In Anna and Daniel’s world, playful perspectives and humour reshape the boundaries of art

You’ve likely come across their posts—those photos where a simple building shifts into something playful, unexpected, and full of life. Anna Devis and Daniel Rueda have built a loyal following on social media with their clever take on architecture. Their feed is a mix of surreal images that twist perspective and blur the line between art and reality. Perhaps you’ve spotted Anna’s yellow hat paired with a small craft that mirrors the sun, or an archaic window turned into a giant classical instrument. Or maybe you’ve seen Daniel effortlessly holding up an entire building with one hand, or a red skirt flaring out to create a smile, with two balloons forming the eyes. It’s this fusion of humor, imagination and architecture that has grabbed the attention of thousands, offering a refreshing perspective on the world around us. We caught up with Anna and Daniel as they take us behind the scenes of their imaginative world, sharing insights into their early influences, their creative process, the role humour plays in their photography, and how they continue to push the boundaries of architecture and art.

How did you both meet, and when did you realise that you make a great creative team?
We met a long time ago at university, when we were both young architecture students. Interestingly, it wasn’t our shared passion for architecture that brought us together, but our mutual love for things outside of the classroom—like music, cinema, graphic design, and, of course, photography. From the start, we knew we’d make a great creative team. We share similar tastes and perspectives, and while our personalities are different, they complement each other rather than clash, which makes working together feel really natural.

Can you tell us about the early days of Annandaniel? How did the idea for the studio come about?
At first, it was just something we did for fun on the weekends. While we were still students, we started getting our first commissioned projects, but at that time, we never thought that would be our career path—just something exciting on the side. After finishing university, we both took regular jobs, and for a while, we managed to juggle everything. But at some point, it just became too much. Little by little, we found ourselves choosing this work over everything else, and eventually, we each left our jobs at different times. It all happened really naturally—there wasn’t a big, dramatic decision, just the realization that we were running out of hours in the day. When it came down to choosing between working for someone else and working for ourselves, we chose us, and we’ve never looked back.

What drew you both to architecture initially, and how has it shaped your approach to photography?
Architecture is one of those fields you tend to choose when you’re a creative person who also happens to do well in school, and that’s exactly what happened for both of us. It wasn’t something we’d dreamed about our whole lives, but once we got into it, we realized how fundamental it is. When we first started taking photos, we became obsessed with finding ways to showcase architecture in a way that anyone (not just architects or designers) could appreciate and connect with. Learning how to tell visual stories that made architecture feel more relatable was what eventually taught us to use photography to express ideas about anything.

How would you describe your creative partnership? What do each of you bring to the table in terms of skills and ideas?
To describe our creative partnership, I’d borrow the words of Steve Jobs: ‘It just works!’ But, seriously, Anna is the problem-solver in the team. We both come up with ideas and concepts, but she’s the one who always figures out how to bring them to life—beautifully, on time, and within budget. She has this incredible ability to take a simple sketch and turn it into a full-blown reality, whether it’s creating sets, sourcing clothing, or making props (most of which she handcrafts herself). As for me, Daniel, I’m the one behind the camera, making sure everything looks just how we envisioned it. I also handle filming and editing the behind-the-scenes content we share online, showing the handmade process behind our work. Our images often take days or even weeks to create, so I’ve had to figure out how to condense that into the fast-paced world of social media, turning multi-day projects into just a few seconds of video. That’s the general breakdown, but at the end of the day, we’re a team, and we both step in wherever needed. Sometimes, I (reluctantly) pick up a paintbrush, and sometimes Anna jumps behind the camera even if she’s not always 100% sure what she’s doing!

Can you take us through the process of creating your work in detail?
We jokingly say that, since we’re architects, our creative process closely mirrors the workflow we’d follow when designing a building. It all starts in the studio with a simple piece of paper. We sketch out every idea that comes to mind, creating different iterations of those sketches until we’re confident the idea is both bold and the composition feels just right. The final sketch becomes our blueprint. We use the architectural software we were trained on as students to define the dimensions of the sketch and make decisions about materials and colors that will bring the idea to life. After the sketching phase, we move on to the building process, which involves a lot of shopping, crafting, and painting. Once everything is in place and the scene is set in front of the camera, it’s showtime! We shoot and capture the image, relying on practical effects and spending as much time as needed to ensure the final result aligns with our vision—this way, we can keep the editing process to a minimum.

Do you find that your architectural background influences the way you approach storytelling in your images? If so, how?
100%! We always say we don’t just take photos—we build images. And even though that might sound a bit pretentious, it’s really how we see it. For us, taking the picture is just the final step in a long process that involves things we’d be doing if we were working as architects: taking measurements, testing different materials, making blueprints on the computer, painting, cutting, etc. If we hadn’t studied architecture, we probably wouldn’t be doing what we do today.

Humour is a big part of your work. Why do you think it’s important to incorporate humor into your photos, and how do you find the balance?
Humor is a fundamental part of our work because we’ve found it to be a kind of universal language. No matter where you’re from, what language you speak, or how old you are, humor connects us in a way few other things can. From the very beginning, we’ve always aimed for our work to be as universal as possible, something that resonates with people across cultures. That said, we don’t consider our work to be “funny” in the traditional sense. We’re not telling jokes, but rather playing with visual perspectives, geometry, and storytelling in ways that make you pause and think. One could say that with our work, we hope to tickle your brain and make you smile.

How do you decide on the locations for your shoots? Is it based on the story, or do you sometimes create a story based on the location?
It’s actually a bit of both. As architects, we’re not just drawn to iconic buildings—sometimes it’s the smaller, unexpected spots in the city that really catch our attention. We love finding those hidden architectural moments and building stories around them, highlighting elements that might otherwise go unnoticed. Other times, we start with a concept and then look for a location that fits the vision we want to bring to life. Whether it’s a colorful backdrop or a more complex setting, the challenge of finding the right place is something we really enjoy—it’s what keeps us seeing the city in a new light every time.

Can you share one of your favorite works to date and explain what made it so special for you?
“Strongher” is an artwork that’s really close to our hearts. We tend to steer clear of heavy topics and usually prefer to focus on themes of hope, joy and happiness, but with this piece, we decided to take a chance and tackle a broader range of issues that specifically affect women. The process became an exercise in simplicity, stripping everything down to just the essentials. In a way, it’s one of the simplest images we’ve ever created, and yet it’s also the one that’s traveled the furthest. A woman, a hat, and some colour—it was enough to spark conversations about online censorship of women’s bodies, breast cancer awareness, breastfeeding, objectification, and so many other conversations about the female body that are so relevant in today’s society. The way this image has connected with people has been incredibly special to us.

You prefer creating surreal scenes in real life rather than editing your photos. Why is this approach important to you?

I know it might sound counterintuitive, but doing everything practically actually makes things easier for us. When you have to physically build what you have in mind, you’re working within real-world limitations (gravity, budget, time), and those restrictions help guide your decisions. When you work on a computer, there are no limits; everything is possible, and sometimes, that endless freedom can be overwhelming. Besides that, for us, doing things ourselves rather than letting a computer do it is simply a lot more fun! And we should never forget to enjoy what we do. Nowadays, with AI, you can create whatever you imagine with just a prompt, but where’s the joy in that? Sure, if you compare us to someone using AI to create an artwork, they’ll probably finish much faster. But in the process, we’ll have learned new things, gained experiences, and made new memories. And to us, that’s just as valuable as the final result.

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