António Rebelo de Sousa
Alexander Laut
Alfredo Cunha
Photographer
He has a long career under his belt and no one
will ever take his place in the history of photography in Portugal. Alfredo
Cunha has recorded some of the most important moments of the last decades, but
he has also found, in faces and simple moments, a testimony of humanity. Some
of the best shots of the 25th of April Revolition and of the
Decolonisation were taken by him, but also of the people of the Douro and of
the pilgrims of Fatima, not forgetting his years as official photographer of
the Presidency of the Republic, with Ramalho Eanes and Mário Soares. He worked
in media until a few years ago, helping to assert photography’s place in this
environment and to create a historical period in Portuguese journalism, in a period
clearly animated by the conquest of freedom of expression, enjoyed in post-revolutionary
Portugal. He still photographs, always, but also spends much of his time
preparing exhibitions and books. What you can’t see of his work in newspapers
can now be seen in galleries and bookstores, in a more thoughtful and planned
register.
You have held exhibitions and published books, which forces you to review many of your photos. Can you make out a particular hallmark or style in them?
In the forty-eight years of my career, my photography has been marked by humanism, truth and a social position of defending the most disadvantaged! Technically, black and white has been my photographic language.
Photography is not just technical knowhow, as we all know. What other abilities do you consider important?
Perseverance, hardwork and discipline.
Everyone knows and admires your photos of April 25th Revolution and the Decolonisation period, for example, but is there any series that you think is particularly good and not as well-known as it should be?
The photographs of the Iraq war, and my work with the AMI, the sort I would refer to as humanitarian journalism.
«Good photographs are everywhere,you just have to find them»
Do you need to be in socially powerful or historic situations to achieve images with the impact you are looking for? Can an everyday place, on a normal day, give you enough material?
Good photographs are everywhere, you just have to find them.
What was it like to be part of one of the best periods of Portuguese journalism? Were you aware of this while you were there?
I have always had a clear sense of my time, just as I know it has now passed.
