We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Giuliano Correia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Giuliano, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I worked for over a decade as a commercial photographer when 90% of my time and energy were used to execute my client’s vision. I loved it because I was being paid to fully use my creativity and bring visual ideas to life. However, photography has become so digital that most of my time was spent in front of a computer. By myself, at home. It didn’t take very long for me to feel isolated.
Then the covid epidemic came and all of my business came to a halt. That was my oportunity to get in touch with why I got into photography to begin with. The answer came quick. I had graduated in Journalism and wanted to be out in the world to capture and tell visual stories. And since there was already an abundance of storytellers in social media, I needed to pick something that was very close to me.
That is how I created “Project Bananas”, an on-going portrait and interview series that encourages people to not only talk about, but also show their insecurities, aspects of their appearance or personal story they are told to hide. I experienced first hand how self-portraiture helped me heal some of the body dysmorphia I had developed for growing up too skinny. By sharing my image and my story with others I got to look at myself with more compassion and connect with others without fear of judgment. It was liberating and I wanted to create the same space for others.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I was born and raised in Brazil. My father was a lawyer and my mom was a banker. They both wanted me to be a doctor. Instead, I graduated in Journalism. During college I had fallen in love with photography and when I decided to move to the US I pursued the commercial side of it because I had to make a living off of it.
I worked as a free lance photographer in NYC for over a decade where I shot fashion during NWFW, I tested models for agencies, photographed designers look book and campaigns as well as corporate portraits and professional headshots.
And when one is a commercial photographer in one of the most expensive cities in the world, one has to always say yes to most jobs. So, I also photographed product – mostly electronics – for an editorial company and e-commerce.
But I’ve always missed the storytelling side of photojournalism. So, after taking a forced sabbatical from work, I decided to do something crazy, I took a job as a flight attendant that would support me financially while still allowing a lot of flexibility on my schedule, and decided to focus only on photography personal work. I am calling it “Project Bananas” and it is about to get launched. It will come in the form of periodical zines, coffee table books, YouTube interviews and, hopefully, I will also have the funds to put together exhibits to promote the launching of some of them.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Flexibility – Specially when I am trying to create something unique, I can not be stuck to comparison to what already exists, because otherwise I would just be imitating, replicating. I have to improvise and let the project take some turns. With Project Bananas I tried artificial lighting versus natural lightning, I tested if the photo session flowed better before or after the interview and so forth.
Communication – I speak three languages which made me connect with people of different background and it made my perspective broader and allowed me to create amazing connections, friendships as well as mentorships within the field of photography, but this applies to any area.
Who, what, when, how and why – These five little words always permeated all of my approach and decisions in regards to a commissioned job as well as any creative project.
My advice would be simple: Make up your own strategy and path. If you think there are specific and mandatory steps you have to take in order to achieve something you’re pursuing, you following and not creating. You’re already introducing rigidity to a path that is unpredictable. Make decisions based on how your STOMACH feels about them. Not so much your head.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am constantly looking for people who want to share their stories. In the first chapter of “Project Bananas” deals with masculinity. So, I want to interview a total of 100 men (cis or trans about their experiences with developing their own sense of masculinity). They can email me via my contact tab on my website giulianocorreia.com
I would also love to connect with more people in the publishing world, graphic designers, video editors and producers. I want to bring more of these visual stories to printing and publish some of these interviews in video format for youtube.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.giulianocorreia.com
- Instagram: project_bananas
Image Credits
All Images are copy right to Giuliano Correia
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
