With a trajectory that uniquely unites photography and architecture, Carolina Lacaz found her language of expression in the camera from a very young age. At 30 years old, the São Paulo-based photographer has consolidated her career in architectural photography, an area in which she specialized to merge her two academic backgrounds, creating a unique perspective on the city and its structures.
The image “No Accident”, a finalist in the Single Image category of the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, is a milestone in her career. Taken during her Bachelor’s degree in Photography, the photograph was born from a project with the theme “City” and served as the starting point for her final thesis, titled Encounters and Missed Encounters (“Desencontros”). The image captures with precision and poetry a moment of diversity and movement in the urban landscape of São Paulo, reflecting her continued interest in exploring the dynamics and chance encounters that define metropolitan space.
Discover more about the creative process behind this image and Carolina’s current projects in the following interview.
How old are you? Where do you currently live and work?
My name is Carolina, I am 30 years old, and I specialized in architectural photography. I live and work in São Paulo.
Tell us about your journey in photography. When did you start photographing and why? What role does photography play in your life?
I became interested in photography very early, as a child. I had books and enjoyed taking courses to understand the manual mechanisms of the camera. At 17, I took the entrance exam for the Bachelor’s degree in Photography at Senac, with the goal of professionalizing and having daily contact with artistic production. Being a bachelor’s degree, it involved the possibility of exploring various areas of interest in the field of photography. Today, having also studied architecture, I fortunately combined my two areas of training and specialized in architectural photography.
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?
The finalist photograph titled No Accident was taken in 2014 in São Paulo. At the time, I was pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Photography at Senac, and the semester’s Interactive Project had the theme “City.” The image was produced for this discipline and is part of a series of five photographs that represent urban diversity. It also served as the starting point for my Final Course Project, titled Encounters and Missed Encounters (“Desencontros”). Since then, I have continued to actively photograph the street, the city, and architecture.
What projects are you currently working on? What are your near-future plans for photographic production?
I specialized in architectural photography, combining the two areas of my academic background. Alternating with commercial work, I develop personal photographic essays capturing movement associated with long exposure techniques, both in urban settings and in nature. From another perspective, I also seek to record static compositions from the universe of architecture.
