IVO TAVARES
THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF
portuguese architecture
I'm a photographer, a husband, a father of two boys, in love with architecture, and I have the privilege of doing what I love: translating spaces into visual stories.
Since I was little I've been fascinated by visual expression. The way an image can contain an entire idea - or create space for someone else to build theirs.
Today I photograph architecture. But I don't photograph buildings.
Document what the architects thought before building. I interpret the intention behind each choice - the light, the material, the relationship between the inside and the world outside. And I translate all this into an image, so that someone who has never entered that space can feel it as if he had been there.
That's what it means to democratize architecture. Don't make it simpler. Make it accessible to those who never had the key.
I work with many of the most promising young architects in Portugal. Their works have reached national and international publications - and through them, to an audience that would never know them otherwise. For me, each publication is a translation: the language of architecture, made readable to everyone.
I am also a trainer at the Portuguese Institute of Photography in Porto. And I divide my time between that, the sessions, and the little moments with the family - which always remind me why the things we built deserve to be remembered.
1984
I was born in Amarante, Portugal.
1994
I come to live in the city of moliceiros and ovos moles, Aveiro, Portugal.

2003
I started training in Photography at Institute Portuguese of Photography at oPorto.
2008
I have told visual stories as an independent photojournalist for several national newspaper.

2011
I lost my mind and started my own photography studio, Ivo Tavares Studio.
2017
2019
Architecture photography exhibition at Concreta,in OPorto.
2022
Jury in the competition of architecture and interiors in Moldova, the DAS 2022.

2023
Interview to the Spanish magazine, InterioresMinimalistas.
Ivo Tavares' Lens Narrate the Portugal's Architectures, article in Dsignbit.
2024
Ivo Tavares, the photographer who tells the stories of the most incredible houses in the country article at Nit.
"Architecture is made of spaces to be occupied by people" article at idealista.pt.
2025
"Ivo Tavares' lens immortalizes several projects nominated for Work of the Year" article at aveiromag.
Ivo Tavares is on the jury of the FORMA 2025 Architecture Photography Competition
Ivo Tavares awarded two 2nd places and an Honourable Mention at the Architecture Photography Awards 2025
"A keen eye, boundless energy, and many stories to tell" — interview with Ivo Tavares on the Grande Angular podcast
2026
"My job is not to reinvent space, but to understand it and present it in its best version, without stealing authenticity." article at Arquitectura en Blanco.
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