TITLE: Fighting and Winning

"Marta, 33, fighting breast cancer.

She's my wife.

For 20 years I was an editorial photographer, working commercially, recording and making known the realities of others. At a certain point, I got fed up with photographing what happened and started to exclusively give form and life to my visions. This led me to want to be a photographer.

I've always avoided having negative or bad emotions and situations in my work. The world is already full of them and what I've always wanted is to inspire and provoke people to be good and go above and beyond.

Now, with 40 years of photography under my belt, I'm making an exception.
Marta's portrait is one of victory, a warrior who is winning and will heal. An inspiring portrait.

23/05/2025"

AUTHOR: João de Castro (Portugal)

“Women have always been my world and fascination: my mother, her friends, the French Photo always in our living room, and every woman I see. I remember always imagining them.

I see them as free and assumed, accomplices in my photography to expand reality in its wild challenge.

Music, cinema, a city full of people, and a new journey inspire me and my process is constant. Awake or asleep, I have fantastic, comic, and intense visions.

I share without judging myself or others. I'm a photographer.”


Growing up, João de Castro had on the one hand, a conservative, classical and demanding education, and on the other, he was surrounded by intellectuals, artists, musicians, car racers, and other hyperactively inspired people, living a happy and very intense childhood in the 1960s and 1970s.

Self-taught, he started in the editorial and advertising industries in 1985 as a photographer and producer and later also as the manager and art director of his own advertising agency.

In 1994, João found his creative language and started on his personal path, becoming the first Portuguese photographer fully dedicated to the art of nude photography. Soon he was asked to teach and share his vision and experience in the press, workshops, lectures, conferences and exhibitions. For several years, he accumulated positions as a photographer, teacher, redactor, editor, and producer.

From 2005 to 2010, João was a sponsored author and as well consultant in photographic fine art and printing for Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe, Olympus, Sony, and Hahnemühle in Portugal, developing cultural projects and teaching photographers about the upcoming digital photography revolution.

Between 2008 and 2010, he received the Award for Professional Merit (Professional Association of Photographers / Federation of European Professional Photographers) 3 times in a row. At this time, he was already represented in several countries and 45 exhibitions made.

Following such solicitation and acclaim, João decides it's time to focus solely on his photographic creations.

Nowadays, João works only with complete creative freedom, has a portfolio of high-profile private clients, and has pieces in several international collections.