Latest / The MOOD Podcast / Creating Through the Struggle: Dario Viegas, EO73

Transcript

Creating Through the Struggle: Dario Viegas, EO73 · The MOOD Podcast

• 0:00
  Matt Jacob: Welcome to the Mood Podcast, uncovering the art of conversation one frame at a time.
• 0:05
  Matt Jacob: I'm your host, matt Jacob, and thank you for joining me in today's conversation.
• 0:10
  Matt Jacob: My guest today is Dario Villegas, who is a travel and landscape photographer known for capturing the emotion and essence of the world around him.
• 0:19
  Matt Jacob: His journey into photography is as compelling as his images, shaped by a challenging start in life and an unconventional path to professional success.
• 0:28
  Matt Jacob: Through resilience and a dedication to his craft, he's built a reputation for his stunning brand work and a strong presence on social media.
• 0:37
  Matt Jacob: In this episode, we explore Dario's story, from navigating a broken home and a confusing start to adulthood to discovering his voice in photography and evolving into the all-rounder of an artist he is today.
• 0:49
  Matt Jacob: We looked back on the pivotal moments that shaped him as a creative and the lessons he's learned along the way.
• 0:55
  Matt Jacob: It was great to give him space to tell his story certainly an inspiring journey, and is one that people who are just starting out can listen to, knowing that they're not alone in their struggles.
• 1:05
  Matt Jacob: In the same breath, we reflected on growth, creativity and self-discovery all along the way.
• 1:11
  Matt Jacob: It was really lovely to get Dario in the hot seat finally.
• 1:14
  Matt Jacob: So now I bring you, dario Villegas.
• 1:29
  Matt Jacob: Dario Villgas, welcome to my podcast hello, hello, yeah, finally here finally here got through the rain yeah um, what would you say?
• 1:37
  Matt Jacob: You would describe yourself as photographer, artist, content creator yeah, I think nowadays would say more content creator.
• 1:48
  Dario Viegas: I started as a photographer and nowadays I do also video, so I don't know how do you put that in a box, but I think it's content creator.
• 2:01
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I still like photography more.
• 2:04
  Dario Viegas: I think that's my core passion.
• 2:07
  Matt Jacob: Why.
• 2:09
  Dario Viegas: Why, I don't know.
• 2:13
  Dario Viegas: I think I like more to look at the photo than at a video, like I spend more time looking at a single photo than at a video that passes so fast.
• 2:26
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, for me it gives me more.
• 2:30
  Dario Viegas: Sometimes I look at my old photos and brings me memories from that day or whatever I was doing, and the videos don't bring me those memories as the photos.
• 2:42
  Dario Viegas: So I think, yeah, for that reason, yeah, I wonder why.
• 2:45
  Matt Jacob: That is why why maybe video is more less of a personal memory, or there's less things you could make out of a movie.
• 2:54
  Matt Jacob: It's still image.
• 2:55
  Dario Viegas: There are so many possibilities you can attach to it yeah, I think that's the reason you are more attached to the photos than the videos, which is a compilation of a lot of videos.
• 3:08
  Dario Viegas: If you make a real or a big video, it's a compilation of many pieces, while a photo is a single frame that you work hard to get that single frame.
• 3:19
  Dario Viegas: At least that's how I see it and that's how I was doing my photography work like getting that beautiful frame and many of them has the story behind.
• 3:33
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• 3:48
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• 5:01
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• 5:12
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• 5:20
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• 5:25
  Matt Jacob: What is your story?
• 5:26
  Matt Jacob: How did you begin in photography?
• 5:31
  Dario Viegas: Quite a long story.
• 5:33
  Matt Jacob: We have a long time.
• 5:34
  Dario Viegas: We have time, yeah, okay.
• 5:36
  Dario Viegas: Actually, photography was not my first creative outlet.
• 5:43
  Dario Viegas: Let's say, I've always been drawn to art, but photography was not the first.
• 5:52
  Dario Viegas: And the first, I think, was music.
• 5:55
  Matt Jacob: All right.
• 5:57
  Dario Viegas: So I grew up on the countryside in Portugal and so five kilometers from the nearest town and there was no neighbors around.
• 6:08
  Dario Viegas: So I I had not much to do and also, like I had problems at home with my parents, I was not the easiest kid to manage.
• 6:22
  Dario Viegas: So I find myself like being in my room and playing the guitar and at some point I started making music on the laptop as a music production, and I think that at that time that was my thing, like that was my way of like getting out of the world and try to express myself at some way.
• 6:57
  Dario Viegas: Um, so like come back from school and go to my room and try to make music, try to make something that it was not there before, try to create something.
• 7:10
  Dario Viegas: And that's what I start to gain joy in art, in creating something Because it was not there before.
• 7:19
  Dario Viegas: And so fast forward, I finished high school and I had to go to university or get a job.
• 7:30
  Dario Viegas: But I really wanted to make music.
• 7:32
  Dario Viegas: I really wanted that.
• 7:37
  Dario Viegas: So I went to university because I wanted to buy more time for the music thing, and my parents didn't know this.
• 7:46
  Dario Viegas: But I really wanted to buy more time for the music thing and my parents didn't know this, but I really wanted to buy more time and try to make it work.
• 7:49
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, I was in university and still I met some people that was doing the same, but they were already like in more advanced.
• 8:00
  Dario Viegas: So I got even more into it, more addicted to it, and all I was doing was like trying to get the minimum score in university, go home and try to make more music.
• 8:14
  Dario Viegas: And, yeah, and I was studying communication and multimedia design and that was my first contact with photography.
• 8:25
  Dario Viegas: I had two, two assignments of photography and probably the ones I hate the most that time.
• 8:32
  Dario Viegas: Yes, how ironic it's ironic because I think it's the way that they teach us and because you can know everything about it, but if you don't have a way of applying it, it's useless.
• 8:48
  Dario Viegas: So Theory is nothing.
• 8:51
  Dario Viegas: without application, Theory is nothing absolutely nothing, so I absolutely hated it.
• 8:54
  Dario Viegas: And then I finished university and I was still nothing in music.
• 9:02
  Dario Viegas: It was not working out.
• 9:03
  Dario Viegas: And so, yeah, at this point I really had to find a job.
• 9:08
  Dario Viegas: And so, yeah, Totality was completely forgotten at that time and I started working a nine to five, which I absolutely hated.
• 9:21
  Dario Viegas: I hated so much where I quit after three months.
• 9:25
  Matt Jacob: Really, what was that doing?
• 9:29
  Dario Viegas: It was working for a company, a tour company.
• 9:34
  Dario Viegas: It was a startup and they wanted people to help in the design and like getting more customers and visual.
• 9:42
  Dario Viegas: And because I studied that, I thought, okay, let's try this.
• 9:49
  Dario Viegas: But I absolutely hated to be in the office all day and I come back home and, yeah, that guy really got something else today for his career, his company and I get nothing.
• 10:01
  Dario Viegas: Company and I get nothing.
• 10:04
  Dario Viegas: So I felt so frustrated and I also didn't like the way that he was moving forward.
• 10:14
  Dario Viegas: So I quit and for a few years I didn't really know what to do.
• 10:17
  Dario Viegas: I worked as a lifeguard for a couple of years and then I decided to leave Portugal.
• 10:27
  Dario Viegas: I went to the UK and tried to find something, and all this still on the hope that music would work.
• 10:36
  Dario Viegas: So when I got to the UK, it was kind of hard, it was very hard.
• 10:42
  Dario Viegas: The jobs were not really well paid there.
• 10:47
  Dario Viegas: I had two jobs on the same day.
• 10:50
  Dario Viegas: It was like 12 hours working, three jobs.
