António Homem Cardoso was born in 1945 in S. Pedro do Sul and has been dedicating entirely his life to a Job, which he loves.
After 10 years in S. Pedro do Sul António moved to Lisbon, where he made his first contact with photography at the age of 14, driven by the hand of the French actor Edie Constantine, and at the same time playing a role on the movie "Edie in Lisbon", which led him to his first photo camera, a Voigtlander Vito B with a coupled Medis telemeter, which was a gift from the actor.
He did then some years of "free" photography in pubs and fado houses and at the same time made his first publications in press (street scenes) and daily Portuguese newspapers, "Diário de Notícias" and "Diário Popular".
At the age of 17 he sets his first photo lab at Quinta de S. Vicente, where he stays as a resident photographer and meets several known people with whom he established a long-term relationship.
From 1966 to 1968 he did his military service and finished his studies as Photo and Motion picture Specialist with high recognition.
In 1968 he met Mestre Augusto Cabrita, the person he most admired apart from his close family and who had a great influence on his career, inviting him to participate on several works as the book "Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa" with more than 400.000 editions sold worldwide.
He has also worked for the magazine "Observador", for which he did important photo press works in Africa.
By the beginning of the 70's he established is own photo studio in Lapa, Lisbon, where he starts a remarkable activity as an advertising, fashion and editorial photographer.
From 1974 until today, and with the restoration of the democracy in Portugal, he has been a well-recognized author of portraits of many of the political campaigns held in Portugal.
In 1980 he started a partnership with the Architect Hélder Carita with a project aiming the exhibition and protection of the Portuguese cultural heritage, publishing several books, among others, "Tratado da Grandeza dos Jardins em Portugal", classified by the French magazine Vogue as an extraordinary book of art.
He also participated as an actor in some novels and films as "O Fio do Horizonte" by Fernando Lopes, where he acts together with Claude Brasseur.
Among his work, he counts now with more than 60 books published, some of them still on printing.
António has been also director of some of the most important magazines of the photo business, "Foto" and "Super Foto Prática" on his first years of activity, as well as photo director of many generalist publications.
He wrote passion texts about several personalities with whom he kept an exceptional relationship, as Amália Rodrigues (one of the most know Portuguese Fado singers), as well as author of the official photos of many politicians, international individualities and the official photographer of the Portuguese Royal House.
1. Fado is a Portuguese typical music genre characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a characteristic feeling of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia (loosely captured by the word "saudade").
Last but not least, António Homem Cardoso has never participated on a photo contest and all the prizes and recognitions achieved were exclusively entitled to his work.