Dan Guinski, street photographer and musician from Brazil, dove through a local street market during morning hours in his hometwon Curitiba. It’s a place he rarely goes to and that in turn made him go there.
Dan, please tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
I’m a photographer and musician based in Curitiba (Brazil) graduated in Social Communication – Radio & TV. I’ve always been attracted to audio and visual arts since I was really young. I’ve been doing photography for about 11 or 12 years now.
Besides street photography, you like to shoot portraits. How did that come about?
Actually it is something I’ve been pushing myself to do it more lately. I’m definitely not that kind of photographer that interacts with people, that starts a conversation and then shoot. I’m more like a street photographer that likes to blend in and go unnoticed. For me it’s all about observing and finding something interesting in what is ordinary.
Could you please tell me a bit about the street photography scene in your hometown and in Brazil?
Well, I don’t know if the scene has grown or not, but it definitely gained more visibility lately mostly because social medias like instagram. You surely can find some great brazilian photographers on those platforms.
Due to law restrictions in Europe, it can sometimes be very problematic to photograph people on the streets. How is it like in Brazil and have you ever encountered critical situations?
To be honest, this is something I really don’t think about, specially when I’m photographing. I just think you gotta be respectful. Probably there are some restrictions, but as far as I know, it depends on how you pretend to use the photo you hypothetically shoot. In my opinion, art was never about following the rules. Do it first and deal with it later, you know? I never had any troubles while taking pictures of people in the streets, besides some bad looks, and I can live with that, specially if I get that look on camera.
You decided to shoot your photo series around a market in your hometown. Why did you choose that specific location for your street dive and what kind of stories and situations did you discover during your dive?
Yes, it is kind of a street fair that sells handcrafted goods. It happens every sunday on the historic part of the city called Largo da Ordem. It is a very touristic thing to do and me, as a local, rarely go there, and that is in part why I chose that location. I went really early in the day, when they were still preparing the tents and stuff. I just started walking around and shooting. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, but as a street photographer I gotta turn that into photographs with something interesting to show.
Did you do any pre-dive preparation before your street dive and how did it feel to have only limited amount of time to create a photo series?
I thought about some places I could go and after I decided I just checked the weather forecast the day before. When you contacted me about doing this Street Dive thing I thought it was really cool. Loved the concept of it and the fact that you have to impose yourself to those limitations and create a series, not a single shot. It was very challenging and fun to do it.
Where can we find more of your work?
Website: www.danguinski.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/danguinski
Facebook: www.facebook.com/danguinski
Flickr: www.flickr.com/danguinski
Thanks Dan for your time and your contribution to Urban Street Diving!
Dive Log:
Dive Spot: Feira do Largo da Ordem, Curitiba, Brazil
Duration: 1 hour
Weather: Cloudy
What to see: “On sunday mornings you can check the street fair and try some traditional Garapa (a juice made of sugar cane). Other than that you have a big variety of bars you can go”