• 10:53
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, when I was in the UK I started also losing, be more disconnected with the music as well.
• 11:03
  Dario Viegas: And when I was living in Edinburgh in the third year, I really that I was disconnected with everything.
• 11:14
  Dario Viegas: I got a depression, I got panic attacks, anxiety, and at the same time that this was happening, I got the iPhone 6.
• 11:29
  Dario Viegas: I think it was the iPhone 6.
• 11:32
  Dario Viegas: And I was just coming back from work and there's these sometimes very, very beautiful sunsets In Edinburgh, edinburgh, yeah.
• 11:44
  Dario Viegas: My first photos ever Sunsets and sunr in edinburgh, edinburgh, yeah I, my first photos ever sunsets and sunrises in edinburgh yeah, yeah, I guess in the winter and a crisp morning.
• 11:53
  Dario Viegas: Um, yeah, so my first photos were iphone 6.
• 11:56
  Dario Viegas: Okay, um, and I don't know, the iphone already had something that makes makes it look good.
• 12:03
  Dario Viegas: I was like like, oh my God, this looks amazing.
• 12:05
  Dario Viegas: And so I got this like I don't know maybe four photos that I posted on Instagram.
• 12:14
  Dario Viegas: This was around 2060, let's say.
• 12:18
  Dario Viegas: Then I took with the iPhone six and, yeah, it was, it was nice, but I posted those four photos and didn't do anything else with it.
• 12:31
  Dario Viegas: And there was one day I was scrolling on Instagram and this was towards the end of 2017.
• 12:39
  Dario Viegas: And I was really having this really bad time in Edinburgh.
• 12:44
  Dario Viegas: My brother was living with me and he left.
• 12:48
  Dario Viegas: Also, I had a friend that left as well Edinburgh.
• 12:51
  Dario Viegas: So I was kind of feeling alone there and I was scrolling.
• 12:55
  Dario Viegas: I remember I was scrolling and I see these people like posting beautiful photos from beautiful place, posting beautiful photos from beautiful place, and I I never even imagined that would be possible to like have a photo looking like that.
• 13:12
  Dario Viegas: I've never seen photos looking like that with you know, with with those filters and those like vintage edits or whatever it was, I was was like, oh my God, let me search about this a little bit.
• 13:25
  Dario Viegas: So I started searching and I came across the concept of influencer or whatever it was.
• 13:33
  Dario Viegas: At that time I was like, okay, these people are traveling the world and they are posting beautiful photos and they get paid for it.
• 13:43
  Dario Viegas: Wait a minute, yeah, and I'm having panic attacks and stress with my life.
• 13:49
  Dario Viegas: I'm gonna give this a try.
• 13:52
  Dario Viegas: And I didn't know how, I didn't know what to do, but, uh, all I knew was I, I have to leave uk.
• 14:02
  Dario Viegas: I cannot live here, anymore.
• 14:09
  Dario Viegas: So I decided to quit my job I was working on I was a team leader on a whiskey factory it's not.
• 14:17
  Dario Viegas: It's like it's not a whiskey factory, but they did three bottles of all the brands of whiskey.
• 14:23
  Dario Viegas: It's a big company in the UK.
• 14:26
  Dario Viegas: Um, so I was just team leader and nothing wrong with the job.
• 14:32
  Dario Viegas: The only thing that was wrong was that I had the panic attacks and I didn't know why I had them.
• 14:39
  Dario Viegas: Uh, so I just told my boss sorry, but I'm going to quit next week, and I quit and I applied for visa in Australia.
• 14:52
  Dario Viegas: I wanted to change completely and I was thinking, maybe I should look for things that I really enjoy, and maybe that's sunny place and that's a completely different vibe.
• 15:06
  Dario Viegas: And so I quit and I bought the camera.
• 15:12
  Dario Viegas: So that's when I when I got into it what was that?
• 15:17
  Dario Viegas: camera was the Sony a6000 okay and yeah, I bought that camera and went one month to Thailand classic one month to Thailand and I tried to copy what other people was doing.
• 15:42
  Dario Viegas: You, know yeah and I was one month in Thailand and then to copy what other people was doing, you know and I was one month in Thailand and then one week in Bali.
• 15:51
  Dario Viegas: My first time in Bali, it was February 2018 and I fell in love with this island like right away.
• 15:59
  Dario Viegas: It was a different vibe than it is now.
• 16:02
  Dario Viegas: I felt so much freedom here.
• 16:05
  Dario Viegas: One month in Thailand, one week here, and then I went to Australia.
• 16:15
  Dario Viegas: I got my visa working holiday visa so I could work in Australia, try to make some money and when I had time, I would do like a trip and try to shoot, because when I got to Australia, I started working right away.
• 16:35
  Dario Viegas: Right, because they give you one year visa, but if you want another year, you have to work on a farm or a hotel.
• 16:44
  Dario Viegas: I read it.
• 16:45
  Dario Viegas: So I think that's how Australia gets their agriculture running as a whole business.
• 16:52
  Dario Viegas: They get backpackers.
• 16:53
  Matt Jacob: Just see these foreigners yeah.
• 16:55
  Dario Viegas: They only have backpackers running the whole business.
• 16:57
  Dario Viegas: So they say like if you want another year, you have to pick up lemons or like watermelons or plant whatever.
• 17:09
  Dario Viegas: So when I arrived to Australia I was straight out doing that and it was so hard.
• 17:15
  Dario Viegas: It was really like seven hours under the sun, super hot, backbreaking, 10-minute break, backbreaking and I was like this made me realize even more how I need to find something that brings me joy and that doesn't break my either mental health or, like my, physical health.
• 17:44
  Dario Viegas: And then I was two weeks doing like planting capsicums.
• 17:53
  Dario Viegas: Two weeks.
• 17:55
  Dario Viegas: It was very hard.
• 17:56
  Dario Viegas: When you talk about it it doesn't seem so hard, but you are bending all day.
• 18:01
  Dario Viegas: And then I was like man, I'm doing this because I want to stay another year in Australia, but I'm not sure if it's worth it.
• 18:09
  Dario Viegas: And then one day one guy came to.
• 18:14
  Dario Viegas: I was living in a hostel and one guy came hey guys, I'm working on a solo farm and they need 20 people to start on Monday.
• 18:22
  Dario Viegas: I was like solo farm, what's that?
• 18:24
  Dario Viegas: They pay super well.
• 18:26
  Dario Viegas: You guys want to start?
• 18:29
  Dario Viegas: I was with a bunch of friends and he said it was a very easy job and they pay super well like 2k a week.
• 18:35
  Dario Viegas: I was like, okay, let's try.
• 18:40
  Dario Viegas: And then I tried a job.
• 18:41
  Dario Viegas: It was really paying super well.
• 18:43
  Dario Viegas: We were we would work like 12 hour shifts to make more money and 21 days in a row without.
• 18:51
  Dario Viegas: But then I found if I do this job long enough, I can buy money.
• 19:00
  Dario Viegas: I can have money and buy more gear and maybe travel more and pursue what I want.
• 19:09
  Dario Viegas: And I remember when I was doing that, I bought a course that was $12 or something like that, a guy explaining how to travel and get paid for it.
• 19:22
  Dario Viegas: And there was some people that are huge on Instagram now they were on that.
• 19:27
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I'm sure $12 or $7.
• 19:30
  Matt Jacob: I can probably name a few.
• 19:31
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, you probably can.
• 19:31
  Dario Viegas: Those huge guys were on that yeah, I'm sure $12 or $7.
• 19:34
  Dario Viegas: I can probably name a few.
• 19:34
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, you probably can.
