PERISCOPE

José Diniz
PERISCOPE

Photographs: José Diniz

Publisher: Editora Madalena & Editora Terceiro Nome

74 pages

Pictures: 54

Year: 2014

Comments: Softcover with acetate dust jacket, 22,5 x 22,5 cm, b&w photographs. In very good condition other than little scratches on the acetate dust jacket.

As though emerging from a periscope, the images by José Diniz are gathered in the book Periscope, with editing coordinated by Iatã Cannabrava and Editora Madalena.

To arrive at the 54 images chosen for the book José Diniz travelled the country’s coastline from Maranhão to the South – and all the way to Uruguay -, for over eight years. There are people, buildings, the horizon, the sky, and the sea itself, from a very specific perspective, “not underwater, nor land-based, always on the surface”, facing, under, and over the sea.

Diniz is from Niterói, and is always moving back and forth from Rio de Janeiro. “Since my childhood I have always had one foot in the water. Writers, poets and philosophers have used the sea’s image, in all its aspects. Human beings are permanently challenged by this immensity of water,” he says.

To reproduce this contemplative gaze the photographer opted to work immersed, aiming at sharing sensations such as the absence of balance, vertigo, tension, harmony, continuous movement, the sound of the sea, and the taste of salt. “To photograph in these conditions, vision is not enough. You need to use your whole body, all five senses. The camera is set below the horizon and the waves are mountains in movement. In the water, the equipment incorporates different lenses creating new readings,” affirms Diniz.

(From the publisher)