"Good afternoon, sir"

Replied the citizen carrying a battle rifle taller than himself, wearing his Havaianas sandals. A photographic chronicle about Rocinha, prejudice, and the best view in Rio de Janeiro.

This post is sponsored by Gelatin Labs. Originally posted in Portuguese in Fotografia Cotidiana.

I had never set foot in a favela. I lived in Rio for thirty years, always with Rocinha right there, visible from every corner of the Zona Sul (or from the traffic if you were driving past), and I never once went in. From a distance it looks like a painting: t…