• 19:35
  Dario Viegas: Those huge guys were on that course.
• 19:37
  Dario Viegas: Just, you know, have to make a lot of content and then got to get interested Brands, interest of the brands and I was like, okay, so I made a plan.
• 19:49
  Dario Viegas: The plan was work as hard as possible in the solo farms and between solo farms.
• 19:58
  Dario Viegas: I had like two week break.
• 19:59
  Dario Viegas: I would travel.
• 20:00
  Dario Viegas: So I came back to Bali for actually two months.
• 20:05
  Dario Viegas: I came back for two months and those two months I shot a lot here and I still had no money.
• 20:16
  Dario Viegas: So, um, still shooting with the A6000 and I think I only had the kit length, so I still had not enough money.
• 20:28
  Dario Viegas: But then I started building my Instagram feed because everyone was at that time.
• 20:34
  Dario Viegas: The feed was something super important and it was just photos.
• 20:40
  Dario Viegas: It was just photos, yeah, but everyone that I saw on that course had a super well-curated feed, yeah.
• 20:47
  Dario Viegas: So, okay, yeah, I have to go.
• 20:51
  Dario Viegas: I have to shoot, like uh, eight shots on the beach and then eight shots on the water, and then try to make it like uh, the squares look nice, like a chess or whatever.
• 21:02
  Dario Viegas: There was so many like uh combinations alternating your color grades and yeah so this trip that I came to Bali really make some progress, but still I was not nothing great and mostly was I started learning editing at that time and I think I was first better at editing than shooting.
• 21:26
  Dario Viegas: I didn't really understand composition or light.
• 21:30
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, then back to Australia, work a little bit more and then travel again.
• 21:40
  Dario Viegas: But then I found that there was a problem on this.
• 21:43
  Dario Viegas: I went to Japan again with the same like uh, maybe I had already a new camera I think I bought the a7iii before japan, but with the 28 millimeter.
• 21:56
  Dario Viegas: So I went to japan just with the 28 and I shot the whole trip with the 28 and I got some really good shots.
• 22:06
  Dario Viegas: I don't know because it was so limiting, but I had to learn composition.
• 22:10
  Dario Viegas: But still I was in a rut which I would like make money and then spend all the money in a trip and then come back to Australia and I had no money again.
• 22:20
  Dario Viegas: So I was like, yeah, I'm progressing a little bit, but not too much.
• 22:24
  Dario Viegas: So I thought like, okay, I need to do something different, otherwise I'm not going to progress enough.
• 22:34
  Matt Jacob: But you were building a portfolio and learning how to take photographs each time it wasn't a waste or anything.
• 22:40
  Dario Viegas: It was not a waste, but in my mind it was Because if I had to do all again, eventually the time in Australia will finish Because it was only two years right.
• 22:50
  Dario Viegas: Eventually the time in Australia will finish because it was only two years right.
• 22:54
  Dario Viegas: So I decided that the second year in Australia I will not go to any party.
• 22:58
  Dario Viegas: I will not spend any money, anything else, I'll just not even shoot.
• 23:04
  Dario Viegas: I was not even shooting, I just worked the whole year and my plan was that I will travel for one year.
• 23:14
  Dario Viegas: I was already studying a little bit on how to do things, how to reach out and all that.
• 23:20
  Dario Viegas: So 2019 I worked, that was it.
• 23:24
  Dario Viegas: That was my life going to work, come back home and I was still making some music here and there, not not nothing too serious, but I had time because, uh, I could not shoot because all these jobs in australia were on outback.
• 23:41
  Dario Viegas: So absolutely nothing to do nothing, nothing.
• 23:45
  Dario Viegas: I is like 40 degrees outside, like I come back from work which is outside.
• 23:51
  Dario Viegas: I don't want to be outside anymore.
• 23:52
  Dario Viegas: So I just come back home, try to make some music and then repeat again and again and the plan was okay, maybe 2019 I work and then 2020, I can travel with all that money that I saved and then really make a portfolio like a huge portfolio December 9, 2019,.
• 24:28
  Dario Viegas: I was really thinking to myself, man, I've been going with this music thing.
• 24:36
  Dario Viegas: This takes a lot of time, this takes all my time when I'm inside and I never progressed and I'm going to quit it for good and I'm going to all in in the photography thing and, yeah, january 2020 I quit my job in Australia to travel the world and that was coming.
• 25:06
  Dario Viegas: I think you know what's coming so I had planned to travel.
• 25:10
  Dario Viegas: I had the trips planned until June.
• 25:13
  Dario Viegas: Wow, and it will be Philippines, montenalf, bali, india, jordan, turkey and Portugal, and then I think it was back to Bali at some point.
• 25:31
  Dario Viegas: Um, yeah, I did the Philippines with my brother.
• 25:36
  Dario Viegas: That was great because, yeah, that was when I was I was free.
• 25:42
  Dario Viegas: I spent I don't know how many thousands in gear before I leave Australia, but my first, all all the lenses that I wanted 16-35mm, 70-200mm, 50mm and, yeah, just start throwing myself into it.
• 26:00
  Dario Viegas: And so the Philippines was the first and, yeah, I got some really good shots there that I was like oh my, now that I know a little bit of like composition and have to wake up early, understand all these things, yeah, I see some, I start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
• 26:24
  Dario Viegas: So I got a lot of shots.
• 26:27
  Dario Viegas: I shot so many memory cards in the Philippines and then I came to Bali for one week.
• 26:32
  Dario Viegas: Again, I shot the whole week Shooting with private people here and India.
• 26:40
  Dario Viegas: And India was a little bit more hard Because I was kind of traveling solo with all that gear, yeah, but then things got really bad in india so where, where did you when covid really hit and the world shut down?
• 26:58
  Matt Jacob: where were you?
• 26:58
  Matt Jacob: In india?
• 26:59
  Dario Viegas: in india, yes and I yeah, it was just the indian story itself.
• 27:08
  Dario Viegas: It's all like another podcast it's.
• 27:11
  Dario Viegas: It's probably another podcast because india had a bad obviously yeah, um, yeah, I don't want to go too much in it because it will really be another podcast, but yeah, um, I almost got stuck there.
• 27:26
  Dario Viegas: And so, the day India shut down, I managed to get one of the last flights and I was almost coming to Bali, but I decided to go to the Netherlands because my brother was living there and they didn't.
• 27:46
  Dario Viegas: When I arrived to London, my my flight was to London.
• 27:50
  Dario Viegas: They didn't let me go anywhere other than Portugal, so I really had to go to Portugal.
• 27:56
  Dario Viegas: They didn't allow me.
• 27:57
  Matt Jacob: The only so they had to send you to your citizen, your country of birth.
• 28:02
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, so my dream was Shattered, yeah, shattered, and I really thought that was really bad.
• 28:11
  Dario Viegas: Like damn, I I work one year in 2019 to travel and build this thing, and now it's like nothing.
• 28:22
  Dario Viegas: And then one one, one week pass, and then one month passing, two months pass and but yeah, I um.
• 28:31
  Dario Viegas: Actually, at the end, the covid was the best thing, because I didn't watch a single movie during covid.
• 28:40
  Dario Viegas: I was, I was editing every single day.
• 28:43
  Dario Viegas: Like every single day, I was curating my own work, like the photos I took in the Philippines, the bits and bobs from India, bali, and I was taking all of that and I was like I like this one, I don't like this one, and why I don't like this one and why I like this one.
• 29:03
  Dario Viegas: So those months I was, it was insane.
• 29:07
  Dario Viegas: I was editing every day.
• 29:08
  Dario Viegas: I was curating my own work, I was studying everything about photography.
