BIOGRAPHY

Rui Pires is Portuguese and born in 1968. The passion for photography began in 1983 as an amateur photographer. It is considered a photographer with a classical and humanist style, and is dedicated primarily to documentary photography.
At 2006 Rui Pires began a project that aims to document the life in Portuguese rural villages undergoing desertification, the Rural Moments project. The project still running.
At 2009 Rui Pires began the Lands of Allah project, a documentary about the life of the nomad tribes and Berbers-Touareg people in north of Africa and Sahara desert..
He have many publications in Web, magazines and newspapers in many countries. He have also won prizes and awards in exhibitions and photography contests.
With influences of Doisneau, Eisenstaedt, Adams and Salgado. he tries to achieve a humanistic approach to documentary photography and always try to dignify the people he portrays. Rui Pires shoots primarily in medium and large format with black and white film and he controls the entire photographic process, from capture, processing film and printing.
Actually he produce high quality fine-art prints of his photography in signed and limited series for art collectors worldwide and have many of his works in private collections worldwide.
Rui Pires is member of Photographic Society of America
Rui Pires have a degree in Image Analysis and Evaluation, is mentor for film photography and is Judge for inter-club competitions by Photographic Society of America.
Since 2011, Rui Pires becomes a Independent Curator, first in Onexposure 1X web Gallery, and actually work as Curator for some NGO Foundations and Governments.
Since 2012 Rui Pires is graduate in Professional Photography in the Institute of Photography of New Work.
As Curator Rui Pires already curate 7 international exhibitions.

AWARDS

May of 2009 : winner - EDEN Photo Competition, European Commission

June of 2009 : 2nd place in Alto Douro Vinhateiro, Douro Museum, Portugal

October of 2009 : Controluce Four Seasons Award

March of 2010 : 4th International Fair of Photography Bor 2011 - Saloon honorable mention, Slovenia under PSA/FIAP patronage

June of 2010 : Honor Mention in the International photographer of the year 2010 - IPA - International Photography Awards, New York

April of 2011 : Controluce Four Seasons award

May of 2011 : Invited artist for 2º Festival Europeo de Fotografia, by Archivio Fotografico Italiano, exhibited 35 photos from Rural Moments Project

June of 2011 : Silver Award by Dabomba Gallery

July of 2011 : Platinium Award by Dabomba gallery

July of 2011: Selected artist for Emirates Photo Competition exhibition in Dubai, under patronage of PSA/FIAP and Emirates Heritage and Culture Authority.

July of 2011 : 7th INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXIBITION -ROCK 2011- SALON GRAND PRIX for the best photos- SALON Silver Medal, under PSA/FIAP patronage

July of 2011 : 7th INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXIBITION -ROCK 2011- SALON GRAND PRIX for the best photos / FSS Medal, under PSA/FIAP patronage

August of 2011: RPS ribbon awarded by Royal Photographyc Society of United Kingdom in ?2011 International Projected Image Exhibition. under PSA/FIAP patronage

August of 2011: 3 Silver Awards and 2 Bronze Awards in Photograph of the Year 2011 exhibition, curated by Peter Eastway, under patronage of Betterphoto Magazine, Australia

September of 2011 : Selected artist for ?Gammelgaard monochrome 2011? exhibition, curated by Steeve Mccurry, Henrik Saxgren and Susan Zadeh

November of 2011 : Finalist for Camera Obscura Journal magazine Professional Photography Competition with two photos, Rural Trio and The Eagle´s Girl

December of 2011 : Winner of Winter 2011 Camera Obscura Journal Competition, "The Rural Trio" - Outstanding Photo Award, Professional

March of 2012 : Sheik Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum International International Photography Award - Finalist

April of 2012: Salon International de Fotografia - Argentina, "F2 - Sociedad Fotografica" Award

Exhibitions
15/08/2009: Museu do Douro, Peso da Regua, Portugal
1/12/2009: European Parliament, Bruxels
04/06/2011: Festival Europeu de Fotografia, Milan
10/09/2011: Gammelgaard Monochrome 2011, Gammelgaard, Denmark
25/09/2011: NGO Larsa Humanrights Exhibition, Bagdad, Iraq
25/10/2011 : Royal Photographic Society, ?2011 international projected image?, UK
20/11/2011: Ministry of Culture of Iraq exhibition, 20 photos exhibited at Iraq Ministry of Culture and Heritage in Baghdad, exhibition inaugurated by Her Excellency the Minister of Culture Dr. Saadoun Al-Dolaimi.
05/02/2012 : Milano/ Affordable Art Fair/Epson Digigraphie - Sala espositiva Sheraton Milan -Malpensa Terminal 1 -Airport Hotel & Conference Centre
03/03/2012 : Viewpoint Gallery, Sacramento, USA.Collective exhibition with 1X Curators.
05/03/2012 : II International Photography Festival - IRAQ
14/05/2012 : The Creative Hinckley Gallery, Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK

STATEMENTS

-Your entry competed with an overall number of 2100 pictures and was exhibited in the European Parliament in December 2009.-
(Pedro Ortun -Enterprise and Industry Directorate General, European Commission)

-People often talk about the timeless quality of B&W; however, it isn?t often that we see the timelessness of B&W brought so vividly to life.Rui Pires has done precisely that. Rui Pires is a photographer from Portugal, whose Rural Moments project just left us speechless.-
(Eric Rudolph, American Cinematographer and extensive writer for the major photography magazines (Popular Photography, PDN, others), and was East Coast Contributing Editor)

-Rui, I had a chance to look at your work from Portugal and was impressed with your images.Great use of black and white film in a time when digital is so prevalent. Best of luck with all your endeavors!-
(Steve Mccurry, 19/12/2009)

-The Photographic Message of Love and Peace to Baghdad by Rui Pires was a gift from this Portuguese photographer to the Iraqi people-
(Dr. Saadoun al-Dolaimi, Minister of Culture of Iraq)

-I want to thank you for this important event where Portugal will be represented-
(Francisco José Viegas, Portuguese Secretary of State of Culture, related Iraq Culture Ministry exhibition, 25/11/2011 )

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To private art collectors, gallerys and museums :

To buy high quality numbered and signed fine-art prints with autenticity certificate please e-mail me at :
rui.f.pires@netvisao.pt

Prints made by Canon iPF 8300 printer with Canon Lucia EX pigment ink and securely sent worlwide in :

BW : Hahnemühle Matt Fineart textured museum etching 350gr
Colour : Hahnemühle Glossy Fineart photo rag baryta 315gr

(also traditional wet print available in Ilford Silver Gelatin (Multigrade Cotton Rag paper) for film photos
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