Daniela Justus

I am a Brazilian photographer based in Rio de Janeiro, with over 20 years of experience working across documentary photography, portraiture, and visual narratives centered on family, childhood, birth, and human relationships.

My photography is guided by experimentation. I explore unconventional cameras and methods, including pinhole photography, alternative printing processes, and interventions on the printed photograph or its negative.

I create images not only to preserve memories, but also out of a deep fascination with photography itself — its materiality, its time, and its craftsmanship.

Since 2021, I have been dedicated to landscape photography and, more recently, I have reconnected with analog processes. I returned to photographing intuitively, without previews, using vintage cameras and expired film, creating multiple exposures and embracing unpredictability.

What moves me are landscapes — primarily those of Rio de Janeiro — as well as other places that are part of my personal history, such as Bahia.

My medium is a living material: it ages, transforms, and remains beautiful. Like the landscape itself, it is constantly changing, moment by moment.

Daniela began studying photography in 2000 and completed extensive training at Ateliê da Imagem, one of Brazil’s leading photography schools, where she developed a strong foundation in documentary photography, visual arts, alternative photographic processes, and black-and-white printing.

She holds a Master’s Degree from PUC-Rio (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) and has continued to refine her practice through both academic study and long-term professional work as a photographer and visual author.

Casa 70, Rio de Janeiro — Collective exhibition:
Encontros de Outono
Instituto Brando Barbosa, 2025

Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro — Exhibition of the series Then the Smoke Said… (2007), following the Hercule Florence Prize awarded by the French Embassy

Ateliê da Imagem, Rio de Janeiro — Collective exhibitions:
- Desclick (2005)
- Terceira Margem (2006)
- Os Trabalhos (2006)