The pulsating beauty and culture passing from the eye to the lens.
This month we celebrate Amazon Day, an opportune moment for us to reflect on how our private and collective actions are impacting the preservation of this biome that is so important to the world's population.
In this process of understanding the importance of practical actions to reduce negative impacts, we have to know what makes it so complex: the particularity of its beauty and the culture that keep it alive.
To celebrate the date, we talked to the photographer Gui Gomes (@guigomes.fotografia) who shows us his most remarkable photographic records and how he sat at each moment in the two times (!) that he visited Mamirauá Reserve.
"They are not necessarily aesthetically striking photos, but they bring me surprise and relevance, [..] of a wonderful, extensive and rich Amazon for the eyes and for the lens".
Gui Gomes
1. Ribeirinho and his fish (Pirarucu)
“This photo represents the social relationship of the Uakari inn and the reserve (Mamirauá Sustainable Development Institute), with the riverside population of the region. Very important and beautiful. I arrived at the house and he was taking care of the fish and cleaning the Pirarucu (fish that is a symbol of the region). Your affection, technique and organization with the cut of the fish. The way he holds the knife and his concentration. I was hypnotized, I almost forgot to photograph.”
2. The sunset
“Without a doubt the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. I took this photo with a 16mm lens, which is a super wide-angle lens, just before it was a fish eye. There was a second rainbow, but it didn't fit in the frame. Two large circles, which made it look like a dome. And on the other side, opposite, it was very colorful.”
3. Munguba flower
“Done on a canoe ride during the flood season. The flower falls into the water and floats on the dark surface. A ballerina dancing on the surface of the water. I took one in my hand and with its silky touch I played with it. Its pistils dance with the water. A beautiful scene.”
4. Aerial Images
“Only they give a dimension of the grandeur of where the inn is and how much of the natural environment of its surroundings is preserved. Amazing. The other shows the place of the riverside community, in the flood season. It's nice to see the shape of the river and its volume. The Amazonian experience.”
5. The Drought and the Flood
“The same place. The amount of water is surreal. In the second photo (bottom) you can see, by the mark that the water left on the tree, that the river will still fill more.”
6. The Majestic Samauma
“It's a classic, but it's a scale parameter between us and the Amazon rainforest. It reduces us, which is necessary, to show us that we have to care for and preserve this giant and beautiful forest.”
7. Fog
“I like to leave early to see the low fog and the light that comes in. Bucolic. The rivers, the banks and the ribeirinhos. The impact of having a coffee, it feels like you are going out at night and suddenly the cloudy sky starts to lighten, the sun rises, warms the air, dries everything and the blue appears. Only in the morning does the breath of the forest, its flying river, appear.”
Follow Gui's work, and see more beautiful photos through his Instagram: @guigomes.fotografia.
Comments