Piel photographed many of the top models and actresses for Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ during the 80's, girls at the time who would become the superemodels and actresses of a new generation. His influence during the 80's was significant, earning him an international reputation for his beauty, fashion and celebrity spreads and for directing stylish commercials, winning many international awards including the coveted Leica Award for Excellence for his contribution to commercial photography.

As of the mid 90's denis devoted himself to personal film and photography projects, LOVE IS BLIND, PREMIER OEIL, PLATESCAPES and FACESCAPES.

FACESCAPES is denis's most ambitious project to date.

Here he follows a humanist tradition of getting in close on the subject, creating landscapes of faces, faces as a field, revealing contours and valleys like an aerial view of any terrain. But behind these abstractions piel's desire is to reveal the commonality of the human condition, a way of looking at the mileage of the human clock.

"...our faces are themselves unusual, fascinating and original. As landscapes, they are physical and spiritual works of art." Madalena Braz Teixeira (Museu de Traje, Lisbon - curator) Museu de Traje Exhibition FACESCAPES  April-October 2008