A WORLD APART

IN ITS HEYDAY, SOUTH BEACH IN MIAMI WAS A HOTBED OF FASHION AND ARCHITECTURE. Walking down the streets, one’s sight would be held captive either by models and celebrities, or by Post-War Modern structures rising next to Art Deco buildings. It was amid this visual ethos that Danny Cardozo decided to pursue a career in photography.

As a student of communication design at Miami’s International Fine Arts College, Cardozo took photos of architecture before moving on to capturing images of students who later became models. This combination, naturally produced by immersion in South Beach, has greatly influenced Cardozo’s current photography style: “combining environment and architecture with bold fashion to make a graphic statement”.

Such a style can lead to difficulties during shooting, as one sometimes deals with new locations or unpredictable weather — but creative tension, after all, produces some of the best works of art. For this photo shoot, Bold New World, the concept was an otherworldly place to which aliens — the models — were transported by means of geometric shapes. The large and heavy shapes had to be transported to the shoot location, a rock quarry where the models and crew battled with dust.

These days, Cardozo splits his time between New York and Miami when not carrying out photo shoots around the world. In December, he will be featured as the lead artist in a photo exhibit for Art Basel Miami. Additionally, DC & CO Studios is in the process of publishing a magazine featuring his work on location, as well as in his studio.