• 29:13
  Dario Viegas: I was so obsessed with it that when, when there was a lift in the covid, I just started shooting like crazy, like every single opportunity.
• 29:27
  Dario Viegas: And I met a friend.
• 29:28
  Dario Viegas: So in portugal, we don't have many creators.
• 29:30
  Dario Viegas: It's uh, it's not a thing.
• 29:30
  Dario Viegas: And I met this friend.
• 29:31
  Dario Viegas: So in Portugal, we don't have many creators.
• 29:32
  Dario Viegas: It's uh, it's not a thing.
• 29:32
  Dario Viegas: And I met this friend in the Algarve, which that's where I'm from, south of Portugal, and we he had a nine to five and I I didn't, I just I was.
• 29:48
  Dario Viegas: I was like I quit my nine to five in Australia before I was going to do anything with photography.
• 29:58
  Dario Viegas: So my friend had a nine to five and I remember every, every single of his days off.
• 30:04
  Dario Viegas: We will go shoot.
• 30:05
  Dario Viegas: We will go shoot every like.
• 30:08
  Matt Jacob: He was a photographer, a hobbyist, he was at exactly the same level as me, but he had a 9.5.
• 30:13
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, so we will like go shoot and we start growing together and shooting together all the time.
• 30:19
  Dario Viegas: And, yes, I was really really addicted to photography.
• 30:26
  Dario Viegas: I really enjoyed like how I was progressing on that short time, more than music.
• 30:32
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, music was completely buried at that point, because, you know, that time in Australia I really said to myself yeah, either I choose music or photography, and music is keeping me inside and is not taking me anywhere, while photography is taking me outside explore more places and eventually I will get to travel eventually.
• 30:59
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, during this like time after covid, I was going to shoot with my friend and I even borrowed my brother's van from the netherlands.
• 31:14
  Dario Viegas: I flew to the netherlands to borrow his van to drive to the dolomites in italy.
• 31:19
  Dario Viegas: I did like a two week just shooting, like with the tripod and I don't know, I really got.
• 31:27
  Dario Viegas: I got really good content from that trip, just going myself, yeah, and then just start snowballing after that because I was posting on Instagram a lot as well and I think the end of 2020, when the reels came.
• 31:53
  Dario Viegas: That's when the reels came.
• 31:53
  Dario Viegas: At that point I was still I haven't made any money with photography or whatsoever but I already realized how it works.
• 31:59
  Dario Viegas: I just didn't have yet enough content to keep going, you know.
• 32:04
  Dario Viegas: But yeah, I think it was end of 2020.
• 32:11
  Dario Viegas: I got my first paid job and there was also the time when Reels came.
• 32:19
  Dario Viegas: And when Reels came, I really started digging into it a little bit and I see people with millions of views and growing so fast.
• 32:36
  Dario Viegas: That was like I was 4K or something and I was just saving all the reels that were over a million.
• 32:46
  Dario Viegas: And one day I said to myself, okay, I'm going to try something, I'm going to post for 90 days and see what happened.
• 32:56
  Dario Viegas: So I study all those reels that were like over-performing and, um, I posted for 90 days and, yeah, it start taking over like crazy.
• 33:12
  Dario Viegas: And then in the beginning, my reels were super silly.
• 33:16
  Dario Viegas: It was kind of mini tutorial.
• 33:19
  Dario Viegas: I was always showing on camera, which I don't do now.
• 33:23
  Dario Viegas: I was showing more at that time than now.
• 33:25
  Dario Viegas: It was those photo reels that this shows the photos super fast.
• 33:32
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember those.
• 33:33
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, those trends kind of trends.
• 33:36
  Matt Jacob: I'm a photographer and these are my photos.
• 33:39
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, something like that.
• 33:40
  Dario Viegas: You know, or there is a super fast song and you match the beat, of which every photos?
• 33:46
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, something like that.
• 33:47
  Dario Viegas: I was just, yeah, following a little bit of trends, uh, which, and now I don't like that now, but on that time, yeah what was the goal why?
• 33:58
  Matt Jacob: why was the intention so um so deep with instagram?
• 34:04
  Matt Jacob: I mean what?
• 34:05
  Matt Jacob: Why were you just desperate to to grow so much on instagram?
• 34:08
  Matt Jacob: It was a business.
• 34:10
  Matt Jacob: I was not desperate but uh posting for 90 days and copying other reels is pretty desperate it could be, but it was again.
• 34:22
  Dario Viegas: we got another shutdown in december, so it's just at home.
• 34:27
  Dario Viegas: So why not try it?
• 34:29
  Dario Viegas: Because, according to the formula, if you get more work out there, eventually people will start reaching out, and that's exactly what happened.
• 34:40
  Dario Viegas: So, after posting 90 days, my account started growing.
• 34:48
  Matt Jacob: So one reel every day for 90 days Wow.
• 34:51
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, it was crazy Um but, like you said, if you're at home and just yeah, but after the 90 days I could not look at it anymore Like I was.
• 35:00
  Dario Viegas: I was over it.
• 35:03
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, it was too much.
• 35:04
  Dario Viegas: Um, and you know that time also like uh, you have so much time at home and you that time that my account started growing, you also start having bad comments.
• 35:21
  Matt Jacob: And that's also like Comes with the territory.
• 35:23
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, and I was not ready for that.
• 35:26
  Dario Viegas: No, I was not ready.
• 35:28
  Dario Viegas: The first reel that got viral, I was.
• 35:30
  Dario Viegas: I was like why?
• 35:31
  Dario Viegas: Why is people so mean, like there's no reason for that?
• 35:36
  Dario Viegas: The digital world for you, unfortunately yeah, it was a little bit like going back to that times where I had the panic attacks, a little bit like super stressful.
• 35:46
  Matt Jacob: I was like what would your advice be to someone now then starting rewind to you in 2020, when you've got content and you've kind of got this intent to grow on social media, which is perfectly valid, right, because business comes from it, awareness comes from it, exposure comes from it.
• 36:03
  Matt Jacob: If someone's doing in that position, but now in 2024, end of 2024, what would your advice be to them?
• 36:10
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I think, not be too greedy about it, the numbers.
• 36:17
  Dario Viegas: Just follow what you really really like and there'll be audience for it.
• 36:25
  Dario Viegas: Because that's what I'm doing now.
• 36:27
  Dario Viegas: I really only post what I feel like I really like it.
• 36:31
  Dario Viegas: I think I might have started this whole journey with the wrong intention and I think I got the passion for it after I was already, after I already knew how I will do the business part of it, even though I think I I'm not the best business person.
• 36:54
  Dario Viegas: But I knew the principles, how it works, yeah, how it works.
• 36:57
  Dario Viegas: So I think I got into this mindset before I realized, oh, I really like doing this.
• 37:05
  Dario Viegas: This is amazing, yeah.
• 37:08
  Matt Jacob: So I would say for someone don't like follow trends, because that's bad and eventually will not be able to keep with the trends because trends change by by their own definition and I think the best thing is be uh, evergreen yeah, I mean, if you don't, if you don't believe in that trend yourself and want to do it, you're not going to do it for a long term anyway, so it's just just lose lose you might get, you know, short term success, but it doesn't mean anything.
• 37:39
  Matt Jacob: Let's rewind.
• 37:40
  Matt Jacob: I mean, that's a.
• 37:40
  Matt Jacob: You know, you told me it was a long story.
• 37:42
  Matt Jacob: It was a long story but a really interesting one and there's so many nuances in there and moments of probably realization and progress and failure and learning again, and then externalities that get thrown at you covid, lockdowns, money, many, many different things.
