Portraits

Other people's portraits

I don't have a favorite photographer or someone I admire in particular because I'm not good at following people, so I chose a few pictures I have in my computer, taken by people I know (except for one). I love them all for a particular reason, and maybe they're not perfect, but they're special to me.

This picture was taken by Laíza Negrão, a friend of mine. What I like about it is that it was a very spontaneous look I gave her and captured it. I remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. It's like a frozen moment.

Taken by my host dad, Marc Levy, the day after this year's blizzard, Juno. It was my first time sledding and me and Talia (in the picture) were walking back up the hill, laughing and having fun. Marc accidentally caught my big laugh. 

Another one by my friend Laíza. This was in 2013, we were visiting a friend that just had a baby a few months before. Here you see me holding Livia, trying to register this moment, but she just wouldn't look good for the camera. She was clearly bored, because she yawned at me. But I fake-yawned back, which made the perfect moment for a picture.

I have no idea whose picture is this, but it's one of my favorites. I don't know if it was an accident, but the sloth being out of focus makes it look like it was, which is why this picture is so awesome.

Also taken by my friend Laíza Negrão. It was the middle of fall, we were at the Storm King Sculpture Park, NY. Everything was yellow, orange and red, like the maple leaf in my hand. Pretty exciting.

My portraits

I'm not great at portraits. I love traveling, so I usually snap pictures of beautiful landscapes. I'm also not very creative to take pictures of people and I don't know the techniques. But I did make some attempts, mostly not planned, that came out actually good. You can see a few of them below.

Took this picture a day before the last Halloween. I was walking across Central Park with a friend and we saw this person dressed in a Big Bird costume, with Cookie Monster in a box on his lap. A kid got closer to talk to him, but otherwise he was alone, just seating there. We thought it was such a funny and sad scene at the same time, so I had to take a picture. 

This was taken at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT. The girl with her hand on the glass is one of my host children, the other is the daughter of my host mother's friend. Is this even considered a portrait? I don't know. But I love it because it express their curiosity (the hand on the glass helps) and the lightning is so beautiful. It was a special day.

This is Tailicie, my friend's girlfriend. We were having a picnic in the middle of the cherry trees, at a park, in São Paulo, Brazil. I had my camera to take pictures of the beautiful trees, they were full of gorgeous pink flowers. I ended up taking a non-official photoshoot of the couple, which resulted in this picture, one of my favorites. They were playing with the flowers of the floor, putting them in their hairs, as you can see. I love the lightning here, and the way she's looking at the ground (not posed). The contrast between her hair and the flowers is also why I think this portrait is successful.

Here's Tailicie again, now with Daiane, my friend and her girlfriend. They were talking and looking at this big pound, so I just stood behind them and took some pics. I love how Daiane is looking at Tailicie and smiling, and how her hand is on her back. Daiane's tattoo also stands out very nicely. This portrait feels like a painting to me, like I've actually captured their love.

These are my host children, Maddy (L) and Talia. We went apple picking last October, it was a warm day and we were all having a good time. I snapped this picture when we were walking back, Maddy had her hands full of apples. This is not the original color, but it makes me feel like it was a day to remember, something you could frame and hang on your wall.