A self-described “skateboarder and photographer,” Chris da Canha has a keen eye for color and light. Raised in South Africa and now based in Seoul, he’s traveled and shot in cities across Asia and Russia. His work, which has been featured in Maekan, Hypebeast, Vanity Teen, Ignant, and many other platforms, explores the subtle changes that play across the city’s architectural and human landscape.
“I learned how to shoot by walking the streets and hunting for the moments that felt right,” he explains. “I’m particularly excited by scenes showing poetic contradictions.” Often these contradictions are just subtle contrasts: a building warped beyond recognition in the hood of a car, a telephone pole whose bewildering network of cables is doubled by shadows. These familiar scenes are rendered slightly unrecognizable by precisely calibrated angles and light.
Chris da Canha 自诩“滑板手和摄影师”，对色彩和光线有着敏锐的眼光。他在南非长大，现居首尔，在亚洲和中东的城市旅行和拍摄。他的作品曾在 Maekan、Hypebeast、Vanity Teen、Ignant 和许多其他平台上出现过，主旨在于探索城市建筑和人文景观中的微妙变化。
“我通过在大街上散步，寻找感觉正确的时刻，学会了如何摄影。”他说，“我对呈现诗性矛盾的场景尤为激动。”而这些矛盾往往只是微妙的对比：一栋映在扭曲得面目全非的汽车引擎盖上的大楼，被阴影所覆盖的电线杆网路。这些熟悉的场景，在精确校准的角度和光线的作用下，却被渲染得有些难以辨认。
Often the details in these images don’t jump out at first glance, so they reward unhurried contemplation. In the mirrored glass of a skyscraper, a view of the city is slightly stretched and distorted, almost seeming to waver like a mirage—and this, combined with the haze in the distance, gives the scene a slightly unreal feel. In one of the photos below, the intense yellow of the wall makes the rust on the bars of scaffolding seem somehow redder and dirtier; in the other, an almost opaque window casts a greenish tint onto the street below. Such subtle effects give his work an understated drama.
通常这些图片中的细节不会在第一眼就跳出来，它们会回馈那些不慌不忙的观者。在摩天大厦的镜子里，城市的景色被稍微拉伸和扭曲了，看起来就像海市蜃一样摇摆不定——再加上远处的薄雾，给人一种轻微的不真实的感觉。在下面一张照片中，强烈的黄色墙壁，使得脚手架上的锈迹看起来更红更肮脏；而在另一张照片中，一扇几乎不透明的窗户，把一层绿色的色彩投射到下面的街道上。这种微妙的效果赋予他的作品一种低调的戏剧性。
Fascinated though he is by the sharp contrasts in color and shadow in the built environment, Da Canha also takes pictures of people. In fact, the bulk of his work centers on human subjects, often strangers he spots on the street.
These images seem to split the difference between portraits and candid snapshots, an effect he achieves by closely cropping them. “When I shoot, I’m thinking about what information I want to show, and what doesn’t belong,” he explains. “That helps with the composition, and I suppose makes it seem more careful,” he explains. “I find faces interesting, more often than not, and when the information around the face isn’t worthwhile, I shoot a little closer, and that’s developed into a kind of street portraiture.”
虽然他被城市建筑环境中那些鲜明的颜色和强烈的阴影对比所吸引，Chris 也还会为人物拍肖像照。事实上，他的大部分作品都是以人为主题的，且通常是他在大街上发现的陌生人。
这些照片似乎在肖像和人物抓拍之间划分了界限，因为 Chris 通过仔细的剪裁来达到这样的效果。“当我拍照的时候，我会想我想要展示什么信息，什么信息需要删除。”他解释说。“这对构图很有帮助，我想这让它看起来更细致，”他解释说。“我发现人物的面部往往很有趣，当面部周围的信息不值得入镜时，我就拍得更近一些，这就发展成了一种街头肖像画。”
Da Canha has lived in Seoul for the past five years, and thrives in the crackling electricity of the city’s creative scene. “Seoul was recommended to me by a friend living here at the time. I came and have never looked back. Korea’s a wonderful country, splitting at the seams with energy, and Seoul gets bigger every time you blink,” he says. He’s especially enthusiastic about the country’s photography community. “You won’t find a friendlier group of talented people excited to create rad imagery.”
Chris 在首尔生活了五年，在它创意界蓬勃发展期中成长起来。“当时住在这里的一个朋友向我推荐来首尔的。我来了，从未回头。韩国是一个神奇的国家，充满活力，你眨眼间，首尔就好像变得更大了。”他说。他对这个国家的摄影界特别有热情。“你不会找到一个更友好的充满才华的大集体来创造这样的图景了。”
Da Canha has shot for fashion and lifestyle brands, and has a collection recently appear in Dreamingless. He’s also begun a yearlong project intended for print, with 12 series of photographs grouped together under different aesthetic themes. Photography is his job, but it’s also his hobby, and he’s always on the lookout for something striking. “Daily life is more enjoyable when you’re actively looking for what you like.”
Chris 也为拍摄时尚和生活方式品牌拍摄照片，并有一个专题集最近出现在 Dreamingless 上。他还开始了一个为期一年的项目，计划刊印成册，将呈现 12 个系列的照片和其不同的美学主题。摄影是他的工作，但也是他的业余爱好，他始终都在寻找那些令人注目的东西。“当你积极地寻找你喜欢的东西时，日常生活就会变得更加愉快。”
Website: fourfiftyonedegrees.com
Instagram: @chrisdacanha
Contributor: Allen Young
Chinese Translation: Chen Yuan