• 37:59
  Matt Jacob: I want to rewind all the way to the beginning and talk about your childhood a little bit and why you, why you sought out a creative process, what, what was in you in terms of the source of your creativity and going after that music, and in your case, was it a feeling that you weren't really getting seen or heard?
• 38:19
  Matt Jacob: Or maybe you felt a little bit misunderstood as a, as a young man, and you wanted to kind of express yourself in in another way that wasn't necessarily verbal or communal yeah, I think was a little bit like that.
• 38:31
  Dario Viegas: uh, also like, um, the reason I will like lock myself in my room and try to do something creative is also because we had so many problems on our house, like my parents were always fighting, um, my dad was a alcoholic so I think I tried to find a dopamine.
• 38:56
  Dario Viegas: Hit in some other things, like art was something that will give me that.
• 39:02
  Dario Viegas: So I think, yeah, and I also live far from the town so I had no other friends around, so I would have to.
• 39:10
  Dario Viegas: I think you always have to get such amount of dopamine or whatever will always have to get such amount of dopamine or whatever.
• 39:22
  Dario Viegas: We don't, we don't always know where we get it, but we need to get it from something, and I think the art and creating something was getting me that like possibility of, oh, I created this.
• 39:31
  Dario Viegas: It's a new thing, it was not there before.
• 39:35
  Matt Jacob: yeah, what is it?
• 39:36
  Matt Jacob: What is the the fear that comes with that creative process?
• 39:39
  Matt Jacob: We all have it.
• 39:40
  Matt Jacob: It's only when you maybe don't know what you're going to do with it, or how to maybe do something, the fear is different.
• 39:47
  Matt Jacob: But now you're an established artist and creator.
• 39:50
  Matt Jacob: Where does the fear come from?
• 40:19
  Dario Viegas: Where does the fear come from?
• 40:20
  Dario Viegas: Is there any fear that you still have on a daily basis?
• 40:21
  Dario Viegas: Uh, what people will think about this and what people will say about it?
• 40:25
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, yeah, when you throw yourself out there and internet is brutal.
• 40:31
  Dario Viegas: You know, internet is brutal, for sure, but I think I learned how to manage that and not get attached to it.
• 40:40
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, usually when someone criticizes problem is on their side, not in your side, of course.
• 40:47
  Matt Jacob: So, yeah, I just learned how to manage that yeah, anger usually is anger aimed at themselves more than deep down yeah, I learned with my mistakes.
• 40:56
  Dario Viegas: You know you learn, you always learning.
• 40:57
  Dario Viegas: So I think there was many lessons and there was uh many days there.
• 41:03
  Dario Viegas: I was super upset and super sad, but uh, the mindset it's if you have the mindset, you can overcome that.
• 41:12
  Dario Viegas: If you know that you have the lows and there will be the highs after the lows.
• 41:18
  Dario Viegas: It's always like that.
• 41:20
  Matt Jacob: So so how do you practice having a healthy mindset?
• 41:23
  Matt Jacob: Is there something that you deliberately do?
• 41:26
  Matt Jacob: Is that a deliberate, conscious process, or you just grow older and wiser?
• 41:32
  Dario Viegas: yeah, I think you just with the time.
• 41:33
  Dario Viegas: I think it's with the mistakes and with the feelings you get when something goes wrong.
• 41:40
  Dario Viegas: You just absorb that and try to react differently the next time.
• 41:48
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, knowing that things are always changing for good or for bad, so it's evolving, you have to move on.
• 42:01
  Dario Viegas: You cannot keep on thinking about something that was bad yesterday.
• 42:06
  Dario Viegas: You have to move.
• 42:08
  Matt Jacob: Well, as a solopreneur, as a person that earns one's own money for his own livelihood, you can't afford that luxury, right?
• 42:16
  Matt Jacob: You have to always keep moving, you have to always learn from previous mistakes and this kind of my question about fear is fear of the next job, or when's my next paycheck coming, or how, what you know.
• 42:29
  Matt Jacob: Every creative who does it for for business knows that you might get four or five things or jobs or projects that fall away that don't work out and then and then you start doubt start coming into your mind.
• 42:43
  Matt Jacob: Right, oh, am I, you know?
• 42:45
  Matt Jacob: Is the sixth one actually going to work out?
• 42:46
  Matt Jacob: Or why did this keep happening to me and knowing that that's potentially just part of the process?
• 42:52
  Matt Jacob: But my question about fear is more fear of the unknown.
• 42:59
  Matt Jacob: I guess you know what's coming next and how do I prepare for for what's coming next?
• 43:03
  Dario Viegas: yeah, I understand your question and if we we have done the podcast one year ago, I will I'll have so much more fear than it is now.
• 43:12
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, what's changed?
• 43:14
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I think I got more confident in the work I put out and what comes after I put that work out.
• 43:23
  Dario Viegas: Also, I think I've got more work this year, which gave me more confidence.
• 43:31
  Dario Viegas: But yeah, it's always a cycle, you know, um, but yeah, it's, it's always a cycle, you know, um.
• 43:37
  Dario Viegas: There's this cycle when you get a lot of work, and then there's the cycle when you get less.
• 43:42
  Dario Viegas: And I think when I get less work is when I improve more on myself, on my art and my craft, and I'm always looking for that times, because that's when I have time to make something new or think about something, and then the cycle starts again.
• 44:03
  Dario Viegas: I post something and then they'll clients come again, and I think it's it's always evolving this way and growing a little bit at the time so what's your process now you talked about when you first started?
• 44:19
  Matt Jacob: you're paying for your own travel, paying for your own projects, just to get content.
• 44:23
  Matt Jacob: Now that's someone else paying you to get that.
• 44:28
  Matt Jacob: How has your photographic filmmaking artistic process changed since then, or hasn't it?
• 44:35
  Matt Jacob: You've just become better artistic process changed since then or hasn't it?
• 44:37
  Dario Viegas: you just become better?
• 44:39
  Dario Viegas: It's tough to say because, uh, there is also a line between the art part and the commercial part.
• 44:49
  Dario Viegas: So I think on the beginning I was more on the art, I was more interested in the pure form of art and I was purely creating for myself, even though I knew these business things.
• 45:12
  Dario Viegas: I was more into the art Because that was kind of giving you visibility as an artist, like if someone if I would, if I would go on Instagram or the platform, I would find someone that has something I never seen before, I'll immediately follow that person and be super interested.
• 45:34
  Dario Viegas: So I, at the beginning, I was always trying to make something different, you know.
• 45:43
  Dario Viegas: So I would like maybe go to a place and try to shoot it differently, try to make it look like a landscape photo, but also like with a bit of artsy, and I really like minimal.
• 46:05
  Dario Viegas: But minimal doesn't work too much for commercial work, because if a tourism board wants to hire you, they want to show the whole thing.
• 46:15
  Matt Jacob: I was going to say, it depends on who, what, the company, what brand or agency you're working for, right?
• 46:21
  Dario Viegas: if it's a tourism agency, yeah, maybe not, but other brands might like that kind of thing yeah, so I was always not always, but since since I I start maybe getting paid for it, I was always on this fence Do I go more artsy and how do I monetize that?
• 46:41
  Dario Viegas: Or do I go more commercial and that's more easy to monetize?
• 46:46
  Dario Viegas: Right, and I would always bounce a little bit to one side and then to another when I see there's no work coming.
• 46:54
  Dario Viegas: When I see there's no work coming, I'll probably have to shoot something more towards the vision of a tourism board or something like that, but always try to keep my identity, which is never put something that is too crowded in a photo, like is always, is always something clean about it, and I was for such a long time.
• 47:22
  Dario Viegas: I tried to balance that like a little bit minimal, not too crowded, but still you can see there's a place that maybe isn't somewhere, but it's still really nice looking and is very easy to digest when someone oh looks at it.
