One of the key points to my trip to South America is to capture the spirit and atmosphere of the Brazilian people. I feel that this World Cup is unique and especially when I look back at the excellent images collated and taken by the likes of Peter Robinson – http://www.amazon.co.uk/1966-Uncovered-Unseen-Story-England/dp/1845332350
I think in years to come, having documented the country when I can will be just as beneficial, if not more than having a picture of Messi with the ball at his feet.
Of course the football in the stadiums is important, but in other FIFA World Cups I would have been pitch-side covering Brazil v Mexico – but money and travel logistics made it nearly impossible to get back to Rio for the Spain match.
Transport as I keep saying is a huge problem here. We can only dream of the German or Japanese trains or USA flight network or traveling by road in Italy, France or South Africa.
After going in to the Favela’s last summer, I decided to go to a part of Brazil in the south of Rio de Janerio called Gardenia Azul, Barra de Tijuca.
I guess it was surprisingly middle class and very friendly, although it took a while for me to find my confidence where as in the Favela’s I instantly took to the people and in fact felt safer.
Brazil were playing Mexico at 1600h local time.
The traffic about two hours to kick off was nothing short of vile. One for the memory bank to reflect on the next time I am stuck on the M6 or M25 back in the UK.
Bars in the area all housed outside televisions. The locals, all dressed up in Brazil colours, were glued to the lovely LCD and Plasma TV’s.
We were offered BBQ food and drinks at nearly every house we passed. Everyone was so kind and generous.
As the sky darkened we settled for a bar that had 200-300 people watching the 0-0 draw.
It was here I got my favourite pictures as motorbikes and kids on skateboards tried to stick to their normal lives whilst the rest of society was transfixed on the big match.
The end of the evening resulted in us playing football with the locals. With their barefooted silky skills too much for me to handle, I snapped some of the children around the football court.
Most of these pictures I will keep back and edit in about 2 months time when I will forget what happened today and just view the pictures for what they are. Or get someone else to edit them!
Football Photographer Blog by Matthew Ashton 