
In the film On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace we see the stunning work of Brazilian cinematographer Adolpho Veloso. He follows celebrated still-photographer Michael O'Neill on a trip through today's world of yoga. O'Neill, perhaps best known for his portraits of the famous and powerful, is a devoted practitioner. It is this devotion that drives him to record his striking images of the discipline. Veloso, in turn, delivers a fittingly beautiful film that also earns him one of the industry's most prestigious cinematography awards, The IMAGO International Award for Best Cinematography for Documentary Film. Veloso tells us about his experience working with O'Neill, director Heitor Dhalia, and the nimble ARRI AMIRA camera.
First of all, congratulations on winning the IMAGO documentary award. Can you tell us how the three of you came together for this project?
Thank you very much! Everything started a couple of years ago when Heitor met Michael on a beach during a New Year's Eve celebration. A few days later, Heitor called me asking if I'd be interested in shooting a documentary about a still photographer and yoga. I didn't hesitate at all. I promptly said yes. It was pure instinct because I had never shot a documentary before. And I didn't know Michael's work. But after I started looking at his amazing portfolio, I was sure this would be a fantastic opportunity to do something great, visually.
It must have been interesting working with a master like O'Neill. But what influence did he have on your images?
That was really interesting indeed. I sure learned a lot from him. We actually tried hard to distance our language from his. We wanted it to be as natural as possible and that the viewer could really sense when it was Michael's image on the screen. We wanted his images to really pop when they appeared, to create an impact on the viewer. It was actually easier to do then I had first imagined. His way of working is totally different from mine. He uses flashes and interacts a lot with the subject. I was trying the total opposite, to play only with available light and to not interfere much with the subjects and environment. It was actually really funny because in the beginning Michael, as the master he is, was really worried about the images we were capturing and was always asking things like are you sure you don't need more light here? I think he only relaxed a few weeks later after we showed him a selection of the images we had shot.
This film is indeed chock full of beautiful images. What kind of look were you after and how did it lend itself to the subject matter?
We thought a lot about how to shoot it. We were in love with the idea of making what we called moving stills. So, it was really intuitive to go for slow motion and extreme shallow depth of field. The purpose was to feel like it was a camera traveling though a picture, or the POV of a still camera trying to find the shot.
Copyright Adolpho Veloso
Full of beautiful images: On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace
How did you prepare for the challenges you would face, shooting in India for example?
Even though I had never shot a documentary before, I was somewhat used to a guerrilla style. So, I knew we needed to be light. One of the first decisions we made was to abandon the tripod. That thing can be heavier and more difficult to carry then all the rest! We put everything we had in one big bag. And that was it.
You often shot at high frame rates. You used Zeiss Super Speeds. But how did this influence your choice of camera?
As an ALEXA user 99% of the time, I was sure I didn't wanted to go with anything else but ARRI. So, the AMIRA was really an easy choice. 200 fps and fast lenses were essential for the look we were trying to get. Also, we couldn't risk bringing a camera that couldn't deal well with the extreme situations.
Were you operating alone? How did the ergonomics of the AMIRA help you?
Yes. I had one assistant that would help me with everything. But I was operating and pulling focus alone. For me the AMIRA is the digital camera with the best ergonomics, it perfectly fits the shoulder and has the perfect balance when you hold it from above for lower shots. Also, all the user buttons and the internal NDs were something that really saved us lots of time.
Copyright Adolpho Veloso
On the road for On Yoga (from left to right): Ducha Lopes, Heitor Dhalia, Michael O'Neill, Alexandre Bellelis, Adolpho Veloso, and James Weidner
Since completing this film you have again worked with Heitor Dhalia. Can you tell us what you are working on now?
We did a fiction feature based on a comic book called Tungsten. All set in Salvador, a city in the northeast of Brazil. Shot with the ALEXA Mini. And I just shot a Portuguese feature directed by Jo o Nuno Pinto called Mosquito, set in World War I in Mozambique. Also shot with the Mini. Right now I'm starting pre-production on an Argentinian feature directed by Felipe Gomez Apar cio called The Perfect David, which I'm hoping I can shoot with the Mini LF!
Related links:
www.adolphoveloso.com
www.instagram.com/adolphoveloso
Related Products AMIRA Go anywhere, shoot anything
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
18/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
18/07/2025
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
18/07/2025
BOSTON Sports network NESN today relaunched the NESN 360 app with a redesigned user experience and upgrades....
