In 2009, I visited the Casa da Música in Porto, a project by Rem Koolhaas, one of the most respected urban architects of our time. I was enchanted by the geometric richness of the building, with its pure lines floating in the clear sky of Portugal, refracted by the most beautiful light in Europe. I spent the entire afternoon contemplating its reflective surfaces.

The theme of silhouettes emerged very spontaneously in the late afternoon when I saw the outlines of people heading to its main atrium, some in a hurry, others moving more slowly, but all driven by some passion. They seemed joyful, noisy, sometimes embracing, at other times greeting each other from a distance, forming silhouettes against the geometric backdrop created by the staircase steps. Immediately, I began to imagine different scenarios for those people, for that event, for that mysterious night that would unfold far from my sight.

Photography poses the fundamental question of the relationship between the visible and the invisible, between what is within the reach of our eyes and what escapes us, leaving only its trace, its shadow, its mark.

What is seen in photography is merely the residue (or the ghost) of an image that we imagine we have seen. If photography is this ghost or this illusion of a direct relationship with the real, the silhouette reinforces and gives shape to this ghost as it blurs the contours of the images, playing and floating in the backlight. - Renato Balocco Rio de Janeiro, May 2019.

Renato Balocco is a Systems Analyst with a Postgraduate degree in Photography and Image from IUPERJ/UCAM. He was part of the collective "Nós da Pós," whose work, "Eu Fotógrafo | Eu Espectador," was exhibited at Paraty em Foco (2016) and Foto na Cabeça (2016). He participated as a photographer in exhibitions such as "Releituras Contemporâneas" at the Candido Mendes Gallery (2017), Paraty em Foto (2017), and "O que vemos o que nos olha" at CCJF, RJ (2017/2018).

He is a co-author of the book "Eu Fotógrafo|Eu Espectador," which was launched at the Tiradentes Photography Festival (2018). In the field of photography and image, he has taken courses at Ateliê da Imagem (Rio de Janeiro), JBRJ, and MOMA (NY).

He also participated in the editions of "Cordéis Fotográficos" on Rua do Mercado and the collective projection "Dobradinha" with the group "Crônicas Fotográficas do Rio de Janeiro" at Observatório, Lapa, Rio de Janeiro. He provided the photo for the cover of the book "Os sentidos do tempo" by Anna Elizabeth Balocco in 2012.

Since being captivated by the possibilities offered by silhouette photography, during my outings to photograph, I always seek a position where I can capture backlight images. Inevitably, a person or object will position itself between the light and my lens, allowing the shot to be taken. The result almost always compensates for the wait, which can be quite long at times.

Currently, I use a Nikon D750 and a Leica Dlux5 (compact), with a non-interchangeable lens. With the Nikon, I use the 28mm, 50mm, and 18-120mm lenses.

All the photos that make up this work are my own and were taken over the years with Nikon D70s, D300, D7100, and D750 cameras, as well as the Leica Dlux5.