Daniel Rodrigues is a 26-year-old freelance photographer based in Porto, Portugal. After graduating from the Portuguese Institute of Photography in 2010, he was an intern for the newspaper Correio da Manhã and worked for the photo agency Global Imagens. Two years later, Rodrigues was broke. That was when a stroke of good luck — and good light — changed his fortunes.

His Turning Point conversation with Jesse Newman has been edited.

Q.

Tell me about this photograph.

A.

It’s a picture of boys and girls playing football on a day off from school in Dulombi, Guinea Bissau. I was playing with them for a while before I took the photo. Kids there play football all day long. Some play without any shoes. The place they are playing is near a Portuguese military barracks from the 1960s.

Q.

What were you doing in Guinea Bissau?

A.

I was volunteering with a humanitarian organization called Missão Dulombi in March 2012. Missão Dulombi is helping reconstruct a school and a hospital that are in bad condition. It has always been a personal goal of mine to go on a mission of this kind, because Africa is one of my great passions. It was realizing a dream to join that place with photography.

Q.

What happened when you returned to Portugal?

A.

That October, I sold my camera, three lenses, a tripod, flash and backpack to a colleague.

Q.

Why did you sell off all your gear?

A.

I sold my cameras to live. Global Imagens had cut back its freelancer staff, so I became unemployed. With less and less work and growing bills to pay, I was forced to sell my photo equipment. It was a last resort and the most difficult decision of my 26 years. I live with my grandmother; she is 68. I used the money to make car payments, pay rent and pay for water, electricity and food.

On Feb. 15, Mr. Rodrigues learned that his photograph from Guinea Bissau had won first place for daily life in the 2012 World Press Photo Competition.

Q.

What happened after you got the news?

A.

From the moment it was known that I won first prize, my life took a big turn. Canon Portugal and a Portuguese bank offered me practically all the material I needed to return to photojournalism with strength.

Q.

How did you feel?

A.

I was very happy. The newspaper here ran a story that said a Portuguese photographer won first prize at World Press Photo but he’s unemployed. What surprised me most was the number of people who contacted me anonymously to offer money because they want to help me get back to this art. Some want to offer their own cameras. I never thought that this could generate such a wave of generosity.

Q.

Have you replaced your equipment?

A.

I didn’t take money from any individuals. But yes, now I have a Canon 5D Mark III, three new lenses, a new flash and big backpack.

Q.

What will you do with your new gear?

A.

I am working on a project for the government in Lisbon for one month. After that, I will go back to Guinea Bissau, to the village where I took the picture of young people playing football because I want to thank them and offer them the photo. The prize is also theirs. So often, the people that are the protagonists of photographs that win awards don’t have the slightest notion about that.

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