Rafael Braga: Brazil’s On a regular basis Poetry

For Rafael Bruno da Silva Braga, identified on Instagram as @rafaelbsbraga, pictures shouldn’t be merely about creating photos. It is about connection, commentary, and discovering magnificence within the unusual moments that many individuals go by with out noticing.

Born and raised in São Bernardo do Campo, within the state of São Paulo, Brazil, Braga’s photographic imaginative and prescient has been formed by the wealthy cultural range of his homeland. “Brazil is a country that, besides having a very rich local culture, has also absorbed influences from many other cultures,” he explains. “Both characteristics influenced my photographic perspective.”

His earliest connection to visible storytelling got here by skateboarding. Like many younger skaters, he grew up surrounded by pals carrying cameras to doc tips and classes. “Photography came to me through my experience in the skateboarding world,” he says. “There was always a friend with a camera filming or taking pictures.”

Yet it will take years earlier than pictures turned a critical a part of his life.

“I became fully involved with photography many years later, during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Braga recollects. With skateboarding briefly faraway from his each day routine resulting from lockdown restrictions, he discovered himself trying to find one other outlet. “I lost my main escape, which was skateboarding. That was when I decided to buy my first camera.”

Armed with a masks and a digital camera, he started wandering the streets alone. “Little by little, my interest in street photography and documentary photography began to emerge.”

Unlike many photographers who come from inventive households, Braga’s path was largely self-directed. “No,” he says when requested whether or not his household had inventive inclinations. “My education was a combination of self-learning and a few short photography courses.”

Today, his work facilities on documenting on a regular basis life. “Basically, I seek to capture the essence of daily life,” he explains. “Those fleeting moments that happen in the cities I visit and in the lives of the people who live there.”

That concentrate on unusual human experiences has change into one of many defining traits of his pictures.

Although pictures stays a interest slightly than a occupation, Braga acknowledges challenges throughout the Brazilian photographic panorama. “I think the main challenge is breaking down the barriers that still exist around street photography,” he says. “I would like to see it more valued in Brazil, as it is in other countries, especially in exhibitions and art galleries.”

At the identical time, he feels lucky to work in a rustic that always gives compelling visible tales. “Brazil is an incredible country to photograph,” he says. “Our territory is extremely rich in landscapes, cultures, and people. Practically anywhere there is something interesting to document.”

For Braga, pictures serves a function past image-making. In some ways, it has change into a type of remedy.

“Photography often works as therapy for me,” he says. “It helps me have a better week, both at work and in my personal life.”

Being out on the streets reconnects him with the bodily world. “When I’m on the street, I end up connecting with people. I feel like I’m part of the real world and not only the virtual world that we’re increasingly immersed in.”

His photographic walks hardly ever observe a strict plan. “When I go out without a specific destination, I try to capture scenes of everyday life, revealing a certain beauty within them,” he explains. “I also try to give visibility to the people who are the true protagonists of real life.”

When engaged on documentary initiatives, nonetheless, his method turns into extra intentional. During non secular processions and cultural celebrations, he goals to mix road pictures instincts with stronger visible storytelling. “I try to combine elements of street photography with more elaborate compositions and some images that have a more journalistic approach.”

One undertaking, particularly, stands out as particularly significant.

At the top of 2025, Braga participated in a photographic expedition documenting a celebration devoted to Yemanjá, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the waters, in Praia Grande, São Paulo. The occasion introduced collectively worshippers who gathered by the ocean with prayers, songs, and choices.

“It was the first time I photographed this event,” he says. “The experience was very beautiful. I was welcomed with great affection by the people, and I believe I managed to capture the feeling that was present in that celebration.”

The undertaking left such a powerful impression that he continues to develop work round Yemanjá celebrations and hopes to finally exhibit the collection in a gallery.

Among all the pictures he has made, one picture carries particular significance.

“It is a photograph of two urban cleaning workers playing football during their lunch break,” Braga says.

The picture reveals the employees, nonetheless dressed of their uniforms, taking a short second of pleasure amid demanding each day routines. “That photograph ended up becoming part of my first solo exhibition.”

Not each memorable expertise has been as serene.

Braga recollects a very uncommon encounter. He had photographed what he thought-about a touching scene: a father carrying his son on his shoulders whereas the 2 loved a stroll collectively.

“The man noticed that I had taken the photograph and came over to talk to me with a very serious expression,” he remembers.

The request that adopted was sudden.

“He asked me to delete the image immediately because he was enjoying temporary leave from prison,” Braga says. “The problem was that he should have returned two days earlier.”

The story stays as a memorable one behind the digital camera.

Looking forward, Braga is raring to discover new topics. One undertaking he desires of pursuing focuses on Brazilian boxing.

“I really want to create a photographic series about boxing,” he says. “It is a sport that I consider quite underestimated in Brazil.”

What fascinates him are the athletes’ dedication and resilience. “There are places where people train with very few resources but with enormous dedication,” he explains. “One day I would like to develop a documentary project portraying the daily lives of Brazilian boxers.”

If he may give recommendation to his youthful self, it will be easy: begin sooner.

“Photography was always part of my life, even when I didn’t have a camera,” he says. “I always liked observing people and the world around me. But I postponed for a long time the decision to buy a camera and start photographing seriously.”

Today, alongside his private initiatives, Braga is making ready a fanzine along with his colleagues from the Br.avo Collective, that includes images made in an amusement park in São Paulo. The group is at present choosing photos for publication. “I’d also like to send a big shout-out to my friends from the collective: Rod, Renas, and Ronaldo, as well as the group’s newest dad, Thiago Potato, who recently welcomed little Helena into the world,” he stated.

Before ending our dialog, he gives a message for aspiring photographers.

“I don’t know if I have enough experience to give advice,” he says modestly. “I only started photographing in 2021.”

Still, he shares the identical knowledge that older photographer pals as soon as handed on to him: “Photograph all the time and don’t be ashamed of your images.”

He compares pictures to skateboarding, the exercise that first launched him to cameras.

“In skateboarding, you spend approximately 80% of the time failing tricks and only 20% landing them,” he says. “Street photography is similar. We need to photograph a lot because it’s not easy to get a great image.”

Above all, he encourages newcomers to benefit from the course of itself.

“Try to stay consistent and go out to photograph whenever you can,” he says. “And enjoy the process. Being on the street, observing, talking to people, and discovering new places is a very rewarding experience.”

After all, for Braga, pictures’s best worth shouldn’t be at all times discovered within the remaining picture.

“Many times, the experience of photographing is already worthwhile by itself.”

As for his final ambition, “My dream project would be to publish a photography book,” he says. “However, I feel that I still have a lot to learn and develop. Maybe one day.”

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Rafael Braga

Soledad Quartucci is the CEO and founding father of Latina Republic, a nonprofit group that celebrates the tradition, creativity, and variety of Latin America and the Caribbean. Through Latina Republic’s road pictures interview collection, she highlights the work of rising and established photographers whose photos seize the on a regular basis magnificence, humanity, and distinctive tales of the area. Guided by a mission to showcase Latin America’s wealthy cultural id by its individuals, traditions, and communities, Quartucci makes use of visible storytelling to attach international audiences with the colourful realities of the area.