My best friend got pregnant half a world away.

Last year I got the news that my best friend, Priscila was pregnant but there was one thing between us, a lot of space. I live in The Netherlands and she lives in Japan.

I usually want to document everything about the life of people that I love and the distance is just something that internet is helping me to conquer. Some years ago I worked in a project that I named “Skype Series”, where due to homesickness I decided to photograph people from Brazil, as I believe there is always something new to be done, why not setting up a professional photo shooting through the internet? Timezones are a funny thing, some of us are in the future and some in the past at the same time.

So I documented Pri’s pregnancy through Skype calls. During the expecting months we set dates for the shootings and I directed her regarding the light that I wanted while letting her be comfortable in her poses.

Looking closer

Lately I've been a bit obsessed with taking a closer look at EVERYTHING around me. It's so interesting how everything changes once you give them plural thoughts, not only a flower, not only an eye, not only an insect...

I work with a macro adaptor for my lens (a 35mm equivalent).

#MARIELLEPRESENTE

It has been almost a month since Marielle Franco was assassinated together with her driver in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
And still isn't "clear" who killed them. 
It is a great tragedy to those who Marielle represented as a politician, to so many others that her life touched directly and indirectly and me.
Sadly, I wasn't aware of her work while she was still alive and kicking but her passing has taught me, for all that I have understood when I researched, listened, discussed and learned about her short lifetime.

Since her passing, many manifestations have occurred all over the globe.

I like to say that we Brazilians are everywhere but turns out that some are also very engaged with what happens with our country despite the distance. By coming together, adding people to the discussion, going to the streets, sharing experiences and different perspectives, we can all be a little bit more connected. 
What can we learn from a tragedy after the pain ceases to hurt? It's hard to know exactly because every tragedy carries its own measures of frustration and unfairness. But Marielle's case has inspired me to create movements of causes I believe in. 

Thank you for all of you who take initiative, not only to improve your life and the ones of your family but also the ones of my family, my friends, our community.

These are some photos that I took during the event: Black.Feminist.Activist - Honouring the Life of Marielle Franco. Organised at NieuwLand in collaboration with Amsterdam Black Women Meetup.

Finding my own photos online!

It's always a surprise to find your own photos online, but even more better when the photo is being used to share knowledge.
Here is a photograph of an event I have photographed in Amsterdam, I have this image up in EyeEm/Getty Images and sometimes I happen to sell them as a stock photo.

This photo is illustrating an interesting article for entrepreneurs (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297810)
(My favourite part of the article is topic number "3. Tell pictures with stories.")

Photo credit Thiemi Higashi

Around Israel for 5 days

First week of February I went to Israel!

Arriving in Tel Aviv, rented a car and off to the city.
The next days were spent visiting the amazing Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Golan Heights and Haifa.
From what I was able to see, it's a beautiful country with so much diversity from north to south, warm, vibrant, full of electric bikes and of course, good food... I also thought that prices were quite similar to Amsterdam, therefore expensive!

During the trip I was reading THE BURIED GIANT by Kazuo Ishiguro, and somehow the book and the real life had interesting connections... The main one that I would point out is the disconnection between people.
While driving up north to Golan Heights we saw neighbourhoods that were muslim and the other side jewish neighbourhoods divided by religion and a road.
When we arrived at Golan Heights, what an incredible view, from up the mountain you can see the border between Israel and Syria. But not all is about the privilege of the view and a charming cafe, in the highest point of the mountain some metal sculptures of soldiers holding guns are placed in strategic locations, which gave me a strange mix feeling of fear and somehow comfort, I guess is to remind us that as a society we live in constant duality.

... I refuse to take sides and have an opinion about my short experience in Israel, but it does gets me drawing an analogy to my own country and the separation that social classes causes. 

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