What happens before the photograph — the journey, the ocean and the days on the island.
I'm Miguel: born in southern Brazil, ex-lifeguard, now a photographer on São Miguel. This is where I share what goes on behind the sessions, the places I stumble into and what the island keeps teaching me — camera in hand, one week at a time.
A new story every week
Featured
8 Aug 20266 min read
Before the camera there was the tower, the whistle and the same ocean every single day. How years as a lifeguard taught me to read a wave — and, without me noticing, to photograph one.
Coming soon
Archive
Behind the scenes, corners of the island and what I learn on every session. One new story a week.
The road here1 Aug 20265 min
I left Porto Alegre with two suitcases and no plan. Two years later I wake up looking at an island in the middle of the ocean. The road here, unfiltered.
Coming soon
The island25 Jul 20264 min
There's an hour of the day when the island belongs to me alone. Why I leave the house before the sun does — and what that light does for a photograph.
Coming soon
Craft18 Jul 20267 min
Three hours on the rocks for two seconds of wave. How I pick the peak, the light and the moment — and what happens when the best set rolls in just as the battery dies.
Coming soon
Nature11 Jul 20263 min
I was on my way somewhere else, with the light almost gone. The best photograph of the month was grazing by the side of the road.
Coming soon
Events4 Jul 20265 min
Covering a race turns out to be a race of its own. Mud, backlight and the wrong lens in the bag — the diary of a whole day behind the athletes.
Coming soon
Don't miss one
I tell the week as it happens over there — photos from the day, behind the scenes and a heads-up when the new story goes live on the site. And if you want to book a session, it's one tap on WhatsApp.
Miguel Ribeiro
