Adriano Brodbeck describes his image as the “perfect portrait of Rio”. The São Paulo-based photographer was on a trip with friends, and they had headed to Ipanema beach.
“The neighbourhood was made famous by the Brazilian bossa nova song Garota de Ipanema, or The Girl from Ipanema. Despite the district being expensive and elitist, the beach is frequented by people of all classes from around the world: tourists and locals; rich people and humble people,” Brodbeck says. “It makes for a crowded beach, as can be seen in the picture.”
It was an especially hot day, and the sun was beginning to set. “There’s a 90s song by Fernanda Abreu called Rio 40 Degrees; the verse goes ‘Rio 40 degrees, marvellous city, purgatory of beauty and chaos’,” Brodbeck says. “This image perfectly encapsulates that.
He took the image on an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Although he has used a combination of digital and film cameras in his career, he began to notice that his phone photographs were always the most spontaneous ones in his collection, because they were taken in places where he was not expecting to see anything. Later, he used the VSCO app to make some colour adjustments.
“Rio is a beautiful, democratic and welcoming place to go. It has this spell,” he adds. “Even though it’s a hot and chaotic scene, this photo makes me feel a sense of calm.”
