Mario Cardenas is a Filipino architect based in Dubai with 18 years professional experience, he had been involved on many exciting international projects such as Dubai Creek Harbour Tower – the next tallest building in the world, EXPO 2020 UAE Pavilion, Paramount Towers, Google MEA Headquarter, EXPO Village and many more. He is also an artist, who loves sketching, drawing and painting, he had won various art and painting competitions in the Philippines.
Mario’s journey in photography has been making his mark in international photography competitions since 2010. His passion and talent in photography are manifested through numerous accolades and honors for his works, garnering 400 awards from various international photography competitions in the: USA, UK, Switzerland, Canada, France, Australia, Austria, Germany, China, Singapore, Japan, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE and the Philippines.
He conducted many local and international photography exhibitions, and his photography works have been published on various magazine, prints, books, and newspapers. Also, he has been selected as one of the juries/ judges of international photography competitions for: FIBA International Photography Competition in Switzerland, Toshiba Excellence Award in Dubai, Dhaka Photo Academy in Bangladesh, and many more.
A visionary architect, photographer and self-taught artist, Mario always ensures distinctive and stand-out images by elucidation of the diversity and vibrancy of his subject with story-telling captured from unique perspectives. Mario dreams to travel extensively and cover exotic places with essential human elements, curate photography exhibitions and galleries, and have his works appear in various publications around the world.
Born and raised in Chittagong, Avijit currently lives in Oman. His journey with photography started in 1999 during college days. He was very inspired by music and cinema when it came to thinking of frames. He learned photography with the close vision of his mentor Hasan Chandan, who is one of the maestro of Bangladesh photography. Also he attended many national and international workshops regarding photography and filmmaking. Currently he is a cinematographer by profession and a photographer by passion. He identify the things that seem insignificant at the time but when you look back on them realize they are relatable – they become relatable to our mind & existence. He always try to share his coextensive experiences through his photos that portray in a simple and minimally composed.
Avijit currently involved himself as a community analyst for the development of Bangladesh photography through his initiative named ‘Photo Discussion', which is already being a remarkable online platform for knowledge sharing and It is country’s first live initiative. Also he writes photography articles in Social Media.
His works has been awarded and exhibited in various national and international galleries. Also many national and international daily news, magazines and organization’s featured his works.
Photography to him- I want to see the lights through the dark on the street. it makes me feel like way to salvation. Salvation for wisdom. I walk through the path, the landscapes and the crowd with a camera while my mind keeps reminds me the words of Alex Webb “photography must give you a question”.