Over 1 million people, or more than 20% of the population of Rio De Janeiro, live in a favela, ad hoc communities that government has little control over. Originally founded by marginalized Brazilians with no other options, most favelas are perched high in the mountains where little public infrastructure exists. Despite this, favela populations have grown steadily over the years as Rio real estate prices skyrocketed and more Brazilians crowded into the big cities.

Because there is little government control, gangs and drugs have infiltrated the favelas. Despite this, favelas are vibrant communities full of life and hardworking people that live without fear. Schools, shops, restaurants, banks, and even some national chains exist in the favela as these communities become more accepted by mainstream society.

Some may call favelas shanty towns, but those that live there call them home. I was fortunate to go on a favela tour hosted by Zezinho, a great tour guide and a long time resident of Rocinha Communidade, one of the most prominent favelas in Rio. He gave us a behind the scenes look into his life in Rocinha and invited us into his house to let us know what it’s really like to live in a favela.

An aerial view of the patchwork of hollow brick houses in Rocinha, just outside of Rio

Colorful buildings at the base of the mountain where the Rochina favela begins.

A man pauses to take a break on the bridge that leads into Rocinha.

The curves and arches of the bridge that leads into Rocinha. Zezinho told us that many say that the main arch (on the left side) was designed to look like a woman’s bikini bottom.

Behind the nicer buildings at the base of the community, lie the houses more typical of the favela

A view from inside the favela looking out. Rocinha backs up to some of the nicest neighborhoods in Rio, complete with skyscrapers.

Houses stacked one on top of the other in Rocinha

One of the narrow, often slippery, graffitied passages that run through Rocinha. The art on the wall was made in support of the 2010 Brazilian World Cup team.

A very tiny cat that was on someone’s front porch in an alleyway

Zezinho of Rocinha

Rooftop view of Rocinha Favela with DJ Zezinho and his tattooed legs. The tattoo on his upper right thigh is particularly interesting. It depicts a sitting cat on a skateboard with sandals on his hands. While we were in Rocinha, we saw a man without legs riding down the mountain the same way.

Zezinho showing off his tattoos, all of which are about Rocinha, the community he lives in

Restaraunts, shops, and banks at the bottom of Rocinha

The blue water tanks on top of houses are big enough to hold 7 days of water, and it’s only pumped up once a week. Zezinho said when you run out, you run out, so no American style long showers!

A woman does laundry on a favela roof in Brazil

Baile funk DJ, Zezinho’s graffiti banner.

Zezinho in his own words, describing why he does favela tours. To learn more about Zezinho, follow his blog at http://lifeinrocinha.blogspot.com.

Many of us talk about labors of love, but Jorge Selarón has been tirelessly decorating the St Teresa staircase in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for over 20 years. This massive living artwork, which is now known as Escadaria Selarón, or Selaron’s stiarcase, is 125 meters high and includes colorful tiles from all over the world.

You may have seen Escadaria Selarón without even knowing it: the mad sculptor \ painter Selaron has gained international acclaim for his mosaic tile street art – recently being featured as part of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Bid video “The Passion Unites Us” (1:48), The U2 music video “Walk On” (1:55) and “Beautiful” by Snoop Dogg (0:25).

Seeing the staircase on screen and in person are two entirely different experiences – videos don’t capture the warmth and excitement of the artist’s community in Lapa, show the sense of awe that people feel when visiting the Escadaria, or give a sense of the genius of the artwork evident in the details. If you ever find yourself in Rio de Janeiro, take a quick break from the beach because this masterpiece is a definite must see!

If you would like to licence any of the Escadaria Selaron images as stock photos, click on the images below.

Brazil I Love You Artwork by Jorge Selarón featuring his head on his signature Pregnant Woman

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Mosaic Tiles of Escadaria Selarón form the Brazillian Flag

Escadaria Selarón – Selaron’s Staircase in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro

Selaron Brazil World Cup Mural 2010 at the bottom of the Staircase

One of many cats on Selaron’s Staircase

A napping stray cat on the Escadaria Selarón staircase

At the top of Jorge Selaron’s staircase, the color ends, and the boring begins

One of the many houses on the side of Selaron’s Staircase

The 3 Musketeers on Escadaria Selarón

Escadaria Selarón – Coca-Cola and Michelin tiles – Anyone can send in tiles for Selaron to use

The hallway leading to Selaron’s studio, next to the staircase

An unusual tile of a woman with three breasts in the Brazilian flag at the top of the stairs

The stairs are unusually dull when you look at them from above

Escadaria Selarón – A Mad Painter Selaron’s Lifelong Obsession

Escadaria Selarón – a tile depicting a Native American Hawk catching a fish

A Diptych of Selaron’s Pregnant Woman in English and Brazillian – The text describes Life in the Favela (slum village)

Tiles on Selaron’s Staircase from Atlanta, Georgia

Brazil I love You – Brasil Eu Te Amo Selaron

A video I found on YouTube showing the genius and the madness of the artist Jorge Selaron. My high school Spanish skills (Selarón is from Chile) tell me that he is talking about how no one used to visit the staircase and how he couldn’t sell any paintings before he started adding red tiles to the staircase. After he started adding red tiles in 2000, his masterpiece started getting noticed.

Most photographers are no stranger to self portraits – after all, when you want to practice new techniques, sometimes the only available subject is yourself. I’m no exception – I recently I shot a self portrait for my upcoming Austin coffee table photo book “Austin, Texas: A Photographic Portrait” (coming out in March 2011).

This time around though, I had a bit of help from a new gadget that removed some of the frustrations commonly experienced with self portraits – namely framing and focus issues.

The good folks at Aputure Limited sent me their Gigtube Wireless Digital Viewfinder for evaluation and this new toy took a lot of the guesswork out of taking self portraits and let me focus more attention on other aspects of creating images, such as lighting and posing.

I’ve been using their RF Wireless Remote Kit for years with great success (I originally purchased it for its much lower price point than the Canon wireless trigger), so when they asked me both asked me to do an interview on their blog and to test out their latest product, I jumped at the chance.

The Gigtube Wireless Transmitter plugs into both the video out and remote trigger ports on your camera. From the Gigtube viewfinder you can view whatever would be on the LCD screen of the camera attached to the transmitter. Using the Gigtube Wireless system you can also trigger the camera shutter remotely by pressing a button on the wireless viewfinder.

Because you can see exactly what the camera is seeing, you can compose the photo through the lens – eliminating much of the guess work and randomness that comes with self portraits. The end result is probably the best headshot I’ve ever taken of myself… one that I’m proud to use in my new book.

This photo illustrates exactly what the Gigtube Wireless does, allowing the photographer to see exactly what the viewfinder on the back of the camera normally displays. This is very useful for self portraits and for photos triggered remotely from afar. No more running back and forth to see image previews on the back of the camera!

Even though the transmitter unit has a hotshoe mount for convenience, the Gigtube transmitter doesn’t have to be mounted on the camera to function properly.

The only thing the Gigtube wireless was not able to fix was my Canon 5D Mark II’s the inability to focus in live view when triggered remotely. To be fair, this was not a limitation of the Gigtube Wireless, but the camera itself.

This issue was overcome by getting an assistant to set the focus for me at the beginning of the shoot and then making sure to stand in the same spot for the photos. In summary, the Gigtube Wireless System is a cool tool that I’m looking forward to using in other specialty situations. It is a bit bulkier than my normal wireless triggering device, so I think I’ll only reserve it for use on special occasions, using my smaller Aputure RF Remote in my daily camera kit.

Do any of you use wireless viewfinder devices? What about remote triggers? Which ones do you like or dislike?