I’ve always loved stories. I believe that the stories from my childhood are, in great part, responsible for my passion for the fantastic, for igniting the magic, sparked by imagination, in a vast open field where everything is possible.
My early drawings, I now understand, were my attempt of retelling a story that existed in my mind, long before I could write about it. When we’re kids, words are not enough, so lines, shapes, and colors serve as a hidden, uncomprehended vocabulary, even for ourselves. But I persisted, and somehow they made sense to me. They meant the world to me. With time, they began to make sense to others too… and then some shells start to break, and we evolve… only to find new shells to break again… until we feel that breeze and realize we are standing in the very world we once watched in awe.
To represent the world I had in my mind, the story I wanted to tell, I traded my pens and pencils for an analog camera, my first camera. Oh gosh, how hard it was to focus… in every sense of the word. There were two semicircles sliding on the same axis, and they had to overlap perfectly to achieve focus. Somehow I even started enjoying playing with it, exploring the bounderies of this focus, in every sense of the word... Some of my best shots are still from tat time... foggy eyes on beauty...
In one of my first backstage moments, I had an amazing model in front of me. Silvia. While posing for a snapshot, she smiled and said: “You have a Zenit!” Gosh... I froze for a moment… I couldn’t tell if her surprise was good or bad. It was my first camera. Simply the best affordable option at that time. But then she added: “It’s Russian, and we’re used to them in Germany.” Germany is where Silvia was based in. She was one of the first Brazilian models following a solid international modeling career, right before the new generation of Brazilian diaspora of top models AG*
Impressive how now, looking back and accessing that magical moment of my early days on the professional path that I had chosen with my heart, immersed in that universe of beauty that surrounded me, a 22-year-old young man, still unsure of what he was doing, I felt a moment of suspension, almost floating, almost as if her warm smile was truly validating me. That elegant, gorgeously captivating goddess, framed in my lens, seemed to say with her eyes and smile: Go ahead, you have what it takes.
And yes, it is not just a story, it did happen, and everything I just told is true.
It is indeed really good to put it out of my chest…
Well, I hope this little fragment is enough to share how my passion for new journeys, adventures, beauty, and life has brought me here.
There are so many more stories to tell…
But don’t get me wrong. Not everything is glittery and pretty in the universe of beauty, and I’ll do my best to bring to you all the poetry I can for the both sides of this golden coin.
See you next!
* AG = After Gisele.
Let’s say that after the turn of the millennium, around the year 2000, when Gisele Bündchen became the most sought-after model for the covers and main editorials of the world’s most prestigious fashion magazines, and the face (and body, and walk) of top international brands, the global fashion scene turned its eyes to this blonde bombshell and wanted more like her.
Soon, many of our best models began launching international careers, and for a few years, Brazil became the hot spot, the sacred source of models for the global fashion world. I even heard that some girls from other countries would claim to be Brazilian just to get a better chance at being called for castings. LOL.
That’s what I’ve read and heard, and honestly, it’s not hard to believe.
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