luanGetting into photography was a little hard because I don’t come from a family of photographers, or artists, or any thing like that. It was something that clicked within me, I was roller skating and in sports, people are always taking photos and making videos and I felt a lack of photographic recordings in inline skating – which is a very small scene in Brazil – but especially for us peripherals, from the extreme east of São Paulo. So I started photographing with the intention of having any kind of recording and bringing this to light.

Then during my therapy and deconditioning the eye sessions with Cláudio Feijó  – an incredible person – I understood that through photography I was able to replace someone I missed, my father, to be more precise. My dad isn’t in the picture – it’s that classic father-had-a-kid-and-left story. Anyway, when he walked out, he left his camera and ever since I was a kid, I would assemble and disassemble it. And that got stuck in my subconscious.

After many years, my friend Raquel taught me the basics of photography and that made something inside me click. I replaced the absence of my father with photography. This shit became my dad, it filled his absence. Me, photography and my mom, we built our family on this. I decided to go to college and in my mind, I was like “dude, I have to study, I really need to understand what I’m doing, I need to make the most of everything as much as possible”.  So then, I searched for the best photography college in São Paulo, and the most expensive one too (hahaha). So  I earned my bachelor’s degree in Photography, I spent 4 years completely dedicated to it. I sold a bunch of stuff, sneakers, clothes, equipment, went back to living with my mom. I readjusted my life so I could focus exclusively on photography.  I did the crazy thing of getting into college with no scholarship, no discount, no incentive, no mom or dad to help financially. I paid for it with my blood, sweat, and tears. So much so that this was the last sneaker I bought when I got in.

Oh, I was part of a reality show in 2017! It was that drastic! This shit was crazy. I was invited to participate in a photography reality show. Out of nowhere, they found me. They found my work, called me and said: “Dude, there’s a reality show project here, do you want in?” I thought I was going to work for the show. During the interview, I said “Wow! Shooting a reality show, I’ve never done that before” then when I got there they were like “No, you’re going to be in the reality show!” I was like “What!? Me in a reality show?”, then it all happened and it was awesome. Photography wise It was a crazy immersion. It was the first time my work was appreciated, you know? People were into it, I had people come up and talk to me from other states saying “yo, I saw your photos”. It was amazing. It resulted in a Book, you know? Which was something really neat. I always had this craze to make a book, I still have that. And I’ve edited other people’s books, I’ve curated other people’s books, but I never got to make my own. I’m featured in one! Which’s a begging. And there’s also the one I made for my final project in college, which is a book based on what was also published.