All images by Gustavo Minas. Used with permission.
Out of all the genres I cover on Them Frames, street photography has always held a special place for me. I’m obsessed with the unpredictability of real life and how photographers capture that in a single frame. It’s extremely difficult to do well, and yet Gustavo Minas has built a long catalog of superb work.
Gustavo Minas, Ciudad de México, 2025, Dobleaestudio.
When I view Gustavo’s photography, I sense his main motivation isn’t to simply make a cool photo, but rather to tell the true story of the streets in a creative fashion. This likely stems from his background in photojournalism, where he’s tasked with documenting real stories in his home nation, Brazil.
Where standard photojournalism aims to be straightforward, Gustavo’s street photography is anything but. His compositions are complex yet never distract from the main subject. His use of reflections, light, and color makes the work utterly engaging, drawing you into multiple elements of a single frame.
I caught up with Gustavo to learn more about his work and life in Brazil…
Them Frames: Hey Gustavo! Please can you tell us about your early life and how it influenced your entry into photography?
Gustavo Minas: I went to university to study journalism in the early 2000s, that’s when I learned the basics of photography, still analog. But even before that, I used to be the one in my high-school group who had an automatic camera and would photograph barbecues, parties and my girlfriend.
In 2009, I started working for a daily newspaper, but as a writer. I didn’t like it, so I decided to take a photography course to study photographic language and history of the medium. I had the best master I could ask for, Carlos Moreira, and since then I’ve been photographing the streets and my daily life obsessively.
Them Frames: You’re well traveled. Where in the world tends to inspire you the most to make street photographs and why?
Gustavo Minas: I love places by the sea, maybe by the way they make me feel. I could mention the clichés, Istanbul, Havana, NYC, but Brazil has two very special cities that I keep coming back to and really love: Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. They have everything: sea, light, great people, atmosphere and maybe a little danger too.
Them Frames: You describe Brasília as a very challenging place for street photography. Why is that and how do you overcome the challenge?
Gustavo Minas: It’s a city built to be the government center of Brazil in the 60s, so it’s a city that was considered modern for its times, but ended up being too boring to live in. There’s no real downtown and you have to take the car to do almost everything.
It’s quite bucolic and healthy too, as there’s many trees and green areas, but this makes it not so interesting to street photography. The only busy place is the central bus station, and most of the commerce is inside shopping malls.
Them Frames: Street photography is unpredictable: what keeps you motivated when frames aren’t coming your way?
Gustavo Minas: Hmm, probably the beer I’ll have at the end of my shift. I’m kidding, but of course I have more bad days than good ones. Anyway, somehow I can’t help going out to shoot when the sun is out, there’s always this vague promise that a good photo will happen. You gotta have a lot of faith I guess.
Them Frames: Do you consume much street photography? Which photographers do you like and why?
Gustavo Minas: Yes, I do, I have a big collection of books, which I tell my wife it’s going to be my legacy to my daughter. I won’t mention contemporary names because of the risk of forgetting names, but I buy everything I can by Harry Gruyaert, Alex Wee, Gueorgui Pinkhassov and Saul Leiter.
Them Frames: You run workshops. What can someone expect from joining your street photography workshop?
Gustavo Minas: Honesty, I’d say. I think there’s a certain limit to what one can learn during just one weekend, so I think that I charge proportionally to that. I try to dedicate a good time to the portfolio reviews and I try to tell all my “secrets” during my presentation, but the practice can be a bit tricky. I don’t believe in giving the students assignments or missions, as I don’t think that these are similar to what we experience in real situations.
Them Frames: How does the candiness of street photography influence your style for commissioned work? Do clients tend to let you do as you please to emulate that candid style?
Gustavo Minas: I don’t take many assignments, I still work as a journalist to pay my bills. Now and then I take some, mostly to shoot portraits of politicians in Brazil. But the logic is the same as in the streets: looking for some good light, interesting expressions, hand gestures… and hopefully an interesting composition.
Them Frames: Finally, please finish this sentence: I need photography in my life because…
Gustavo Minas: my life is boring without it.
You can enjoy more work from Gustavo Minas by visiting his website and Instagram.
More reading: Intimacy and Composition: Inside Pixy Liao’s Visual Love Letter
