Halftone Magazine #00
Photo: Antonio Duarte Mil Homens
Welcome! Welcome to Halftone Photo Magazine. This is the first edition of a magazine that we wish may become a symbol of the quality and diversity of photography made in Macau and in the Greater Bay Area of China at large.
The main aim of Halftone Magazine is to create visibility for hidden or latent talent, providing opportunities for photographers to showcase their art, particularly those that have never published before.
We hope to motivate photographers to continue their photographic journeys, wherever those may take them, while sharing their creations with the readers - or should we say viewers, since our magazine almost has no text!
Because this is a limited edition number, still subject to final adjustments before the actual official launch of the magazine, all the six contributors in this number are paradoxically seasoned photographers from Halftone Photographic Association - all with published works and years of passion for photography.
António Duarte Mil-Homens is a veteran photographer that has explored the best part of Far East Asia in the last decades and that shares with us beautifully crafted B&W pictures of China’s Shanxi province, such as the striking cover page photo. Faces, scenes and atmospheres of a seemingly bygone era where technology has no place, reminiscing of other rhythms, other times, another dimension - a strangely human one.
Speaking of atmospheres, Francisco Ricarte presents a work with immense room for evasion and contemplation. His coloured seascapes, landscapes and skyscapes are an invitation to…yes, to escape! They are simple, infinite, calming and soothing, defying boundaries between man-made beauty, nature and beauty within.
Back in black…and white, João Miguel Barros honours this debut number of Halftone with a cherry-picked selection of some of his Macao shots. A true reflection of his exceptional ability to observe, compose, capture and then, offer us something special, that will always make us raise our eyebrows and spike our curiosity, again and again, wishing for more.
And now for poetry in stillness. Sara Augusto’s objective is indeed capable of “hunting high and low” to find inspiration in places that somehow, sometimes, we have forgotten to look. Places that have always been there, everlasting, perennial, pure – this is beauty served on a silver plate for our delight.
Nuno Veloso sprinkles us with a splash of colour, vibrancy and exquisiteness, leveraging on his professional technique to surprise with something that seems out of place, and that therefore becomes irreplaceable. These are real images, with real people, performing, knowing or unknowingly, to impact us with their magnetism and glimpses of perfection.
Last, but definitely not least, Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro takes us on a guided tour of Macao streets during the recent pandemic times to show us the essence of photography, that is, how light and dark can dance together, turning the apparently routine scenes of this bustling city and its people, into a mysterious display of the extra-ordinary with amazing contrast and colours. Yet another proof of street photography´s infinite possibilities.
We hope these 6 photographers’ work can awake your senses and that this number becomes an savoury sample of what is yet to come. You can find out more about each of these 6 photographers in the following pages, and if you have thirst for more continue to Halftone’s website at www.halftone.photo
The Editorial Team