• 47:39
  Matt Jacob: it's beautiful important to, especially if you're pitching to brands, to to give them your photos that might fit towards what they would be interested in, if that makes sense, rather than the other way around, like, oh, what do you want, I can do it.
• 47:55
  Matt Jacob: That's one way of keeping some element of artistic integrity, or at least your, your own identity, because if you may get less yeses, but at least those yeses will be shared beliefs and values and you know artistic visions and so and you'll do a better job and you'll enjoy it more.
• 48:11
  Matt Jacob: Right, it's very easy to not sell out, but it's it's very easy to just kind of say yes to anything, um, rather than trying to keep that.
• 48:21
  Matt Jacob: Okay, look, these are.
• 48:22
  Matt Jacob: This is my portfolio, and these are basically the images that I think might fit with what you're looking for and I can, I can do the along the same style, right yeah, it's not always like that I mean easier said than done of course
• 48:34
  Dario Viegas: yeah there's lots of clients or potential clients that say like oh, I found your work uh really nice, would like you to shoot for our brand or whatever, but then what they want is something completely different.
• 48:56
  Matt Jacob: Which is weird, isn't it?
• 48:57
  Matt Jacob: Because they find you and they like your work, and then they think that they can just change.
• 49:03
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, to change everything sometimes and it doesn't make sense.
• 49:07
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, working for clients is always a battle, right, it's always very difficult to not starve your creative vision and especially if they have a very strict brief and want to you to do this and change this, which is very difficult, especially when you're starting and you need jobs.
• 49:25
  Matt Jacob: Right, it's very it, can.
• 49:27
  Matt Jacob: It can, before you know it, it can really starve your creative passion, and I know so many creators and photographers who who have really suffered because of it and they've just been in burnouts and depression because they're not doing what they want to do anymore.
• 49:43
  Matt Jacob: This is a constant battle, but then it makes me think well, if we were doing it for someone and social media is another part of this or whatever platforms we post on, or physical spaces to showcase our work, if we didn't have that connecting tissue, if we didn't have that audience member, would we still create the same thing?
• 50:09
  Matt Jacob: Right?
• 50:09
  Matt Jacob: And so I pose that question to you is is, is the, the viewer of your work in as important to you as the process and you enjoying creating it?
• 50:22
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I think so.
• 50:26
  Dario Viegas: I think there has to be balance and there was many times when I was off balance.
• 50:34
  Dario Viegas: There was many times when I was off balance, like with what you said, either creating something that I was not happy about it or because other reason of like posting, because of a trend or something like that.
• 50:54
  Dario Viegas: You know, there was many times where I was off balance and I think lately I I've been finding the balance which is really like we, we, we have this job because of social media, so we have to keep with it.
• 51:12
  Dario Viegas: Uh, if there was no social media, there would not be need of all this content and all these videos, photos, so we have to be aware of that first.
• 51:31
  Dario Viegas: Lately, I think I kind of found the balance which is like posting really what I really think is my art and if someone resonates with that, they can reach out and I can like and that's.
• 51:51
  Dario Viegas: I think that's what's been happening this year mostly not not like maybe 80%.
• 51:57
  Dario Viegas: Um, there was a few cases here and there that didn't happen like that, but I think most of uh work that I got this year is because I posted what I like and they resonate with that and they can create something similar for them.
• 52:18
  Matt Jacob: and what was it that I keep thinking about something you said earlier, when you took up photos with your iphone 6 and posted four photos on instagram.
• 52:27
  Matt Jacob: What was it that made you post photos on instagram at that time?
• 52:33
  Matt Jacob: What was it that came into your brain and go?
• 52:35
  Matt Jacob: I'm?
• 52:35
  Dario Viegas: gonna post this.
• 52:36
  Dario Viegas: It was my brother, was it?
• 52:37
  Dario Viegas: Because I was not really.
• 52:39
  Dario Viegas: Uh, I was.
• 52:40
  Dario Viegas: I'm always late to the trends or whatever.
• 52:43
  Dario Viegas: Whatever it is yeah, so I usually buy bitcoin when it's coming back down, uh yeah, well, don't buy it now, but I was always late, like imagine everyone was already having a smartphone and I had to Nokia yeah, snakes yeah, I was like everyone has Instagram and I was like I don't need social media yeah but then my brother, I think.
• 53:15
  Dario Viegas: I think actually it was my brother that showed me like those travel pages or something in the first place, and that's why I installed Instagram.
• 53:24
  Dario Viegas: And then, when I bought the iPhone 6, yeah, it was great and I thought that those four photos were already worthy of posting.
• 53:37
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, I think there was that.
• 53:39
  Dario Viegas: It's simple.
• 53:40
  Dario Viegas: It was my brother that told me to install and yeah, and now look at you.
• 53:47
  Matt Jacob: what is um, what is the the concept of travel, or what does the experience of travel really mean to you?
• 53:55
  Matt Jacob: Was travel ever um part of of the enjoyment process upfront, or was it more photography and then the travel came, or the travel just came with photography?
• 54:05
  Matt Jacob: But really my question is what is it about travel that sparks your creative pursuit?
• 54:12
  Matt Jacob: You know what sparks your storytelling in terms of travel?
• 54:15
  Dario Viegas: Travel came way before maybe really, maybe like 10 years before, I was traveling a lot like mostly in europe, like road trips, and it's sad because I got nothing from those trips like yeah, I know that feeling.
• 54:32
  Dario Viegas: I have no memories and because I was that guy that didn't want to have the smartphone oh yeah, I was not capturing.
• 54:46
  Matt Jacob: How do you think the travel now, having traveled the world, how do you think that has shaped you as a person?
• 54:54
  Dario Viegas: Did shape a lot Like before I could not understand other cultures and other people, and I think it makes me traveling, made me more patient and more willing to understand others so much better, because there's always two versions and there's always a reason why someone behaves the way they behave.
• 55:24
  Dario Viegas: And, yeah, I, I started understanding more about other people and how do they do things and why they do it and, yeah, I think maybe a more mature person.
• 55:38
  Dario Viegas: Um, yeah, I get inspired, like just getting on a train and be on a window seat and looking outside, seeing things move around.
• 55:49
  Dario Viegas: If, if I do that and I'm listening to music at the same time, I get inspiration.
• 55:54
  Dario Viegas: I start visualizing things in my head like, yeah, I get inspiration.
• 55:57
  Dario Viegas: I start visualizing things in my head.
• 55:58
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I get super inspired, like moving things, like getting on the airplane or stuff like that.
• 56:05
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I get inspired all the time.
• 56:08
  Matt Jacob: And the same question with photography.
• 56:10
  Matt Jacob: What is it about photography that well?
• 56:13
  Matt Jacob: How has photography shaped you as a person over the last four or five years?
• 56:19
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, it changed my life.
• 56:21
  Matt Jacob: Your outlook on life or your life.
• 56:25
  Dario Viegas: My life first, and maybe my outlook on life too, because you know, I think since the Stone Age age, this is the best time in history where you can actually do whatever you want you can.
• 56:45
  Dario Viegas: You can do whatever you want.
• 56:47
  Dario Viegas: So it's a huge opportunity and I'm super grateful for that.
• 56:52
  Dario Viegas: In that sense, I think it changed everything, because I could follow what society gives us, or I could get on this and do my own, my own story, and I I think, yeah, we are in the best time for that right.
• 57:17
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, in that sense, I think it changed.
• 57:21
  Dario Viegas: Photography changed everything.
• 57:23
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 57:26
  Matt Jacob: How about the technical side of photography?
