Joao’s interest in photography
blossomed after buying a manual Zenit camera for a handful of rubles
in a Moscow market a few years back.
Upon returning to London Joao found Zoom-In and offered to volunteer
as an attempt to meet other likeminded people and aspiring photographers.
Since March 2005 Joao has helped on anything conceivable, from mopping
the darkroom floor to assisting tutors on most of the courses or running
Large Format photography workshops for other volunteers. Since the
end of 2006 Joao has been responsible for one of Zoom-In’s volunteer
groups and he hopes to have contributed to the development of Zoom-In
as a volunteering organisation.
Joao values the many opportunities given for developing his own skills
and has benefited from the access to the well equipped darkroom, to
some of Zoom-In’s photography equipment and from the contact
with tutors and other professional photographers. Joao is currently
developing further his photography by attending a photography BTEC
course.
Joao likes to turn junk into cameras and bringing old mechanical film
cameras back to life.
Joao is originally from Lisbon in Portugal and holds a degree in mechanical
engineering and a MSc in industrial management. Professionally he
works as a project engineer in the rail vehicle manufacturing industry
in the UK and in Europe.
To see some of Joao’s work please visit www.flickr.com/photos/joaoamaral/
