitions, workshops, seminars, round tables, talks and lectures, portfolio analysis, projections and urban interventions, through out the month of july, making Rio de Janeiro the center of reflection and discussing of photography. Some exhibitions started earlier, others stayed until July, but the month of reference of FotoRio is always June. FotoRio 2005 started with the Rio de Janeiro's International Journey of Visual Inclusion, on May 29th. In this Journey, many projects that use photography as a way of social inclusion in different areas of Latin America and Europe, will promote together, a documentation of the everyday life in these communities. Those pictures were shown during the 2nd Rio de Janeiro's Encounter of Visual Inclusion, that will gathered projects of visual inclusion of Rio, as well as guests of other states and abroad.

Among the principals events for this year, a focus on the exhibition Fotografia: suporte da memória, instrumento da fantasia (Photography: memory support, fantasy instrument) held at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, from April 19th to June 16th. There, the photography was presented and discussed in its historical dimension and in its everyday use, through the expositions: Do Olhar Inquieto (From the unquiet Look),from the "Centro Português da Fotografia", Portraits of Stars, from the "Maison Européenne de la Photographie"; and Retratos Estrangeiros da Biblioteca Nacional (Foreigns Portraits of National Library); in the international conference Coleções e arquivos fotográficos: constituição, função social e conservação (Photography collections and archives: constituicion,social function and conservation); and in the videos display debate: Por dentro do olhar na imagem em movimento (Inside the look in the image in mouvement).

The exhibition organized by Magnum Photos entitled Henri Cartier-Bresson – Photographer, in honor to the great master deceased in 2004 is also an highlight of the event. The final conference of FotoRio entitled 24 fotos por segundo (24 photos per second), discussed the influence of photography in cinema, by photgrapher Edgar Moura. Other exhibitions where reunited under the main theme ''photography's author'' and round tables discussed the works of Brazilians and foreigners photographers (French, Argentineans, Senegalese, and others) with the theme "The Photographer as an Author."

Pedro Stephan at PortugalGay.PT

See the photo-reports that Pedro Stephan prepared to PortugalGay.PT in the past:

Pride Parade - Rio de Janeiro 2004

Pride Parade - São Paulo 2004

Pride Parade - Rio de Janeiro 2002

Pride Parade - São Paulo 2002