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Rui Palha

UPOTY 2026 CURATOR

Rui Palha

🇵🇹Lisbon

Street Photographer

Professional biography

Rui Palha is a Portuguese street photographer based in Lisbon. He began photographing at fourteen and has devoted much of his time to street photography since 2001. His black-and-white images explore everyday life through light, gesture and human connection.

Website

What I look for

The strength of an image does not always depend on refined technique, but rather on its capacity to communicate and the impact it has on the viewer. While technical rigor is desirable, it is not the deciding factor. I'm looking for images where the subject stands out on its own.

I am interested in what the photograph reveals beyond the ordinary, and in the photographer's sensitivity to capture something that can move or unsettle the viewer

— Rui Palha

Selected photographs

© Rui Palha

Silhouettes walking along a sunlit street beneath an arch — photograph by Rui Palha
A person with an umbrella in a rain-soaked passage — photograph by Rui Palha
Pigeons in flight around people on an indoor staircase — photograph by Rui Palha
Figures carrying parasols through a hazy street — photograph by Rui Palha
An adult and child cycling beside the water beneath a misty bridge — photograph by Rui Palha
Sunbeams falling through a barrel workshop around a lone figure — photograph by Rui Palha
A lone pedestrian casting a long shadow in a cobbled alley — photograph by Rui Palha
Children jumping and diving beside waterfront steps — photograph by Rui Palha
A pedestrian crossing a wet plaza beneath modern architecture — photograph by Rui Palha
Two women and a dog outside a doorway — photograph by Rui Palha
A person with an umbrella moving through heavy rain — photograph by Rui Palha
Silhouettes and a couple on steps against the low sun — photograph by Rui Palha
Tram rails winding along a cobbled street with distant pedestrians — photograph by Rui Palha
A view through rain-spattered glass towards tram tracks and an umbrella — photograph by Rui Palha
Pigeons flying over pedestrians on a backlit street — photograph by Rui Palha
A woman with an umbrella leaping across wet steps — photograph by Rui Palha
An adult carrying a child beside another child in a doorway — photograph by Rui Palha