Meet Skate Category Winner, Fabiano Rodrigues

Photos by Fabiano Rodrigues

Fabiano Rodrigues is the talented Brazilian photographer who took out best picture in the Skate category (presented by G Shock) of our 2022 Photo Comp.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, skateboarding is both a hobby and occupation for the São Paulo native—along with being a professional skateboarder, he’s also the founder of Perfume Skate, and often the one behind the lens whenever the opportunity for a trip comes around. His photograph of young school kids testing out skateboarding for the very first time was an immediate favourite of our judges, and now that the cat’s out of the bag, we decided to hit Fabiano up and find out more about his winning entry and Mr Rodrigues himself.

Hey Fabiano! Can you tell us a little more about the story behind your winning photo?
I was invited to do advertising work for a footwear brand and the project included three countries: Chile, Jamaica and Japan. While working in Jamaica, we went to shoot photos and video at a school and at all times, I had my skateboard with me. The kids went crazy when they saw it and asked me to ‘play’ with the board, so I left it with them and went to work. After a while, I went back to get my skateboard from the kids and they were in a schoolyard having a great time. I think many have never been on a skateboard before; they all had that feeling of discovering something new. In that moment of joy, I took this photograph that reminded me of my first time on a skateboard. Magic moment.

How do you plan to spend your prize money?
I haven’t even thought about it yet, but I know it’s a very good amount, and here in Brazil the prize money is worth three times more. I was very happy with the recognition, the money comes later. I think the biggest award is the recognition of doing a good job.

What have you been shooting at the moment?
I really like doing portraits, and I’m photographing a lot of skaters from my brand, Perfume (@perfumeskate). For my brand, I have been photographing only in analogue.

Which photo of yours would you save from a burning building? 
This question is quite difficult. I have many photographs in public collections in important museums in Brazil and all of them were printed and framed only once and the files were deleted… they are like a 1.10 x 1.50 painting. These I would like to save because there is no way to reproduce them anymore.

What do you like to do when you’re not shooting photos?
Graphic design and artwork for my brand. I like to develop projects with other brands, too.

Any plans for 2023 that include your camera?
Develop a new series for future exhibitions and art fairs.

See more from Fabiano on Instagram @fabianorodrigves