My interest in photography began in childhood fascinated by photographs my great grandfather had taken of his family and the National Parks that he had visited. During college I majored in photography and film and documented a variety of activities on campus, especially the marching band, but it was in Korea when I served as an Army photographer that I realized photography was my passion and would be the medium to express my vision. I am curious about people and their interaction with their environment, recording their activities at work or at play. My interests also include portraiture and documentation of performance art, architecture, landscape and experimental photography.
Since 1970 I have been documenting the lives of the inhabitants of a fishing village called Ponta de Mangue in the north east of Brazil. The village has been going through a major transformation, becoming and ecological resort. The social changes brought about by this transformation have been the subject of my photographs, videos, films and sound recordings which are the foundation of the archive of the Museu da Praia (The Beach Museum) which I co-founded with my partner Jonas dos Santos.
Link Harper