Once in awhile an artist finds their calling quite by accident. Carlo Cruz has such a story. As a photographer, Carlo works by day in the fields of architecture but by night, Carlo photographs breakdancers.

For Carlo, the world of breakdancing is a sub-culture of passion, spontaneity, and discipline where authenticity is vital and fake is a crime. Many b-boys teach breakdancing at minimum wage just because they love the art. Carlo often recounts the story of a b-boy in Dubai who worked two weeks for a pair of shoes.

Capturing b-boys and b-girls in action is an art form of its own. The moves must be captured in action, no posing allowed. Besides catching the moves as they happen, b-boys are also very sensitive to the authenticity of the moment. The only way to capture a real b-boy in action is to allow for spontaneity and Carlo Cruz thrives in these moments. He believes that the essence of his breakdancing series is that they were captured in a moment of spontaneity or that gut-feeling of the exact split second when he should take the shot.

Carlo uses Photomatix and Photoshop to achieve his dramatic effects. Utilizing HDR techniques, Carlo presents images that push the limits of reality and often blur into surreal animation-like scenes. But Carlo does not mind that some of his images border on looking over-the-top. In fact, he argues that this effect is perfectly in line with the b-boy lifestyle of going to the edge and crossing it.

Carlo is a big fan of digital photography. He uses a Canon 5D for the vast majority of his work. His lens of choice is the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, but he also likes the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM for those shots in which he wants a shallow depth of field. Basic flash and strobes, a tripod, batteries, gels, and masking tape are some of the other “must-haves” he brings with him to every shoot.

Cruz has shot b-boys in plenty of locations: throughout California, Seattle, New York City, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, and Dubai to name a few. In every case, he was amazed how people from all walks of life, creeds, religions, and races could come together for the love of their art.

In places like Dubai, the culture is so conservative that breakdancing could be considered illegal if you are caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. But this didn’t keep back the enthusiasm and passion of b-boys in Dubai. It just meant that they had to shoot fast and move on.

You can see the work of Carlo Cruz on his website http://www.carlocruz.net. He is based out of Long Beach, California where he is a professional photographer.