Rafa Diniz Photography & Film

Rafa Diniz

I photograph architecture, wildlife, landscape and sport, and I direct short documentary and brand films. I work between Brazil and the United States.

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Films

Two films. I directed, shot and cut both of them.

01

Paixão Calejada

Calloused Passion

Format
Short documentary
Role
Directed, shot and edited
Language
Portuguese

A short documentary about devotion and what it asks of the body.

Watch the film
Still from Paixão Calejada: a face lit deep red beside a lit archway.

02

B2B Ranch

Vídeo Institucional

Format
Brand film
Role
Directed, shot and edited
Language
Portuguese

A brand film for a working ranch, built around the people who run it.

Watch the film
Still from the B2B Ranch film: four ranch hands standing together in a tack room.

Photographs

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Traffic reduced to streaks of light on a dark highway in a long exposure.
The rock peak above Fernando de Noronha, seen across a beach of white parasols and clear shallows.
Bare feet and legs dangling over the lip of a sunlit cliff against a blue sky, Fernando de Noronha.
Bathers on a sandbar with a small island offshore, Fernando de Noronha.
The necks of two reticulated giraffes crossing, their patterning filling the frame.
A pink and gold dusk sky read through the vertical slats of a louvre.
An empty basketball net hanging against a pale sky, shot from below.
Half an observation wheel, its cabins catching low sun against a clear sky.
A chapel roofline in silhouette against a pink dusk sky.
A red and black postman butterfly in flight beside dark rainforest leaves.
Sunrise over a wetland, mist standing on the reeds and the water holding the gold.
A beach volleyball player rising to strike, another crouched ready in the sand.
A line of footprints crossing rippled orange dune sand.
Wind ridges and scattered twigs recorded across an orange dune face.
A hippopotamus at the waterline, only its eye and ears above the surface.
A black swan in close profile, its red bill tipped with white.
Looking up a slot of blue sky between tall pale columns, a carved figure at their foot.
A slender mast strung with a web of orange rigging against a pale sky.
A rugby side lined up on the grass, framed between two flags in the foreground.
A wall of patterned ceramic plates in black and white, a figure blurred past it.
A gondolier poling down a narrow Venetian canal, in black and white.
Roman arches in deep shadow, light caught only along their tops.
The tiered arches of the Colosseum's outer wall, Rome, in black and white.
Looking up the fluted shaft of a stone column to its capital, in black and white.
Through an ornate doorway to a sunlit colonnade beyond, in black and white.
A row of fluted Corinthian columns seen at a steep angle from below.
Four horse statues abreast on a dark museum stair beneath a winged figure.
A whale rolling just under the surface in a cloud of bubbles, in black and white.
A deep red sun half set on the sea horizon under bands of orange cloud.
A city street at night from above, headlight trails running past lit shopfronts.
The spire of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai, crossed by a jet contrail.
Three domes of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque above an arcaded parapet.
The arcade and minaret of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque running beside a still reflecting pool.
Colored light from stained glass falling across the stone floor of a church.
A fountain playing on the lawn of the Place des Vosges, Paris.
A child leaning over the basin of the Place des Vosges fountain, Paris.
Stone arches and a rose window above the pews inside Sacré-Cœur, Paris.
Snow falling through string lights over a shop-lined street at night.
Looking straight up a narrow green courtyard to a rectangle of blue sky.
A skater in a Santa hat mid-air, separated from the board below them.
A skater airborne over a wooden ramp in an indoor park.
A skater riding the yellow lip of a bowl, arm thrown up for balance.
A lone figure crossing a bright zebra crossing on dark asphalt, shot from above.
A close portrait of an orangutan looking to camera, red hair backlit.
A skater in a Santa hat mid-ollie over a rail, in black and white.
Recessed windows in a white concrete facade under raking sun and deep blue sky.
A graduate in a stole kneeling on the grass under live oaks, cap set down in front, University of Florida.
Fluted stone column photographed from below in black and white.
Rafa Diniz's work: a lone figure crossing a bright crosswalk, shot from above.

About

Hello, I'm Rafa, a Brazilian filmmaker and photographer based in Gainesville, Florida.

Photography was my first love, but filmmaking is where it's at for me. Whether I'm behind a cinema camera, shooting stills, editing, or coloring an image, I'm always chasing the same thing: stories that resonate.

My goal is to impact someone, somewhere, sometime. It doesn't matter if it's 1,000 people or just one. I want to inspire someone, just like the pieces I watched that touched me. I want to create work capable of doing the same.

Live sport

I currently work as a freelance filmmaker, photographer, and editor. I also work in live sports production as a broadcast camera operator, with more than 50 shows under my belt. I've covered everything from packed Gator football games and conference basketball to the Big 12 Lacrosse Championship. Nothing teaches you to stay in the moment quite like live production.

Film sets

My experience also extends to film sets, where I've worked as a director, director of photography, 1st AD, key grip, gaffer, and grip. Working across different roles has given me a deeper understanding of all the moving parts it takes to turn an idea into something on screen.

Color

Color is another part of the process I've become deeply invested in. I work primarily in DaVinci Resolve, using color not simply to make an image beautiful, but to further communicate the language of the piece.

Every endeavor I take on comes back to storytelling. I want to make work that resonates, that leaves an impression. Whatever the work, I aim to immerse myself, body and soul, and tell the story that is waiting to be told. Always.

What I take on

Get in touch

Tell me what you are making. Film work, photography, prints, or a question about a frame.

rafaelperesdiniz2@gmail.com