Perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean and Rio de Janeiro’s stunning mountains, The Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art, which looks like a space ship or UFO, appears to float over it all. It’s one of those sites that sticks with you long after your visit.

I wanted to highlight the curves, color and unique structure of the building, framed against the epic vista. I ended up visiting at two different times to get a variety of lighting conditions. Sunset is especially gorgeous as the sun catches all the best angles of Niemeyer’s work of art.

A red winding ramp leads the main building at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

View of the mountains from inside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain is seen from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

View looking out over Niteroi from inside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Every time I visit Rio something interesting happens. The hunt for the perfect shot gets relaxed and photography becomes almost a second thought to what is happening in front of me. Maybe it’s knowing that so many visually interesting things will present themselves to me throughout the day that I relax knowing that by the end of it I will almost always have something visually stunning to show for it. The beauty and chaos of this beach city is nothing short of inspiring, for artist or tourist alike.

In the following images, taken mostly in Rio’s Ipanema neighborhood and surrounding areas, I look for color, layers or subjects that might transport the viewer into the scene. I seem to gravitate to silhouettes as a way to portray subjects in their element. I love the illustrative nature of the aesthetic it brings to my images.

Oscar Niemeyer's Stunning Museum on a Cliff

Compositions in Rio de Janeiro