• 57:27
  Matt Jacob: You mentioned the gear that you had and the fact that you relied a lot on editing, you know, in the first few years.
• 57:37
  Matt Jacob: How is that now?
• 57:38
  Matt Jacob: What?
• 57:38
  Matt Jacob: How do you?
• 57:39
  Matt Jacob: What is your process in terms of the shoot, in terms of how you use the light composition?
• 57:44
  Matt Jacob: What are you looking for?
• 57:45
  Matt Jacob: And then, in the post-processing as well, what are you, what are you trying to do?
• 57:49
  Matt Jacob: And is that a long process, short process?
• 57:51
  Matt Jacob: Complicated presets, what are that stuff?
• 57:54
  Matt Jacob: Tell us your secrets.
• 57:55
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, first, I gotta say that I've been shooting less photography now I've been shooting more video.
• 58:03
  Dario Viegas: When I think about when I was shooting photography before, it takes so much more time and effort than now, because if I really want to get those kinds of shots, I have to be only focused on photography, and many, many times happen now that I'm a run and gun and shooting video, shooting photo.
• 58:27
  Dario Viegas: Uh, but like that time when I was shooting more photography, uh, the I want to get like perfect composition, perfect light.
• 58:40
  Dario Viegas: I would.
• 58:42
  Dario Viegas: I would probably go to the same place many, many times until I get good light.
• 58:50
  Dario Viegas: Um, and especially shooting where I'm from, in the Algarve.
• 58:55
  Dario Viegas: It's one of the hardest places to shoot like because the main thing there is the beach right and so you have tides.
• 59:06
  Dario Viegas: When it's high tide there is no beach, at least in the Algarve.
• 59:11
  Dario Viegas: When it's high tide there is no beach.
• 59:13
  Dario Viegas: The place looks really bad when it's cloudy, so there is no beach.
• 59:17
  Dario Viegas: The place looks really bad when it's cloudy, so you have so many nuances that I had to go to the same place like 20 times maybe to get like a really, really painful shot that I'm super happy about it.
• 59:30
  Dario Viegas: So it's one of I think I started perfecting my craft in one of the hardest places to shoot, so I was very picky about compositions at that time.
• 59:44
  Dario Viegas: But then the editing process was very.
• 59:48
  Dario Viegas: It was very not complicated, it was just tone curves, a bit of tone curves and a bit of cleaning.
• 59:56
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, I usually don't have, don't, didn't like, I still don't like like too much contrasts on the photos.
• 1:00:07
  Dario Viegas: I like more monologues.
• 1:00:13
  Dario Viegas: Monologues like Analogous.
• 1:00:19
  Matt Jacob: Yeah.
• 1:00:19
  Dario Viegas: More like on the same range of colors.
• 1:00:22
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, so I will.
• 1:00:23
  Dario Viegas: I will maybe like if the photo is warm, I will put more warm in the shadows to be more like, yeah, something like that.
• 1:00:32
  Dario Viegas: You know, to have more of the same color and maybe the subject will be will stand out with like a little bit like a white or black.
• 1:00:43
  Dario Viegas: Cool yeah Now.
• 1:00:45
  Dario Viegas: Now I should be shooting more videos.
• 1:00:47
  Matt Jacob: So it's a different process.
• 1:00:49
  Matt Jacob: What made you go towards more video?
• 1:00:51
  Matt Jacob: Is it the algorithm, essentially, or more money?
• 1:00:54
  Dario Viegas: No, actually, I like it okay, yeah, okay, I, I actually uh, when I started photography, I was already liking video.
• 1:01:06
  Dario Viegas: Uh, um, watching sam kolder, you know, I think everyone got a little bit inspired.
• 1:01:14
  Dario Viegas: But you know the starting point for video it's not easy, like as a photography, like it's complicated in the beginning More dimensions.
• 1:01:24
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, more things that you have to consider.
• 1:01:27
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, at that time, no, yeah, I cannot do this, it's too complicated.
• 1:01:32
  Dario Viegas: But when I was already comfortable with photography as a second, okay, I'm comfortable, if I have some work, I can do it, but if not, let me try video.
• 1:01:43
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, I start trying and then, um, yeah, start posting, because I I was.
• 1:01:50
  Dario Viegas: If the the goal was like, let's say, grow instagram or whatever, I was growing with just photos.
• 1:01:57
  Dario Viegas: I was growing with those photo reels.
• 1:01:59
  Dario Viegas: It was not because of growing, it was because of, oh, I really enjoy this form of art as well.
• 1:02:07
  Dario Viegas: So, yeah, I think I follow a little bit the market, or how is it going, how social media is pushing it, more video.
• 1:02:18
  Dario Viegas: But also because I like it, and I think it's always because I like it either photo or video.
• 1:02:28
  Matt Jacob: Which is the most important lesson, right?
• 1:02:30
  Matt Jacob: Otherwise you're not going to do it.
• 1:02:32
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, you have to like it enough to keep going every day.
• 1:02:39
  Matt Jacob: And with those videos and photos and generally your body of work, would you say.
• 1:02:44
  Matt Jacob: It's the places that you go to or the experience you experiences you have in those places that shape your photography and videography.
• 1:02:55
  Dario Viegas: Um, not completely, because, uh, when I did those trips in the Philippines and Bali and whatever, uh, that didn't shape my photography.
• 1:03:09
  Dario Viegas: What shaped it was when I was in COVID and I was like curating it and when I found, oh I really like this and I really like that photo and not that one, and when I start creating those photos, that's when it's shaped.
• 1:03:29
  Dario Viegas: You know, so after I would go out and try to create more of that kind of work that I've previously created.
• 1:03:41
  Matt Jacob: Interesting.
• 1:03:42
  Matt Jacob: It's a good way of putting it.
• 1:03:42
  Matt Jacob: You need that space from the, the creation of it, to look back and, with a bit of objectivity, to to decide okay, what is what am I trying to do here?
• 1:03:54
  Matt Jacob: What is my photography all about?
• 1:03:56
  Dario Viegas: right, yeah I think you also.
• 1:03:57
  Dario Viegas: It's, it's a big part of it, is your taste like, yeah, and I?
• 1:04:06
  Dario Viegas: I don't consider myself the best photographer, but I think I, the photos I take, I can curate something that is visually appealing.
• 1:04:18
  Matt Jacob: So I think maybe I'm a better curator than a photographer interesting and how do you see that moving forward over the next few years?
• 1:04:27
  Matt Jacob: Do you just kind of focus on doing what you're doing or do you have other grand plans?
• 1:04:35
  Dario Viegas: I've been thinking about YouTube for a while oh yeah, oh god, I don't know, it's kind of hard it's.
• 1:04:39
  Dario Viegas: I've been thinking about YouTube for a while.
• 1:04:40
  Dario Viegas: Oh yeah, oh God, I don't know, it's kind of hard.
• 1:04:42
  Dario Viegas: It's another hard step.
• 1:04:43
  Dario Viegas: But yeah, I might give it a try next year.
• 1:04:45
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, it's one of those things you don't want to be too late on it, but it's going to be around for a long time.
• 1:04:50
  Matt Jacob: I think it is the future of a lot of creative communication.
• 1:04:55
  Dario Viegas: I think it's never too late.
• 1:04:57
  Matt Jacob: Yeah communication.
• 1:05:01
  Dario Viegas: I think it's never too late.
• 1:05:03
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, that's the first like thing.
• 1:05:05
  Dario Viegas: It just start when you start and if you keep going, you'll be where you want to be.
• 1:05:10
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, but yeah, uh, actually I think I want to do more photography coming next year.
