‘Rio is beautiful, democratic and welcoming. It has this spell’: Adriano Brodbeck’s best phone picture | Photography

Adriano Brodbeck describes his image as “the perfect portrait of Rio”. The São Paulo-based photographer was on a trip with friends and they had headed to Ipanema Beach.

“The neighborhood became famous for the Brazilian song bossa nova Garrota de Ipanema, or The Girl from Ipanema. Although the area is expensive and elitist, the beach is visited by people of all classes from all over the world: tourists and locals; rich and humble people,” Brodbeck says. “This leads to a crowded beach as can be seen in the picture.”

It was a particularly hot day and the sun was beginning to set. “There’s a song from the 90s by Fernanda Abreu called Rio 40 Degrees; the verse reads, “Rio 40 degrees, a beautiful city, a purgatory of beauty and mayhem,” Brodbeck says. “This image perfectly encapsulates that.

He made the iPhone 12 Pro Max image. Although he used a mix of digital and film cameras in his career, he began to notice that his phone photos were always the most spontaneous in his collection because they were taken in places where he didn’t expect to see anything. Later, he used the VSCO app to make some color adjustments.

“Rio is a beautiful, democratic and welcoming place. It has this spell,” he adds. “Even though it’s a hot and chaotic scene, this picture makes me feel calm.”