After being recognised at the Mobile Photography awards 2020, Christian Barroso travelled from his home in Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo for the exhibition of winning images. He was joined by three friends and, after seeing his work on display, they headed to Farol Santander, a skyscraper in the city centre housing a museum, galleries and observation deck.
“The exhibition was delayed until the summer of 2021 because of the Covid pandemic, so we were living in the first moments of ‘normal’ life at the time,” Barroso says. They stopped for a snack at a cafe on the 26th floor, and Barroso recalls the atmosphere as “somewhat melancholic. Despite the large space, the feeling was one of solitude, highlighted by this woman sitting alone, and the long shadows.”
To take advantage of the sunlight streaming through the windows and the shadows cast on the wall, Barroso positioned himself behind the woman; he guesses she was in her mid-20s, but didn’t speak to her.
Barosso describes himself as a huge fan of American photographer William Eggleston, and notes that various elements of this image, “the geometrical lines, deep shadows and colours”, speak to that.
“I hope this photo makes people feel as if they have entered an intimate moment of someone’s life, like a scene from a movie,” Barroso adds. “I like to capture moments of contemplative solitude. It is as if I am dealing with my own moments of introspection.”
