Visual Poetry | Fine Art Photography by Cinematographer Fernando Santos
Ideas
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Robin Williams [1951-2014]
Picture
“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”
Andy Warhol [1928-1987]
Viewer
“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”
Ansel Adams [1902 – 1984]
Imagination
“The picture that you took with your camera is the imagination you want to create with reality.”
Light
“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”
Sir Francis Bacon [1909-1992]
Color
“Color is very much about atmosphere and emotion and the feel of a place.”
Details
“There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph.”
Robert Heinecken [1931-2006]
Art
“I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”
Ansel Adams [1902 – 1984]
Portrait
“A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he is being photographed.”
Richard Avedon [1923 – 2004]
Postcards
“I get out of the taxi, and it’s probably the only city which in reality looks better than on the postcards, New York.”
Milos Forman [1932 – 2018]
Bliss
“On the beach, you can live in bliss.”
Dennis Wilson – Beach Boys [1944 – 1983]
Chefchaouen
“Chefchaouen isn’t just a place. It’s a dream washed in blue, a canvas where light and color conspire to stir the soul.”
Adapted from Daniel Jacobs
Eyes
“The eye is the jewel of the body.”
Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862]
Photography
Photography is a way of seeing and feeling. Long before a shutter clicks, it begins with attention: to light, to silence, to something fleeting, waiting to be made visible. In a single moment, emotion becomes image.
What we call a photograph is, at its core, light captured in time. A gesture. A trace of presence.
The Origin of the Gaze
In the early 1800s, Thomas Wedgwood experimented with silver nitrate on paper and white leather, chasing light and its reflections through a camera obscura. These were among the first efforts to hold light still.
In 1826 or 1827, Nicéphore Niépce achieved what many consider the world’s first surviving photograph: View from the Window at Le Gras. A simple rooftop, immortalized with light and patience over the course of hours.
Photography was born from curiosity, chemistry, and observation. Above all, from the desire to hold onto the ephemeral.
From Stillness, A Voice
In these stills, I explore photography as a form of visual poetry. Each image is a dialogue between light and emotion.
Where a cinematographer paints in motion, the photographer listens to stillness and finds rhythm in what holds still.
This gallery is an evolving collection of moments: some abstract, some grounded, all personal. Each quote you find along the way is a guidepost, an echo from artists who shaped how we see.
BE INSPIRED.
When an image resonates, it carries a truth. Something felt. Something shared.
BE CONNECTED.
Every photograph begins with connection. With the subject, the space, or the unseen feeling beneath the surface.
BE CREATIVE.
There’s no formula. Light shifts. Time disappears. The creative act is to remain open, to trust instinct over control.