Afonso Salcedo
• Portrait and Documentary Photographer
• Lighting Artist (Disney/Pixar)
• Los Angeles, CA 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🇵🇹
• IG instagram.com/afonso.salcedo
https://afonso.me
- Testing new Godox strobes with Capture One tethering before a client session. Prep work matters. And when you need to dial in lighting ratios, any subject works. Rex doesn’t complain about holding still. Loudly, at least. I’ll use do human tests this weekend…
- ProPublica's Minneapolis coverage shows why photojournalism matters. Cengiz Yar and Peter DiCampo were on the ground with gas masks and frozen cameras, documenting what phone footage can't capture: context, continuity, and witness. www.propublica.org/article/minn...
- Second scout done for a corporate headshot session next week. Backdrop finalized, setup planned, now just dialing in lighting before shoot day. New client, great LA office space. The pieces are coming together.
- Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner was edited alone in a Tehran safehouse. Footage hidden across the city. Shot without permits. Actresses without hijab. The making of “It Was Just an Accident” was itself an act of resistance. Woah. 🤯
- What an astonishing documentary. Woah. Can’t recommend it enough. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” - nominated for Best Documentary Film.
- If you're joining tomorrow's protests, read this tonight. I wrote about documenting safely, phone security, your rights, what to do if things escalate. Be safe, and thank you. open.substack.com/pub/fonziela...
- Apple Creator Studio is a real commitment to creatives, with Final Cut, Logic, Pixelmator Pro under one roof. As a photographer, I’m hoping phase two brings more photo-centric tools into the mix. The foundation is strong though, and I’m excited about it!
- New essay: "The Camera as Witness" On documenting protests, the gap between official narratives and video evidence, and what anyone with a camera should know right now. open.substack.com/pub/fonziela...
- “The Secret Agent”. Oscar-nominated, Wagner Moura as an ordinary man targeted by Brazil’s dictatorship for standing up to power. Set in 1977. Feels uncomfortably relevant now.
- Hard day, sitting with what’s happening in our country. Tonight we watched “The Alabama Solution”, Oscar-nominated, shot by incarcerated men on contraband phones. Hard to watch. Important to watch.
- Two killings by federal agents in Minneapolis in seventeen days. We know what happened because citizens documented it. The camera has always been a tool of accountability. Now it’s in everyone’s pocket, and it’s the only counter to official narratives.
- Wrapped my Paramount feature today. Now back to photography full-time and already prepping a corporate shoot for February. If you’re in LA and need portraits or documentary coverage, I’m booking. 🚀🚀🚀
- Bad news: my app had a bug. Good news: it’s now fixed, and my progress is even better 💅 Now that the Oscar nominations were announced my Oscar film watching marathon is officially in session. Lots more to see but I’m doing way better than prior years. Let’s do this 🫡
- I built an iOS app to track Oscar nominations. This year I also added a web backend to update the database live during tomorrow’s announcement, hopefully faster than last year, fewer errors. Will it work? We’ll see at 5:30am.
- Our dog Lady is trying really hard to save democracy but she keeps getting distracted by treats and food. I’m sorry everyone.
- Final week at Paramount. Eight months on The Last Airbender: The Legend of Aang, one of the most creatively challenging films I’ve worked. Grateful for an amazing team. Now focusing on photography and whatever comes next. PS. Image below is not from the film. Stay tuned for more on that.
- Lovely morning tradition in LA hiking up Runyon. Never gets old.
- 2016: Documenting the Temple of Promise build at Burning Man. Weeks in the desert. Sony featured the work on their Alpha Universe homepage and it became an Action Magazine cover. Ten years later, still shooting Sony. Still chasing stories worth the conditions.
- Showed up early. The building gave me something unexpected. Light and geometry were too good to ignore.
- Oscar marathon: Avatar: Fire and Ash complete. Not my kind of story, but the craft is of course pretty great. Where does VFX end and animation begin? The artists pushing these boundaries deserve recognition even when the narrative doesn’t connect.
- Finally watched “Come See Me in the Good Light.” Andrea Gibson and Megan, holding each other through the unbearable. Poetry as lifeline. Love as practice. One of the most honest films about mortality I’ve seen.
