Nude & female art photography | Rafael Lopes

For today’s photo inspiration I’m interviewing Nude & female art photographer Rafael Lopes, 24 years old, from Brazil.

So Rafael, tell us a bit about how you got into the art of photography?

My start with photography was when I bought a rebel XTI, 3 years ago (yeah, that’s quite new!). I just started taking some normal photos, like the ones everybody does at the beginning… objects, macros, insects, cats… just to learn how to operate my gear.

I have never had an SLR before, and the first contact I had with my DSLR was exciting. I actually read every single page of the manual and put it in practice, and when I saw the results they were logically as expected; it’s just like a cookbook.

I learnt everything on my own, just reading the camera’s manual. I think it was easy for me due to my computer science background. I’m a tech savvy, something I benefit from on the logical level.

Once I learnt the techniques, I started working on my eye. Developing my vision. Improving my technical skills. Learning the compositional guidelines… etc.

I started intensively reading hundreds of books. Looking at other people’s photographs. Flickr helped me a lot, especially flickr explore.

I think photography is, more than anything else, all about what you see is what you get (wysiwyg editor, LOL [ah, I'm also a nerd that cracks nerdy jokes all the time])!

If you constantly look at inspiring photos and read helpful blogs (by the way, I discovered The D-Photo too late! why weren’t you in my life before? it would’ve made the learning process SO easy ), you are definitely destined to create great artwork yourself.

If you only see, listen and watch crap, you will create bull$%!&*

Who or what was your muse? What helped keep you going down this road?

My muse is a photojournalist here called Evandro Teixeira. Evandro was the first serious photographers that I had met in real life, and today he is also my friend! I really appreciate his work and everything he did in an effort to document and raise awareness of the Brazilian dictatorship and situation.

Here are a few of my personal favorites of Evandro’s wonderful, AMAZING work:

• This is Airton Senna, the best F1 pilot in the world, just before his death :’(

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• This photo was taken back in 1968. It reads "DOWN WITH DICTATORSHIP. PEOPLE IN CHARGE!"

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• This is another photo Evandro had taken. He actually told me the guy had knocked his head and died right after this photo was taken

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• This one is really indescribable. Just look at the profundity and depth of this photo

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• This is pure dictatorship:

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• This is a policeman that had fell off his bike

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• This one is amazing. Two dragonflies had landed on some guards’ arms. Isn’t it amazing?

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Everything was shot on FILM!! So, Evandro Teixeira is my role model and my mentor. I have learnt a lot from this guy.

What keeps you inspired today?

I’m inspired by the great photographer and HDR guru Trey Ratcliff. His wonderful landscapes and perfectly exposed HDRs (a little too perfect, but that’s fine).

Tell us a bit about your gear. What do you mostly shoot with?

I shoot with a DSLR. A Canon 40D. I prefer DSLRs because they’re fast fast fast! 4 fps!

My lens collection includes:

• A Sigma 8mm fisheye ex-dg f/3 – just for fun LOL!
• A Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L – for a good wide angle view
• A Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L – for telephoto photography

With the last two, I have a versatile focal range of 24-200mm, and the lens opening is magnificent!

Looking at your photos, one can clearly see the simplicity, sincerity, and utter beauty. How do you tend to make that happen in every shot that you take?

Thank you for the compliment, I really appreciate it. I just try to apply everything that I’ve learnt. All, in a single frame!

What photography style interests you the most?

I love to shoot people. Every frame is always different. One expression can never be repeated in time, it’s gone for good. People are one of the most momentary, spontaneous subjects to photograph!

Your boudoir/nude and female art photography is just amazing. How do you do that? How do you communicate with your model? How are all these magnificent poses created? Do you usually guide them on what to do, or do you leave them be themselves and do their own thing?

The model in this case is a yoga instructor, so I just let her do her thing. She naturally poses very beautifully.

I always try to get the model involved in the whole shooting process, not just act as a subject. I usually show them the photos right there and we discuss our thoughts on the photos together. I’d ask if there was anything they would’ve done differently. Which ones they like and which ones they don’t.

I also ask them what they would have done differently if they were in my shoes. If I was posing naked and they were the one with the cam (other than run away, LOL!). I usually crack up jokes and stuff like that so they feel at ease and be comfortable. That’s the most important tip to give.

It’s very helpful to work with experienced models at the beginning so that you build a good collection of photos that can be used later as a reference to guide less experienced ones.

Have you held any exhibitions?

I don’t really like to exhibit much. Here in Rio de Janeiro, and Brazil in general, exhibitions don’t have much weight. They’re kinda overlooked. But I’ve had my photos published in a photography magazine once. I also have won a photo competition once, but they just gave me an iPod LOL!

What are your dreams for the future?

My dream would be to become a world-wide recognized photography teacher one day. Yes! I love to hand down everything I know, that’s why I now have a blog, Fotografia Cotidiana (which means: Daily Photo), where I teach everything I know. My dream is to open up a photography school =)