Eloi De Farias: Craft, Tradition, and the Poetry of Ancestral Cultivation

Nearing 70 years of age, Porto Alegre native Eloi De Farias carries in his lens a life dedicated to imagery – first as a craftsman of photomechanics in printing houses, now as a documentarian of the land and its cultivators. Retired for 15 years after decades editing works by renowned photographers for the editorial world, he now transforms his sharp eye for pre-press into an instrument for celebrating traditional knowledge and organic agriculture. Founder of the Fotoclube Porto-alegrense, he brings together 120 members around projects that unite technique, affection, and a commitment to documentary record.

His image “Organic Rice Farmer“, a finalist in the Single Image category of the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, is a sensitive tribute to the resistance of ecological farmers in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. Taken in Mariana Pimentel during a documentary photography course promoted by the photo club, the photograph captures the ancestral moment of the manual rice harvest – with a sickle, bundles tied with straw, and transport on an ox cart – revealing not just a cultivation method, but an entire cosmology of work that persists in the face of industrialization. More than a record, the image overflows with respect and admiration for these communities that have fed the city for 30 years through the Feira de Agricultores Ecológicos (Ecological Farmers’ Market), a project of which the photo club has become the visual memory.

Learn more about this journey between photomechanics and the field, the value of the collective, and the plans that keep the passion for imagery alive in the following interview.

Pet, o que ela faz ali? – Imagem do Portfólio Fragmentos Venenosos do Caos Ambiental, de Eloi De Farias, selecionado no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

Por que o Shampoo está lá? – Imagem do Portfólio Fragmentos Venenosos do Caos Ambiental, de Eloi De Farias, selecionado no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

Garrafas junto com bóias de pescadores. – Imagem do Portfólio Fragmentos Venenosos do Caos Ambiental, de Eloi De Farias, selecionado no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

How old are you? Where do you currently live and work?

I will turn 70 on November 11th. I live in Porto Alegre, on the shores of the Guaíba River, in the Guarujá neighborhood. I have been retired for about 15 years. Since I was 14, I worked in printing, as a photographer, but in photomechanics, making film separations (photoliths) and editing photos for pre-press.

Tell us about your journey in photography. When did you start photographing and why? What role does photography play in your life?

I developed my first film at home when I was 10 years old, doing a favor for my brother who did weekend gigs as a photographer; he trained me. I’ve been involved with photography since then. Later I went to work at the printing press with this same brother, and with my first salary I bought a Flexaret camera. I took my own photographs as an amateur, just snapping pictures of family and friends, but professionally I was officially employed as a photomechanics photographer with reproduction equipment for offset printing. I reproduced graphic material for professional photographers; this was my whole life.

I discovered Photoshop in 1990 at a printing trade fair in Germany – it was a step towards electronic editing until I retired. I was a partner to renowned photographers in Brazil who published their works, editing for various types of publications, both editorial and advertising. It was these professionals who motivated me to always pursue the best. We won many awards together on this journey.

Esta é uma cerca da Avenida Guaíba, local que esteve inundado durante a enchente. Parecem com um varal com trapos à secar. – Imagem do Portfólio Fragmentos Venenosos do Caos Ambiental, de Eloi De Farias, selecionado no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

Oferendas poderiam ser de orgânicos. Mas sujam e envenenam rios mesmo assim. – Imagem do Portfólio Fragmentos Venenosos do Caos Ambiental, de Eloi De Farias, selecionado no Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

Tell us about your finalist work for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025. When and where was it created? What is its concept? How does it fit into your photographic practice?

This photo selected as a finalist was taken during a course by the Fotoclube Porto-alegrense, of which I am a founder and which now has 120 members. We made an agreement to document the producers of a Feira de Agricultores Ecológicos (Ecological Farmers’ Market) that was completing 30 years in Porto Alegre. The idea was to photograph them on their properties carrying out their organic activities. For this, we had a Documentary Photography course to go into the field.

This image was obtained in a municipality in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, the rural area of Mariana Pimentel, where the worker harvests his organic rice in a completely artisanal way, with a sickle, and organizes it into bundles tied with the straw itself. Afterwards, with an ox cart, he collects it to dry in the property’s shed. This photograph brings me great happiness for being able to show and document this wonderful work by this community of farmers who are so important for our city.

What projects are you currently working on? What are your near-future plans for photographic production?

My current project is to be able to contribute my best to the Photo Club I helped build and, as I am always competing in contests around the world, it gives me great motivation to live. Photographing is and was what propelled my life: before, professionally, and now, retired, I use this art to have fun.