• 1:05:13
  Dario Viegas: I've been doing a lot of video this year and I always have these like folders or like mood boards that I add stuff there from time to time and sometimes I go like I have so much that I want to do Like inspirations, yeah, inspirations.
• 1:05:33
  Dario Viegas: I want to start maybe trying new things and still not going too much far from what I'm doing now, because it has to be Pays the bills.
• 1:05:46
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:05:49
  Dario Viegas: It's always like that.
• 1:05:50
  Dario Viegas: You know Can go a little bit, one step to the left, but not two steps, because if it's two steps, and yeah but what is it the commercial?
• 1:06:00
  Matt Jacob: put the commercial thing aside for a moment.
• 1:06:03
  Matt Jacob: What do you think it is?
• 1:06:04
  Matt Jacob: Just to think deep down, what do you think it is that really drives that passion for photography, and you know why.
• 1:06:12
  Matt Jacob: Why do you think it is that you, you want to do these mood boards and that you get inspiration, like, just to get inspiration.
• 1:06:18
  Matt Jacob: Is there's something inside of you that there's just like a little light bulb going?
• 1:06:23
  Matt Jacob: Well, that's makes me feel amazing.
• 1:06:24
  Matt Jacob: What do you think that is?
• 1:06:26
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, that's a really good question.
• 1:06:28
  Dario Viegas: I don't know if I, if I can answer this question, but, yeah, when I see something, I think what drives me is to make something new.
• 1:06:41
  Dario Viegas: It's to get something new, because often I get bored If I do the same thing, if I will work on a supermarket, I'll get mad, like I cannot do the same thing all the time.
• 1:06:54
  Dario Viegas: I have to add something new and I don't know.
• 1:06:57
  Dario Viegas: It's like a, it's a stimulus for your brain, I think.
• 1:07:03
  Dario Viegas: And yeah, when I browse through, I see something like oh, this is so cool.
• 1:07:09
  Dario Viegas: Like, sometimes are those like blurry photos, but there's one thing that isn't focused and the whole thing is blurry.
• 1:07:18
  Dario Viegas: I'm like, oh, this is so cool, it's different.
• 1:07:20
  Dario Viegas: You know, it has some artsy, like, yeah, I feel like, oh, I want to do this because I never done it, and that's what attracts me.
• 1:07:30
  Dario Viegas: I think, doing something new, creating it's, it's coming back to the very beginning, when I told you, like, with the music makes me happy to create something that was not there before, and even though, like, you can like, look at the photo and I want to create that, but when you create it's your own version, it's also new yeah, it's your.
• 1:07:53
  Dario Viegas: Take on something, right and that's what creativity is.
• 1:07:56
  Matt Jacob: Of course, it's how you express yourself.
• 1:07:58
  Dario Viegas: Yeah.
• 1:07:59
  Matt Jacob: Yeah Well, it's been a pleasure hearing you, hearing how you express yourself and watching your journey.
• 1:08:05
  Matt Jacob: We've been chatting going back and forth for a couple of years now, so it's been an absolute pleasure to have you.
• 1:08:12
  Matt Jacob: Thanks so much for coming.
• 1:08:13
  Matt Jacob: Where can people find you?
• 1:08:15
  Matt Jacob: Give us an idea of where to showcase your work.
• 1:08:20
  Dario Viegas: Mostly on Instagram.
• 1:08:21
  Dario Viegas: Darioexplore yeah, for now Instagram, maybe something else in the future.
• 1:08:29
  Matt Jacob: Maybe YouTube in the future.
• 1:08:29
  Matt Jacob: I have YouTube already.
• 1:08:30
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, the same I know, but you haven't used it for maybe a year.
• 1:08:36
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, yeah, I was.
• 1:08:37
  Dario Viegas: I was trying to post one video per month and, yeah, it was only three months.
• 1:08:44
  Matt Jacob: That's the other thing.
• 1:08:45
  Matt Jacob: It's just a lot of work.
• 1:08:47
  Dario Viegas: Yeah.
• 1:08:47
  Matt Jacob: It is a lot of work, unless you're just going to do really quick vlogs, which I imagine you wouldn't no.
• 1:08:54
  Dario Viegas: I want, I want, like I don't know if this gonna happen, I don't know if this is gonna be live.
• 1:09:01
  Dario Viegas: I want to try create some story, like mini stories about things that I lived in life, like that get me to where I am, like, for example, india.
• 1:09:18
  Dario Viegas: I can create like a short movie about what happened in india and how that impacted me and, yeah, some segments like that.
• 1:09:29
  Dario Viegas: I don't know if I can do it, but maybe, maybe I'll try, yeah we'll see.
• 1:09:34
  Matt Jacob: We'll watch out for it before we wrap up.
• 1:09:36
  Matt Jacob: What is one thing that you can offer the audience watching and listening to this?
• 1:09:41
  Matt Jacob: That that may have helped you along your journey.
• 1:09:44
  Matt Jacob: But it comes to mind right now a piece of advice for beginner or intermediate, even professional photographers.
• 1:09:51
  Matt Jacob: Video offers out there, that that you might be able to impart with them, that can help them along their journey I think the best advice would be um put on the reps put on the reps reps a rep put in the reps.
• 1:10:07
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, put in the reps because practice, yeah, because and fail as fast as possible yeah, because you fail as much more as you fail, you will grow so much faster.
• 1:10:20
  Dario Viegas: I, yeah, I feel like every time that I fail on something, I grow a little bit that just comes with practice.
• 1:10:29
  Matt Jacob: The more you put, the more reps you put in, the more you'll fail and the more you'll learn.
• 1:10:33
  Dario Viegas: Yeah, I was like many times like going out with some idea, shooting and coming back home, oh, I failed, like why, why did that happen?
• 1:10:44
  Dario Viegas: And learning from that, and then go again.
• 1:10:47
  Dario Viegas: And then, yeah, move on, go again, learn.
• 1:10:52
  Matt Jacob: Great advice.
• 1:10:52
  Matt Jacob: Actually, that's the most common piece of advice from everyone I've spoken to and it's I would would.
• 1:10:58
  Matt Jacob: If I was asked the same question, I would give that advice as well, and people used to say that.
• 1:11:03
  Matt Jacob: When I was learning, people used to say that to me.
• 1:11:04
  Matt Jacob: I'm like no, I can just basically my subconscious saying I can shortcut it.
• 1:11:08
  Matt Jacob: You know, just get this and do this and it just never works it never works until you actually put in the work and that's generally in life anyway, but especially with photography and you can learn the technical side of it in a day, right.
• 1:11:22
  Matt Jacob: It's the rest of it that you have to put in really the reps to understand yourself how you shoot what you like, what works, what doesn't, how to deal with clients, etc.
• 1:11:32
  Matt Jacob: Etc.
• 1:11:32
  Matt Jacob: Etc.
• 1:11:32
  Matt Jacob: So, yeah, I totally agree with you.
• 1:11:35
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, it.
• 1:11:35
  Dario Viegas: It's a buildup that never, never stops.
• 1:11:40
  Dario Viegas: You know, there's not never a ceiling for that.
• 1:11:43
  Matt Jacob: Yeah, thank you very much.
• 1:11:45
  Matt Jacob: It's been an absolute pleasure.
• 1:11:47
  Matt Jacob: I look forward to having you back.
• 1:11:49
  Matt Jacob: Hopefully, when it's not raining we'll chat again.
• 1:11:52
  Dario Viegas: Sorry if I took so long to get into it Not at all.
• 1:11:55
  Matt Jacob: No, sorry, sorry, I took so long in getting you on the show, but, um, we got there in the end.
• 1:12:02
  Matt Jacob: So, dario, thanks very much, really appreciate your time, thank you.