About JOAO
Born in New York to Portuguese parents, João Carlos is an Advertising, Fashion and Fine Art photographer and director of photography currently based in New York City. At the age of five, João expressed his innate interest in creating when he asked his parents for a camera for Christmas. Upon receiving a box like toy camera, he kindly thanked them but gave it back, pointing out that it did not have a flash and wanted a real one.
Though he expressed this interest in having a ‘real’ camera at the age of five, João’s artistic explorations began with painting and fine arts which led him to study at Ar.co Institute of Art and Visual Communication in Lisbon, Portugal.
João’s photographic career began as an assistant to João Palmeiro, an advertising photographer in Portugal. For several years prior to moving to New York, he worked with some well-established photographers including Horst Diekgerdes, Thomas Strogalski, Alexander Koch, Peter Schreiber and various production companies on a freelance basis.
João ran and co-owned a production house, Milkman Studio, in Lisbon for seven years from 2002, which catered to the the needs of both large and small clients from the advertising, fashion and music sectors.
His work has also extended into video, both as director and director of photography and has worked on numerous music videos and television commercials in both Europe, the USA and Africa.
One of the highlights of Carlos’s photographic career came in 2010 when he won the Hasselblad Masters Award,a prestigious recognition in the industry, honoring the best in both established and rising photographic talent.
João’s client list includes advertising agencies, magazines, fashion apparel, and beauty companies such as Nike, Avon, Pfizer, Staples, HP, Vodaphone, Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams, Banif Bank, Barclays Bank, Ogilvy Barcelona, Series, Mccan Erickson, Universal Music, Emi Records, Wella Hair, Schwarzkopf Hair and Thevi Cosmetics.
Most recently, João’s work has appeared in numerous publications and magazines namely Elle, Forbes, Kurv, Chaos Magazine, Eclectic Magazine, Dilema, Wallpaper, Nstyle Magazine, Umbigo Magazine, Numero Magazine, Blink Magzine, W25 Magazine, Iconography Magazine, Connecticut Home and Gardens, Modern Homes and Architect.
João’s work has been featured in several magazines and TV Programs worldwide such as BCC UK, Portugueses sem Fronteiras, Direct Arts Magazine, FotoVideo, Victor by Hasselblad Magazine, Photoshop Australia magazine, O mundo da Fotografia Digital, DP Arte Fotografica, PH Magazine, Composition Magazine Israel,British Journal of Photography and Professional Photographer Magazine, Plum TV Miami, Caracol TV Columbia, RTP international and RTP 2.
In João’s continuing role as a guest speaker, he has been invited to speak at many prestigious events over the last two years including the Hasselblad stage at photokina in Germany, Hasselblad Studio opening in London, Hasselblad FOCUS events in Columbia and Brazil, BES Art and Finance, Petcha Kutcha Lisbon and IADE Creative University to name a few.