Russell Porcas
Russell Porcas is an old-school film photographer who was dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age and now collects and restores old snapshots with his wife, Melinda, for their project “Paper Ghosts.”
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Quest
Finding Valentina
Melinda Misuraca’s quest to find a young woman from a 1930s photo album leads her to the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, where a host of questions await.
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About the Storyteller
Russell Porcas began his career in the late 1970s, in the last years of film photography’s golden age. He started working in his uncle’s London photography studio while he was in his teens. After sending a letter to Annie Leibovitz, he received a reply and an invitation, and during the early 1980s worked with her on assignments for Vanity Fair, shooting David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Tom Cruise, Bryan Ferry, and others. He also assisted on film sets for directors Ridley Scott and Julian Temple.
In 1985, Porcas opened his own studio in London. Focusing on advertising, he had the good fortune to shoot campaigns all over the globe for luxury automobile brands, as well as various airlines, distilleries, fashion designers, rock bands, and the British Army.
His international awards include the AOP Awards in London, Communications Arts awards, and the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Porcas’s photography can be found in the permanent collection in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
Russell currently lives with his wife, Melinda Misuraca, in Portugal, the U.K., and California, where he spends his time collecting and restoring vintage snapshots and rebuilding old Portuguese stone houses.