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Aldo Soares
Biography
Photography
Born near Porto, Portugal, Aldo Soares lives and works in Paris. His family left Portugal in 1965 to settle in the north of France, near Cambrai.
After studying science, he moved to Paris and got a job in the administration. In 1987, after 6 years of boredom, he finally left the public service for a sabbatical year in order to explore photography.
A year later, Zoom magazine published some of his portraits in a portfolio that launched him on the rails of professional photography. His first commissions for Globe and Liberation were published the same year, in 1988. The following year, the communication agency RSCG entrusted him with a series of black and white portraits for the CNP, the first of many advertising campaigns to come.
Be it press, publishing or advertising, his approach is based upon people.
Portraits
“If a portrait consists in revealing the character of a subject, its faithful representation is ultimately incidental. Beyond the idea of freezing the memory of a person or of seeking to create a historical image, the real goal of portrait photography, and particularly applied to the press, consists in providing the reader with a simple emotion and to arouse his curiosity. Pausing for a moment on the image he may discover some details which will give a clue to the hidden identity of the subject. Thus it is sad that we are increasingly seeking to attenuate the imperfections that mark a face. By concealing them, the picture becomes a fake. Some media offer photographers an opportunity to express their know-how, each with an original vocabulary. The real luxury for a photographer is to be allowed to do personal work on a commission.“
Models
“In advertising, whenever possible I’d rather stage 'real people’. Whether in the studio or outdoors, the freshness, authenticity and naturalness of models who are not used to cameras is unparalleled, provided we manage to get the best out of that experience. Models in a situation must benefit from a climate of benevolence towards them. Such an atmosphere can only be provided by a team which knows how to listen. What is needed is a rigorous organisation with perfectly defined roles. Whether it is a tour of France of agriculture or photographing Yasser Arafat, Clint Eastwood or a french president, either for press or communication, the approach remains the same: You have to strike a balance between obvious editorial needs, respect for both people and your own work, given that nothing is more depressing for a photographer than to take a shot that will never find a place in one’s portfolio ...“
Works
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PRESS
Géo , Libération, Le Monde, Télérama, L’Equipe, Madame Figaro, Marianne, Lire...
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COMERCIAL
WHY, PUBLICIS, Havas, TBWA, DDB, McCann, BDDP, Agence W, LEG-AGENCY ... SFR, Ubisoft, Renault, Siemens, Société Générale, Sécurité routière, Del Arte, Danone, Umbro, Axa, Vinci, Ministère de l’Education Nationale, Adventa, Auchan...
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BOOKS
12 MILLION POSSIBLE NOVELS
Portraits of dogs for a motley collective book in which each artist illustrates in his own way, one of these 12 million possible novels from Île de France. Gallimard (2020)
ORANGE. THE HELLO TOUR
Portraits and landscapes. Book for Orange with La Concept Factory. Gallimard (2011)
DESASSOSSEGO
Lisbon and Pessoa, personal work around the poet Fernando Pessoa. Gallimard (2007)
LE TIERS SAUVAGE
Portraits and landscapes. Book for the 30 years of the Conservatoire du littoral. Gallimard (2005)
HORS CHAMP
Portraits in the industrial wastelands of Marseille. Edition Images en Manoeuvre (1999)
GARDES
Portraits of guards of littoral (1998)
LA PETITE MER
Portraits around Etang de Berre. Marseille (1996)
