What’s New This Month
“Fernando Guerra has sent us a constant stream of projects by Portugal’s Alvaro Siza in recent months…”

Portugese Pavilion – Expo Zaragoza 08
“Held between June 14 and September 14, 2008, the International Exhibition Expo Zaragoza 2008 …”

BM Magazino Greece

Azure magazine 2009 calendar

A revista canadiana Azure convidou 44 fotógrafos de todo o mundo com quem trabalha regularmente, para contribuírem com imagens para o calendário impresso de 2009.
Fernando Guerra foi um dos escolhidos e a imagem usada acompanha o mês de Abril. A fotografia foi feita em Lisboa, numa reportagem para o atelier de Design R2 que efectuou a intervenção tipográfica na fachada da Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Conceição presente entre 19 de Setembro e Fevereiro do próximo ano. Esta ermida foi construída em 1707 e situa-se na Travessa Marta Pinto, em Belém. Clique para ver calendário e revista Azure.

The Canadian magazine Azure invited 44 photographers from around the world with whom he works regularly, with pictures to contribute to the schedule printed in 2009.
Fernando Guerra was one of the chosen with the image represented on the month of April. The photograph was made in Lisbon for R2 Design who made the instalation in Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. This chapel was built in 1707 and is located in Travessa Marta Pinto, in Belém. Click to see the calendar and Azure magazine. Soon all the images of this project in ultimasreportagens

Fernando Guerra in View Pictures

Fernando Guerra passa a ser representado pela principal agência de fotografia de arquitectura, a View Pictures, a partir de Dezembro de 2008.
Representando mais de 40 fotógrafos em todo o mundo, fornece as principais reportagens de fotografia de arquitectura para revistas como Architectural Review, ICON, Blueprint, entre outras.
Para os clientes da FG+SG é mais um veículo de divulgação dos seus projectos nacionais a nível mundial.
A edição de Novembro da newsletter da View inclui um breve texto de Fernando Guerra sobre a experiência de fotografar para Álvaro Siza.

“On Siza…

One of Siza’s projects that has affected me the most is the Anyang pavillion, 30km south of Seoul in South Korea.

When we travel to the other side of the world, we can’t postpone a session due to poor weather or insufficient conditions. We have to create the images with no excuses. Thus, during the summer of 2006, I went to Anyang to photograph the small pavilion built on an open square carved into the mountain, and I was greeted by a week of incessant rain. It was one of my first projects for the studio and I couldn’t nor wanted to make excuses for an incomplete or insufficient piece of work. Filled with anxiety, I did what I had to do: I took pictures…
And it was worth it: The rain became part of the session, providing an unusual atmosphere. The fog ended up hiding some of the less interesting buildings nearby, and the gushing water created cascades that I have not seen since during recent visits to the building. To complicate matters, that same week inside the pavilion, on the only day I had other people working on the project, I did not have my tripod with me, for various reasons. I had to improvise using an old picnic table I found close to the pavilion to support the camera and provide the stability I required. Some images had an exposure of 4 seconds, but the improvisation worked.

The photographs I took on those days were published all over the world, and in their own way helped Siza win several distinctions such as an award from Wallpaper* magazine in 2006 as the gallery of the year. My most published photograph is probably the one of the girl on the inside by the window which was the cover image for different magazines like Casabella or the Japanese, A+U, among many others. It went well. And it was worth it. It was the start of a collaboration that has turned into a friendship of which I am proud.

Long before pointing a lens at his work, I would buy magazines and books containing his projects and visited his buildings more with the curiosity of an architect than a photographer. To be able to share a close relationship with a master is an honour that one never completely becomes accustomed to, but which we easily forget when taking a stroll or sharing a meal, above all because Siza closes the distance with his natural manner. He’s the antithesis of an inaccessible media star.

Working with Siza today is above all like working with a client who surprises me each time I am confronted with one of his works. The attention to detail, his dedication to the project’s design is total, despite his 75 years. On a trip we took together to Japan this past September, his energy left me thinking that I was the one who was his age. When he is recognised on the streets of central Tokyo and stops to sign autographs for his admirers, one understands even more the dimensions of his work. He’s an example for all Portuguese architects, and one whose recognition continues outside of Portugal, now with the important gold medal from RIBA.

Practising architecture does not imply its publication. Neither is this Siza’s objective. He works because he’s an architect and architecture is within him. He expresses it and it emanates from him. It is up to us to visit and divulge it. In the public domain, the recognition of a building’s “exceptional” nature is often through photographs. This means that in order to reach a wider audience, the architect depends a great deal on who photographs it, and principally on the way it is photographed. With Siza, his ample spaces are always conditioned through absolute control of light. I only hope I can continue to do justice to this light with the same enchantment that I had when I studied architecture and used it as a reference point in my small projects.
Fernando Guerra

At present Fernando Guerra has photographed more than 40 of Álvaro Siza’s works and continues to photograph new works for the studio on a monthly basis. ”

AREA 101 | ÁLVARO SIZA in AREA magazine

A revista Italiana “AREA” edição de Novembro/ Dezembro é dedicada à Obra de Siza. A revista publica 17 projectos recentes, incluindo um itinerário pelas principais obras, uma entrevista com Siza e uma análise da obra, da autoria de François Burkhardt. website AREA

Exhibition in Lisbon

Chega a Lisboa a exposição «Mundo Perfeito» com fotografias de Fernando Guerra.
Na sede da Ordem dos Arquitectos a partir de 13 de Novembro. (Ver mais)

«Perfect World» exhibition presents the architectural photography of Fernando Guerra.
Portuguese Architect’s Guild, Lisbon, opening November 13th. (See more)

New book “Contemporary Portuguese Architecture”

Com 257 páginas, a obra “Arquitectura Portuguesa Contemporânea” é uma edição do Clube do Coleccionador dos Correios, e está à venda nas estações dos CTT.

Arquitectura Portuguesa Contemporânea
Autoria de Ana Tostões com fotografias de Fernando Guerra

Esta edição, de seis mil exemplares, surge na sequência de duas emissões filatélicas dedicadas ao mesmo tema pelos correios em 2006 e 2007, que também fazem parte do livro.
A obra é uma recolha de alguns dos projectos mais significativos de arquitectos portugueses que, sobretudo a partir da segunda metade do século XX, marcaram as paisagens urbanas do país.
“A arquitectura é a mais social das artes. Por isso pode afirmar-se que a arquitectura tem muito que ver com o diálogo com a sociedade, a relação com o contexto, a dimensão física e simbólica da cidade”, lê-se na introdução do livro.
A sede e museu da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, da autoria de Alberto Pessoa, Pedro Cid e Ruy D´Athouguia, o Mercado Municipal de Santa Maria da Feira, de Fernando Távora, a Casa de Chá Boa-Nova, em Matosinhos, de Álvaro Siza Vieira, a Igreja do Sagrado Coração de Jesus, em Lisboa, da autoria de Nuno Teotónio Pereira/Nuno Portas, o Pavilhão de Portugal na Expo 98, em Lisboa, da autoria de Álvaro Siza Vieira, são alguns dos edifícios emblemáticos mostrados na obra.