About this site

Welcome, English-speaking earthling! This is a website chronicling the meandering craziness found in towns and metropolises every day. Its authors — Carlos Coelho, James Salinas, Mario Cardoso and Ricardo Homsi — are creatures of the urbis more by line of work and lack of options than any real choice. Living in Sao Paulo*, one of the most aggressive, confusing, polluted and socially imbalanced towns of the world, the quartet acquired a heightened sense of chaos in their surroundings and developed the habit of walking about with a digital camera close at hand. In short, Carlos, James, Mario and Ricardo learned to photographically register whatever their neighbors seem too dazed or indifferent to take note of. And they showcase their finest findings here.

The cameras most often used are the kind of 2-megapixel thingies that come embedded in cellphones. Therefore, the output varies greatly in quality. Kindly refrain from pelting the authors with hard words on their photographic incompetence. They do not proclaim to be photo pros. They’re merely interested in capturing what shock or amaze their eyes (usually fleetingly) during their strolls and wanderings — the sort of instant that begs for freezing. Their motto could be something like: “look over there, get your jaw back up, point your camera and hit that click, fast”. Such concerns as rigorous shot composition and exacting lighting are secondary.

Almost every single photograph displayed on this site (including the header image) has been taken by one of the four editors, except when noted (see the following paragraph). Be aware that authors retain full property rights on their respective photos as displayed here. Letting the world view them does not mean they relinquish ownership over them, so please respect their work.

As of July 26th, 2009, reader contributions are accepted. We are eager to examine photo submissions by any person taking pictures in the spirit of these posts, anywhere in the world… provided some rules are followed:

1. Unsolicited image reproductions from sources not wholly owned by the sender will never be used on this site.
2. Cidadelouca.com only accepts image contributions directly from owners of said images, and only when sent through our official email@cidadelouca.com address.
3. The action of  sending an image automatically implies in its author accepting all image editing and accompanying text deemed necessary by the site’s editors.
4. Photographers will always be named on the post. We will not accept photo offers in which the author asks for anonymity.
5. The place in the world where the photograph was taken is of great interest to us. Tell us when you send your contribution. Tell us a bit about the circumstances.
6. Links to photographer’s e-mail address and/or personal website may or may not be published, at the editors’ discretion. Please state your request indicating clearly which e-mail address you want displayed. In any and all cases, we will not be responsible by whatever spam your inbox or website may come to receive due to image publication. There are evil bots out there, you know.
7. All decisions concerning dates and timing of photograph posting are the editors’ own. We will, however, do our best to give you notice of publication by e-mail, so you can brag about your photo to your friends. Of course, we’re expecting such word-of-mouth to drive site traffic through the roof, thereby increasing site revenue from nothing to exactly zero. Mwah-hah-hah!
8. Unused submissions, or those deemed unsuitable, will simply be deleted from the Cidadelouca.com mailbox. Such submissions will not be returned, nor will they circulate elsewhere (not by our hand, anyway). We may let you know your submission was not accepted, if we have the time. No promises.
9. An important clarification to the above rule: the definition of “unsuitable” is entirely the editors’ own. We won’t go into great lengths to explain why your submission was rejected. Please don’t take it personally, and please don’t bug us about it.
10. The obvious but important rule: sending a photo contribution to us automatically means you accept all of these terms wholly and without question. In other words, your fate is sealed. Mwah-hah-hah!
11. These terms may change at the discretion of the editors, with or without prior notice.

In closing, the authors wish to express their gratitude to all friends who have encouraged this pursuit, and most especially, to Jesus Christ, whose astonishing influence over people is a never-ending source of stimulating pictures.

Thanks for coming by!

*Editor’s note: early in 2009, Carlos accepted a job position in Canada and took residence in Toronto, which he describes as “the Canadian town most closely resembling Sao Paulo”. Therefore, his current posts come straight from the Northern hemisphere, backing the notion that human weirdness knows no boundaries.