THE COMPUTER SCIENTIST PHOTOGRAPHER
Pedro Oliveira is a Brazilian dude, fanatic for soccer, who spent most of his adult life in the United States of America, loves M&Ms and taking pictures. In his own words, “I am an Advertising and Documentarist Photographer/Director. Basically, whenever an advertising company needs imagery or motion, they hire someone like me to produce and bring to life the concept their creative and art directors developed. Therefore, when you see an ad on a big billboard, there is a slight chance I photographed that ad.”
Oliveira’s other branch of work is as a Travel Documentarist. His personal projects generally involve covering social issues or ethnic portraiture. He still does photography mainly, but has directed and produced at least three different traveling videos. He described how the plan is to incorporate more videography into his photography.”
I was 24 years old when I first touched a camera and was 26 when I first made money with photography. I used to be a computer scientist back in Brazil, and never thought about photography at all until I went back to college to earn my Communications/Journalism degree,” Oliveira beamed. “Videos have become a huge thing just recently (last year), and I have directed only a couple of them, but like I said earlier, the plan is to incorporate them to my productions now on. My first camera was a Canon Rebel T3i. It was a great camera and I still recommend it as a beginner’s camera,” he continued.
The talented photographer loves the idea of making a living out of photography, although he stated it to be pretty hard. However, he thinks that it is pretty interesting to be able to bring your vision to an audience. His work radiates that of a natural storyteller, and he believes that the most amazing part of photography is the fact that he can share a little bit of the experiences he has on the field with his audience, and let them feel a bit of what he felt at that time of the shoot.
He further explained that there is also a pleasure in registering stories that would not be discovered by others. For him, it is almost like a treasure hunt and where you have to find the stories which are waiting to be told. Apart from the stories, he gets to meet people on a personal level, who are from different backgrounds all over the world. He found those experiences to be enriching because their perspectives are not necessarily like his.
Some of his favourite images are ‘Medieval Beauty,’ ‘King James’, and ‘The Guardian of the Island: Taro Farmer’ segment; check comments section for the pictures. In his book, whichever time of the day we do not have full-blown sunlight, is great, whether it is because it is sunset, sunrise, or a dramatic and cloudy day. As long as the light is even, he knows he will get great photographs.
However, his personal favourite time of the day to photograph is during the golden hour – that time of the day right before the sunset. He finds it pretty dramatic with a huge chance of getting amazing pictures.
Giving us an insight on his love to photograph different cultures, Oliveira told us that he is dying to visit Africa, a continent that he has never visited before. One of the places that he would love to visit is Omo Valley. Apart from Africa, he is also planning a trip to Mongolia and Mexico to find different untold stories.
Pedro is an all-about-people photographer and director. Technically, he considers himself as a portraits’ photographer. He believes his photography has much more richness than just the typical “portraits.” At its core though, it is still considered portraiture. “There is a long list of photographers and film makers who influenced me, being: Joey L, Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow (who are now close friends), Jimmy Nelson (who is a mentor to me), Steven Curry, (the also Brazilian) Sebastiao Salgado, and so many other names.
These are people whose bodies of work have inspired and humbled me. What they do is where I want to be in 10 years, and that has become my fuel to improve myself every day,” he smiled.
Pedro uses the following gear to inspire us with his work: Camera body – Canon 5D mark iv (photography), Canon 1dx mark II (Video), Sony R5 (video), GoPro Hero 6 (video/BTS photos), Mavic Pro 2 Zoom (Video+images).Lens – Canon 24-105mm 4, 16-35mm 2.8, 50mm 1.2.Tripod – He uses one with no brand. As long as it is sturdy enough, he is good to go! ^_^ Filters – Hoya 77mm polarizer filter, Hoya 77mm ND filter. Flash – Profoto b10 plus head+ Profoto B2 head. In studio, Profoto d2 500ws heads.Camera bag – Whichever cheap ones he has around. “Pelican cases are expensive but also great to protect your gear,” he said.His favourite lens is the 16-35mm because it is such a versatile lens.
It can take landscape/environmental images as well as close-ups. He describes the 50mm to come as a close second by a hair. It has a very fast and silent focus and it is absolutely sharp.Getting more up close, Oliveira explained that there are a bunch of gadgets which he wished he had not bought, which he did not mention on the previous list.
Fortunately for Oliveira, he noticed that the US market is pretty active so he could just get rid of it pretty quickly. He explained how he had bought a Speedlight once that he found close to useless for his craft. He also has a fisheye lens that he almost never uses, and one of those collapsible backdrops, which he swears know Kong-Fu and kicks his buttocks every time he tries to fold it.Pedro has several canvas backdrops, but invariably only uses the same two over and over again.
Basically, he would say that he is addicted to camera gear, and sometimes he buys them without judging if he will have a long term need for them. He further emphasised that the settings depend on an array of factories such as available light, condition of the weather, skin tones, or even the colour of the walls around the scene, and wardrobe.
According to Oliveira, you are rarely going to find a professional photographer who can give you precisely the settings he or she uses, particularly if this photographer is shooting environmental portrait. He often shoots in manual or priority mode, and 99% of the time he shoots Raw:Aperture –Shutter Speed –ISO –White Balance –Focus – Manual/AutoImage Format – RAW/JPEG.
Concerning post processing, Oliveira uses Lightroom and Photoshop. However, as he grows his craft he has been trying to spend much less time in front of the computer but more on trying to get it straight out of the camera.
As a result, his workflow is pretty simple: Colour correction in LR, imperfections adjustments, and sharpening in Photoshop.”I am obsessed with becoming a world-class photographer on the same level as those inspirations I mentioned to you. I want to be one of the really amazing people and would like them to recognise my work as equivalent to theirs. This feeling drives me to try and learn more about photography every day. I feel like I have my techniques down. Now, I am no longer focusing on understanding the ‘hows’ but instead the ‘whys’: ‘Why did they shoot like this?’ ‘Why did she decide to go with a wide-angle instead of a close-up?’ etc.,” the creative photographer stated.According to Oliveira, Joey L has had the most influence on his work and it shows.
He is often reminded with what he take as a compliment: “Your work reminds me of Joey L’s”. In Pedro’s perspective, it takes time to become a professional. It takes a lot of time, frustration, failure, tears (literally), and money out of your own pocket until you make money out of it. “I wish I knew that when I started taking photos,” he chuckled. “On that account, if you are in this for only money or glory, you are chasing the wrong profession.”
A fun fact about the Brazilian photographer is that he is often caught staring at strangers’ faces, while at a restaurant or coffee shop, wondering how he would photograph them. He told us that sometimes people notice it before he even notices himself, which makes for a very awkward situation.
As Oliveira mentioned earlier, making a living out of photography can be pretty hard. He believes that it is a profession which art producers are not ashamed of and feel no guilt in ignoring your emails. He narrated that for every thousand people you contact, you hear back from just one or two. “It is common to message a creative director for literally years before you hear back from them,” he said. “Sometimes you make a lot of money in one gig, but you can often go months without booking anything. Consequently, money does not flow in a month-to-month style, which can be tricky if you do not know how to manage your finances.”Follow Pedro on Instagram: @pedrontheworld
Maverick Kabelo is the founder and editorial director of Africa’s Very Own Magazine. Kabelo is a business student, digital media enthusiast/entrepreneur, creative, writer and content creator. He started writing when he was just 16 after founding the magazine on Facebook.
