All images and text by Bruno Fujii. Used with permission.
I’m Bruno Fujii from Brazil trying to develop a cohesive body of work that relates directly to my personality and beliefs. I started learning photography 3 years ago while in a full time job. It didn’t take too long after I decided to invest almost all my money and vacation days into a personal photography project. After I came back from the vacation I got fired, since then I’m trying to work full time as an independent photographer.
I’m a full time independent photographer from Brazil curious about imagery as a visual sense in the construction of reality and representation. Working for more than 10 years as a creative I started photography as kind of a challenge since I’m always interested learning new skills. Since I started photographing 3 years ago, my interest (both technically and conceptually) increased exponentially. Even at the beginning I was constantly involved in personal projects and ideas, it was crucial for me I was related to my works so I could develop myself not only as a photographer but as a individual. After I lost my job I decided to go full time as a photographer, some of my personal projects I had invested not only time but big budgets of my own; but as a starting career my income was low and I started doing some run and gun (me, myself and friends with reduced equipments and DIY solutions) works. I do consider having comprehensive influences from all kind of medias (literature, music, film, paintings, etc.), but generally the most impactful are related to Latin America culture or are from Brazil. I like having a slow pace approach at my works because I’m honestly interested in people and places, I’m very careful with my camera and I’m open to deconstruct what I once previously thought I knew.
I’ve been really interested by the historical and cultural aspects of my country, and somehow I wanted to express it in my photography. At the same time I was trying to improve my photography, I was reading and learning a lot from Brazilian writers (anthropologists, historians, photographers, novelists and musicians). I’m in this constantly search and discovering of my self through understanding Brasil context.
In 2016 I was proudly part of was a commissioned work for Instituto Consulado da Mulher, a NGO with private and independent partners from all around Brazil. The project was focused in the empowerment of women entrepreneurs through a assistance and a specialized advisory program, that helped from the structure to the technical training of each one of the 10 selected business in 2016 — I met and registered visually 3 of them in the north and northwest of Brazil.
Currently in 2017 I collaborated with a independent project celebrating 1 year of the this independent women group founded in March 2016 by Carolina Peixoto, Luz Ribeiro, Mel Duarte and Pamella Araújo — inspired by a similar project from Brasília/DF (Brasil).
Street Culture is a personal project that I’ve developed exclusively for the RGG EDU contest that has been canceled due to the extremely low submission rate. I aimed documenting independent artists in the downtown of São Paulo. For about a month and a half I would go to downtonn, have interviews to know them and schedule the best day and hour for the photography session. Since I was working alone, I did try making things easier on me with the selected gear: one DSLR, one tripod, one 50mm lens, one variable ND filter, one flash and one softbox. Every session was insanely chaotic and stressful (for me, of course), but it was definitely an amazing experience.