Traveling has been the best thing I’ve done in my life so far. Being in places that I have not seen is has been my pleasure and becoming “an almost local” in these places has been my sin. I feel fortunate to have seen the world the way I have but there is this energy about Santa Barbara that always brings me back.

Photography is my big passion. I hope you all enjoy my art and experiences I am sharing with Tinta Latina Magazine.

Blessings

TV COMMERCIAL FOR L’OREAL

Pic 1- Top Model Adriana Lima with the dogs
Pic 2- Adriana and White Balls
Pic 3- Models at Stairs
Pic 4- Models and the Limo

I just love this sequence of pictures. I photographed the making of the latest TV commercial for Maybelline by L’Oreal. It was shot in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, where it looks a lot like the NYC. Street blocks were closed to give the appearance we were in America. It was a big production produced by O2 Films; the same production company that shot the famous “City of God”.

TV DOCUMENTARY OF THE “FAVELA”

Pic 5 –Two Boys in the Favela
Pic 6– Mom and Child Outside her Funky Favela Style House
Pic 7- World Cup Graffiti
Pic 8 –Making of Documentary for Equador HD; shot in Brazil with a Santa Barbara Production Company: Home Planet. Director Tom Piozet.

In contrast with the glamour of the L’Oreal fashion shoot, here comes the real people living in a dangerous place that we call “Favela”; meaning ghetto. This place in Rio de Janeiro has seen more dead than the Bosnia War. However the people who do not cause the violence are so friendly and beautiful that our crew was fearless of walking in one of the most hardcore places on earth. Of course we had to go with somebody influential and respected, otherwise it would not be possible. We were documenting a group of young ghetto kids that chose to be photographers instead of working as drug traffickers.

TV DOCUMENTARY OF THE “ACAI”

Pic 9 – Going Down the Amazon River
Pic 10 –Little Girls of the Amazon
Pic 11- Self Portrait of Our Work
Pic 12 – Acai Trees

One thing Brazilians are proud of is the fact that we own the Amazon Rainforest, which represents 80% of the whole flora of the planet. The Amazon is like the lungs of the earth. The purpose of our trip was to document the story of the most nutritious fruit on the planet called Acai. The acai fruit is a palm berry that grows only in the rainforest and has more antioxidants than any other fruit. It is also rich in amino acids, fatty acids, iron and has multi vitamins.

TV DOCUMENTARY OF “CAPOEIRA” AND KIDS PORTRAIT

Pic 13- Little Boy Holding his Capoeira Amulet
Pic 14- Mestre Americano and his Students
Pic 15- Two Boys Smiling
Pic 16 – Two Boys

Bahia in Brazil is the place that has the largest population Black people in a single city outside of Africa. “Capoeira” is a martial art and dance that represents the African power in Bahia. Capoeira is the body language that imitates the moves of Black people fighting against their slave owners. Brazil once belonged to the Native Indians; there were 4 million natives there until the European came and brought more 4 million African slaves to our land. We Brazilians are essentially a mix on Indian, Black and European.