18/07/2025
Berklee Singers Wow the Competition on Netflixs Building the Band Netflixs new music competition show features two Berklee artists looking to make their pop b...
18/07/2025
As the House of Representatives voted early Friday morning to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasting, advocates warned that the elimination of $1 bil...
18/07/2025
DENVER Imagine Communications has announced that it is deepening its commitment to the North American sports and live events market with investments in its prod...
18/07/2025
LOS GATOS, Calif. Netflix once again reported strong financial growth, with revenue increasing 16% year-over-year to $11.079 billion in Q2 2025 as net income s...
18/07/2025
Live from the 153rd Open Championship: SMT Enhances Video Board Experience; Enab...
18/07/2025
ShotTracker's Davyeon Ross on Revolutionizing Basketball On the Court and ...
18/07/2025
Home Pitch: How the Danish League Brought Its Live Match Production In-House Matchday Production produced 800+ matches across Denmark in its first year By Geor...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: EMG Debuts Spidercam for Golf, Expands Su...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: Bringing the fight to life with state of the art cameras and ...
18/07/2025
Usyk vs Dubois II: DAZN's head of boxing Chris Glanville talks helicopters, ...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: NBC Expands Unilateral Effort; Shared Stu...
18/07/2025
Warner Bros. Discovery's Anne Graham on Training New Professionals to Ensure...
18/07/2025
Live From the 153rd Open Championship: How R&A Spidercam Became a Reality for Go...
18/07/2025
ESPN Bulks Up Onsite Studios, Cameras, Player Mics for WNBA All-Star Weekend Besides the game, four studio shows will be produced onsite By Jason Dachman, Edit...
18/07/2025
Friday 18 July 2025
Credit: Marc Sethi
The Sky Arts Awards will return on 16 September, once again taking place at the iconic Roundhouse in London. Produced b...
18/07/2025
This month, players can dive into special crossover events featuring SpongeBob SquarePants in Snake.io+ and Crossy Road Castle, available exclusively on Apple A...
18/07/2025
Up for the Match brings the fun, the passion-and a bit of Riverdance- tomorrow n...
17/07/2025
Blanche Barton, Peter Gilmore, Scott Cummings, Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani, and Peggy Nadramia throwing horns. (Stephen Lovekin/Shutte...
17/07/2025
Spotify's goal with audiobooks is to help grow the publishing industry and create the best possible experience for booklovers, which is why we're launch...
17/07/2025
An advanced large solid rocket motor hot fire test conducted at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, site....
17/07/2025
L3Harris payloads and components have been on board every U.S. GPS satellite-more than 70 missions since the 1970s. Our technology is at the core of GPS availab...
17/07/2025
L3Harris' pack of launched effects is comprised of multi-role vehicles that ...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 17, 2025 - Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, has announced the appointment of Ryan Moore to the new role of Chief Business O...
17/07/2025
READING, Pa. Network technology startup Miri Technologies has added David Cohen as vice president, business development. He'll be tasked with expanding the ...
17/07/2025
Berklee Wins CASE Award for Standout Digital Campaign The Alumni Affairs team's Variations Signature Series earned recognition for offering an authentic p...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission.
O...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-seven Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
17/07/2025
Back to All News
What We Watched the First Half of 2025
Entertainment
17 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Today, we're sharing our latest Eng...
17/07/2025
Cast your vote in 2 categories for Ivory 3 American Concert DIvory 3 American Concert D is in the 2025 MIDI Innovation Awards and we are honored to be nominated...
17/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: OpenDrives' Sean Lee, Michael Wilsker, and Jason Matousek on E...
17/07/2025
Oracle's Geoff Tognetti on Staying Ahead of the AI Curve Through Further Ado...
17/07/2025
NBA's Summer League Is a Hot Bed of AI, Immersive Innovation Testing Audio mixing, intelligent camera framing are among AI-driven efforts By Ken Kerschbaum...
17/07/2025
SVG's TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 21; Register Today! By SVG Staff
Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 8:29 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
St...
17/07/2025
Gravity Media chosen as group name for merged OB business By George Bevir
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 - 11:30
Print This Story
Gravity Media executive chairm...
17/07/2025
SES Closes Deal to Acquire Intelsat, Creating New Giant in Satellite Connectivit...
17/07/2025
How MLB Pulled Off That Unforgettable Hank Aaron Tribute at the All-Star Game Vintage content, state-of-the-art projection/processing combine in marvelous mile...
17/07/2025
Wuppertal July 17, 2025
Riedel Communications Powers Handa Opera on Sydney Har...