Bored Panda got in touch with Bruno Prado to learn more about him and his work. Bruno shared that: “photography came into my life because of a characteristic of mine that I once thought was a defect.”

Here is how this characteristic was visible during his entire career path. “Since I started my professional life, I've done several things, which means that the career transition was with myself. That fear that some people have of changing jobs, risking a project or an idea, and jumping in head first is something I've always done. And maybe this restlessness of starting over so many times brought me dilemmas like 'How come I still haven’t found what I really want to do?'

Every trajectory was important for me to realize that I am in an activity that brings together everything I like. But throughout this professional journey, which encompassed so many different activities, I was able to get to know myself and realize that some things brought me more pleasure. I graduated in marketing and advertising precisely because I enjoy dealing with people. At least that's what they said I was good at, lol... The detail is that I never worked in my training area. I was a salesman, banker, and drug representative, I had 2 dental clinics, and today I am a hypnotherapist."

He continued: "not to go on too long, I suffered from emotional problems like anxiety and depression, and in my quest to resolve these issues, I came across hypnotherapy. In just two sessions, I resolved my heaviest issues. From that moment on, after all this transformation, I wanted to better understand what this hitherto 'miraculous' method was about for me. I trained in hypnotherapy and started a long journey of self-knowledge and personal development. I've been a therapist for 5 years, and today I have the opportunity to help people from all over Brazil and abroad through this method. On this journey as a therapist, I created profiles on social media and started producing content on a daily basis, including videos and photos. Thus began a new passion for me.

I started photographing and creating videos with my cell phone, watching hours and hours of content on YouTube to evolve in this area and with that, my interest increased. I bought a camera, microphones, and lighting, and with that, the 'ruler' of content production went up. Gradually I realized that despite producing quality videos, what really made me feel butterflies in my stomach was photography. And so, this interest began to be visible among my friends and family, and with that, invitations began to appear. I did family shoots, children's birthdays, couples, individuals, professional photos, etc.

We realize that we really enjoy doing something when time passes and we don't even see it, when you spend 8 or 10 hours straight without feeling pain, hunger, tiredness, or wanting to keep going. It happened to me that way with photography. Today with much more clarity, I understand that photography brings together everything that all these apparently unconnected activities have in common: people, movement, contribution, technology, and self-knowledge. I learned that when we are afraid to risk something new even though we are not completely satisfied with what we are doing, we become more and more distant from what we really like,” shared Bruno.

Coming into photography for Bruno was a natural transition. However, we were wondering if he had studied the art of photography or if he learned all he does by himself. He shared: “I took 2 photography courses, one in person and the other online. I watched many hours of content on YouTube, all in an unpretentious way. But what really got me results was taking lots of pictures! In other words, practice. Yes, I took pictures all the time of everything and everyone. I took pictures of friends, relatives, brides, dogs, landscapes, etc... Understanding my mistakes in editing and thus evolving more and more.”

Even though Bruno does capture a variety of people, we were wondering how he chooses his models. “I've been asked this several times, and it's very difficult to answer. When I see someone on the street and they catch my attention, I don't have time to think about why I chose them. Just look around, and that's it, I don't analyze too much.”

“So there are several aspects: the way, the clothes, the context of the person, as a whole. I believe that as my work matures, I will also understand these whys better,” shared the photographer.

Going out and asking people on a street to be photographed is certainly not an activity for an introvert. Especially if you get rejected. We asked Bruno how he deals with that.

“Yes, it happens. And it's not easy. I think people in general, at some level feel some kind of discomfort with that, but it's an ego thing. When someone tells you 'no', they are not rejecting you, it is not something personal. She said 'no' to photography and not to me. I use this to work on myself internally so that it becomes more and more natural, I believe that I am improving a lot as a person by exercising this,” wrote Bruno.

Nowadays, Bruno’s work is positively admired by his followers, leading to his content going viral. We asked Bruno whether he expected such success with his project. “Of course, in everything I dedicate myself to, I do expect a result, but I tried to do it without the weight or pressure of having to succeed. I enjoyed the whole process, from choosing my new camera, studying photography, training with friends and colleagues, etc. So it was a surprise when I saw how quickly everything happened, and that drives me a lot because it's like a conversation where two people understand each other, it motivates you to continue the conversation, right? And that's how I feel about photos and people's feedback.”