Rogério Reis was born in 1954, studied at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and has been a photographer since 1977.

He has worked for 15 years documenting the various facets of the street carnival in Rio de Janeiro: the costumes criticizing politicians, the participation of the gay movement, as well as the innocence of the street groups found in the poorer outlying neighborhoods. This photographic essay has resulted in several exhibitions as well as a book titled "Na Lona" (On Canvas).

He has had 25 solo exhibitions and has participated in 51 collective showings. Rogerio also lent his history and name to the character of the photographer “Rogério Reis” in the noted film "City of God" by Fernando Meirelles (2002).

His major works deal with urban issues. They are:
"Surfers Train" (1988), "On Canvas" (1986-2002), "Red Pillows" (2006), "Microwave" (2004), "Brazil Av 500" (2009), "Paper Route" (2009), "Field Line" (2010) and " Nobody's Nobodies." (2011-2014).

In 1999 he received the National Prize of Photography from FUNARTE in his home country of Brazil and his work is now present in the following permanent collections:

Sao Paulo Museum of Art -MASP/Pirelli (1995), Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro -MAM/RJ (1996), The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, USA (1999), Danforth Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA (2000), Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France (2005/2008/2012/2014) and Rio Museum of Art -MAR-RJ-Brazil (2014).