Like many photographers, António Morais learnt his craft from his father. “It was in the 1990s, and film photography was at its peak,” recalls António. “I learnt to use a camera and photographed on film. It is why I choose colour styles that resemble the look of positive or negative film stock in my work today.”

The influence of film colour, contrast and saturation is evident in António’s video work. Still, having started out learning photography, the art still plays a critical part in his creative workflow. “I carry a Sony Alpha 7R V camera daily and use it like a notebook. If something catches my eye - the location, the light on that specific place, or just the mood of the place I will take a picture.”

António loves to travel to find inspiration, with cultural and historical contrast often providing the juxtaposition he needs to be inspired. One such place that he has recently travelled to is Macau. “There is a huge contrast between the Portuguese/Chinese heritage,” he says of the region, “and then there are these futuristic areas, full of casinos in this autonomous region of China. I like to bring these contrasts together in the same image or a series of images.”

António explores the areas with his Sony Alpha 7R V, or when he wants to travel light the Sony Alpha 7C II. “I generally travel with the FE 35mm f/1.4 GM and FE 85mm f/1.4 GM lenses. Recently, I've been using the FE 28-70mm f/2 GM; it's a fabulous lens, but when I tend to go smaller and lighter, I opt to bring with me either the FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G zoom or the FE 70-200mm f/4 Macro G OSS II.”

António uses the in-camera Creative Looks to replicate the look of film. He tries different looks to see how they change the scene. “The Creative Looks help me to find connections between mood, light, shadow, objects and locations.  I like to experiment with multiple looks while I’m in the process of inspiring myself.”

António has four Creative Looks that he regularly uses - FL (Film Look), VV (Vivid), VV2 (Vivid 2) BW (Black & White).

That leaves BW, which António uses to eliminate colour with a frame and highlight the objects and structure, making it more dramatic. There is one Creative Look that plays a big part in his work above all the others, and that is of course, FL. “I love the grunge, gritty, contrasty and punchy look it brings to the image,” says António. “The way the skin tones are more golden/warmer in the highlights, the blues are less saturated with a light cyan feeling, reminds me a lot of the look of some of my favourite all-time negative film choices.”

In-camera, there is the ability to adjust some of the settings of each style, and sometimes António will experiment with the contrast and saturation settings. When it comes to editing the images later, the aim is to reinforce the look that has been achieved in-camera. “I tend to adjust the highlights, shadows, fade, saturation and clarity to reinforce the look created in-camera.”

During his visit to Macau, one image encompasses António’s style more than any other; it is a photo of a lady watering her garden. The photo uses the VV2 Creative Look as António wanted to bring out all the colour in the scene. “I wanted to guarantee good colour separation between the background and the foreground,” he explains. “The way the image is framed, it is like she is watering the cityscape. She is larger than the city, like a god towering above it.”

These are the stories that António likes in his images. “I want to play around with subconscious meanings in the pictures that I take. In a city where the humidity is relatively high for a big part of the year, this photo seems to give a possible explanation for that.”