- Been here since 8am as a VES Awards juror, broke for lunch now. Twenty years in animation, now helping recognize the craft from this side. The best VFX is invisible; audiences feel it without seeing it. Full-circle moment.
- We just watched this documentary film “Cover Up” last night on Netflix (shortlisted for Best Documentary) and it was so, so, so good. Incredible story about the work and career of Sy Hersh and his investigative journalism. It’s the perfect film to watch this day and age. Have you seen it?
- One year ago today. Smoke from the Palisades and Eaton fires turned LA’s sky pink and orange through the day. To everyone still rebuilding, you’re not forgotten. ❤️ LA
- Another evening watching one of the strongest contenders, Sentimental Value. Incredibly beautiful film by Joachim Trier, well worth the journey. I could easily see this winning Best Foreign Film this year, after it won Cannes as well. What did you think?
- Drove the North Bay this morning documenting flood conditions from king tides and storms. Communities seemed prepared, less severe than expected. If you're in these areas, slow down through flood zones, stay alert. Captions in alt-txt.
- Just saw reports that 101 is flooded near Lucky Dr. in Marin, and also under mudslides near Santa Barbara. Drive safe if you need to be on the road. Glad we didn’t drive today, but I also started getting sick again unfortunately, just a week after I got healthy again 😝
- Oscar shortlist tracking is live in my app 🎬 12 categories. 112 films. 137 hours total. I've watched 14%. My own app is judging me. Nominations drop Jan 17 — what shortlist categories are you prioritizing?
- Never big on New Year’s, but I appreciate the pause. Starting 2026 wrapping The Last Airbender: The Legend of Aang at Paramount, then diving back into my photography. A year to push harder and see what’s possible. Happy new year - be safe out there.
- Some of my favorite sessions this year were long conversations with entertainment workers, then portraits. Continuing Stories of Resilience into 2026. If you want to share your story, let’s talk.
- Ellis Creek on a Sunday morning. Fog, a hawk, a crawfish looking for trouble. A good walk.
- Finally outside after being sick. Petaluma delivered cold sunshine, quiet trails, crows surveying their domain. Sometimes the camera is just an excuse to take a walk.
- Still sick, but we made it north before the storm rolled in. Now California braces for serious rain and wind. Stay safe out there, everyone.
- At 46, I’ve stopped worrying about a lot of things. Wrote about what happens when you finally let the thing you’ve carried your whole life take up the space it deserves. open.substack.com/pub/fonziela...
- Foggy nights in LA turn the city into something cinematic. This was the Arts District a few years back, with street lights cutting through the mist. I love when the weather does the work for you. If I wasn’t sick, I’d be out chasing moments like this.
- Lady has some things to say…
- Soon. Excited for another excursion here.
- The remarkably beautiful and tender Train Dreams, directed by Clint Bentley with stunning cinematography by Adolpho Veloso. So incredibly beautiful. I felt I could breathe this film. Have you seen this yet? My heart is full.
- Fascinated by these Christopher Anderson’s Vanity Fair portraits of White House staffers: extreme close-ups that reveal everything. The intimacy borders on confrontational.
- Months of failed loaves, but this one finally worked. Sourdough teaches the same lessons as photography and creative workflows: patience, attention, trusting the process. Always huge respect for all the bakers (and photographers) out there :)
- The weight of this weekend’s news, Brown, Sydney, Brentwood, is exhausting. I grew up with Rob Reiner’s films. The Princess Bride. Stand By Me. When Harry Met Sally. They shaped how I understood friendship and relationships before I had words for it. Grateful for art that stays with us. 🙏
- Dogsitting became an impromptu dog portrait session. Set up a backdrop and strobe for our guest Gryff, the little Terrier, and our Mia, the black pup. The eyes always tell the story, doesn’t matter how many legs your subject has.
- The Tate reshared The Weather Project on Instagram and I’m back in that Turbine Hall, lying among strangers under Olafur Eliasson’s artificial sun. Art as congregation. That experience planted seeds for every art project I’ve created since. Some work never leaves you.
