Photographer
Origin: São Paulo, Brazil
You may have seen Guilherme Nabhan's work on Vogue Brasil or Glamour Brasil. If not, well, now you have. We were lucky enough to have a conversation with him about his creative process, background, and more. Check out a snippet on our IGTV / Youtube or read the full interview below:
Tell us a little bit about yourself: what you do, where you're from/based, etc.?
I'm Guilherme. I'm from Brazil, from the countryside of São Paulo and based in São Paulo and nice to meet you!
Are you just focused on photography?
Yes, photography and creative direction. And sometimes I do some videos, clips, or publicity too. And most of the time, it's photography.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I thought about that yesterday but I don't know. Every time I see the people and the way they do things and here in Brazil we have a lot of colors and subject things. In São Paulo, we have a lot of buildings and the skies are so blue. And when I see the colors together and the mix, I can feel something is important because the colors are the most important thing in my work, I think.
Do you creative direct most of your work?
Sometimes, I can do it my way, or maybe when I need to follow the briefing, I can speak with the team and change some things that weren't important to me in this situation, I don't know. But in most times, I can direct my shoots.
What's your favorite piece of work out right now? I know you've done Vogue Brasil, Glamour Brasil, L'Offiel...
Recently, maybe the L'Officiel Magazine, Brazilian, with Cintia Dicker and the yellow one with Isis Bataglia. The two covers that I do and for me, so important and expressive because it's simple and the colors are there the hardest in the picture. It's super important to it. I feel at this moment I can find an equilibrium, maybe.
Do you have anything that you're currently working on that you want to talk about?
I have one project that I thinking about and it's "Human of Colors." When the people inside a project don't have an identity as a person and as a human. Only the color can say about your personality or for a group, you know? It's not about one person. It's about more people together. And with no titles.
Who are your favorite artists? (Can be photographers, music, painters, etc.) Who inspires you on the daily?
Yes, I love to see and search for photography. It's so good but I love painting too. I have an artist that is my cousin (...), Pedro Silva. He lives in New York and is an artist and has some points that inspire a lot for me in my life and in my work too.
What are you actually currently listening to?
Tyler, The Creator, I love the last one, his last work (IGOR). It's amazing and I listen to Brazilian music too sometimes and all the girls from the 80s. I love like Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and yes, I have a lot of options to say.
Tell us a little bit about your creative process. How do you go about creating something that you want or that you will love?
Every time is different when it's going to happen, something. You know, I have a lot of kinds of work that I need to do and I have my personal work when I need to express something or illustrate something too. I can do all the things in the process. I think about what I want to say with this image. When I have a client, most clients that I have come looking for my work because they like it and I can do it in my way too. It's different, I don't know how to explain because every time is different.
When did you get into photography?
I started when I was like 12 years with my grandfather because our farm had a lab to do photography and I started this way. And after 5 years after this, I begin to work with photography here in São Paulo but I started in the countryside when I lived with my family. I studied theatre and after this, I started cinema and made movies and directing. And then paying my bills and I started to do this for brands.
Are you just a digital photographer or do you do digital and film?
I do film too. Every shoot I do, some clicks with my analog camera, and not every time I can use it in the final project because I need more time to do that, and sometimes my client needs the pictures fast but every time I do analog film photos too.
Don't forget to check out to Guilherme on Instagram.
Photography by Guilherme Nabhan.