RIO!

I just finished up my second day of work here in Rio and what a place this is. I’m here art directing a lifestyle photo shoot for JanSport with photographer David Stoecklein. After 14+ hours of airplane travel it was wonderful to finally experience the city. We spent half the day yesterday and all day today scouting locations four our 3.5 days of shooting. One of our stops yesterday was an overlook in Tijuca National Park. We pulled over a number of times to check out the view, but none compared to the last place we stopped. A helipad on top of a hill in the middle of the forest yielded a 360 degree view of Rio, the first place I looked was “Christ the Redeemer” to the south.  

A 180 degree turn to the north and you see this.

Rio is a city of contrast, the wealthy and the poor, this is evident by the the witnessing the skyscrapers and apartment buildings right along side the stacked housing of the “favelas”, slums.  Another major contrast are the urban areas that butt right up against the sheer granite monoliths that surround the city. The view from the top of this hill was fascinating and really made for a peaceful moment in a city who’s energy is constantly in flux. 

Our next stop was the neighborhood of Santa Teresa, an artist and bohemian area of Rio. The graffiti painted walls, curvy streets and colorful people made this a great end to our day. Below is a sampling of what I think is going to end up being my favorite part of town.

We then found ourselves in front of the Selaron Stairs. These stairs are made of ceramic tile, all hand painted by the local artist Selaron. The stairs are constantly changing, Selaron adds to his work daily and is just as colorful as the stairs themselves.

On our way back to our hotel, while waiting at a red light I snapped this pic, it’s blurry, but hilarious.