Q: Can you provide some background information on these images?
A: This work is all from my upcoming book “BeachGames.” It was shot in Rio, yet not a documentary about Rio. Not my intent. Rio is like a Shakespearean stage – physically looks like a stage. A wide demographic lives on the beach. The beach is like a town center in many cities, not just a place to go visit. The beach is where they live. I use this as grist, not as fact. BeachGames is my diary, nothing more.
Q: How would you characterize the images in this portfolio?
A: Lyrical.
Q: When did you first become interested in photography?
A: From day one, at 12, I knew immediately that THIS was it … done deal.
Q: Did you have any formal education in photography? What inspires you? Was there a photographer or type of photography that influenced your work or inspired you?
A: I’m self-taught. I would have welcomed a mentor or a workshop but there were none. Books were it. I fell in love right away with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. They did not need a war, or a movie star, or a famous person in their photos. They just needed an eye. I loved that simplicity, as I did with the French Impressionist painters. I liked the idea of making something out of nothing.

Q: What genre are your photos?
A: Documentary, mostly. Although now I am very interested in fiction. Some writers write non-fiction and fiction. I want to do the same. For sure I do not think of myself as a photojournalist at all, yet I do bear witness. Sometimes what I witness is in my imagination.
Q: How did you first become interested in Leica?
A: When I was 14, and already a very serious photographer, my local camera shop guy showed me a Leica and gave me a photo magazine to look at. I could see that the smaller Leica was going to be it for me as opposed to the larger format film cameras most used at the time. I wanted to be invisible. That camera shop guy let me walk out with a used Leica if I promised to bring him $10 per week, which I did. I think he could tell I was pretty fanatical so he gave me a break!
Q: What approach do you take with your photography or what does photography mean to you?
A: Photography is the way I live my life. Cameras mean nothing to me, nor does “photography” as technique. It is THE way I see the world. The world is a different and more exciting place when I am looking through a viewfinder.
Thank you for your time, David!
– Leica Internet Team
Connect with David on Instagram and on Burn Magazine. In conjunction with Leica Camera’s presence at Paris Photo LA, a live Twitter chat will be held today at 5:30 PM with François Fontaine. Use the hashtag #LeicaChat to participate. See more of David’s work in the latest issue of the M Magazine, on sale now.