We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leonardo Gabriel do Amaral. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leonardo below.
Leonardo, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Thanks for having me! Growing up I always had a difficult time connecting with other people. I was very shy, and having been raised in São Paulo, Brazil, and raised bilingually (in English and Portuguese) I used to have a hard time communicating with others. My mom and dad were both very in tune with the arts. My mom was interested in the great painters, sculptors, and architects, while my dad had a deep appreciation for music and film. Whenever I went to a museum, sat down to watch a movie, or listened to a great song, I became connected to the works I engaged with. And that connection to art is what helped me learn how to connect not only with others but with myself as well. I knew from then on that the only thing I wanted to be was an artist. I spent a long time navigating the world and trying to figure out how that love for art would manifest. I went to college to pursue film, originally as a way to explore my options in the arts, but came out as a photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia artist.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Of course, my name’s Leo, and I’m a Brazilian photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia artist. I have always had a huge passion for the arts and learning, so I have a hard time constraining myself to just one medium. Lately, my work has centered mostly around photography. I spent the last six months in New York shooting for magazines, doing photo assisting work, shooting concerts, and working on my own projects, which I’m currently submitting to contests, grants, and publications. On top of that, I also worked on some short films and music videos, did production assisting work, took graphic design commissions, and worked at ad agencies and an equipment rental center. I love shooting and assisting with editorial work, I’m a very upbeat and curious person on set, and have been happy to see my work published in publications like FLAUNT Magazine, but what I’m most proud of and what I believe truly sets me apart from others are my own photo projects. My project “I Am for You” is a series of self-portraits where I play the role of alienated American stereotypes, inspired by my experience as an immigrant in the United States. When you’re an immigrant, being in America is particularly strange. People expect you to learn to be American and not bring your culture with you, while also having you put on exaggerated caricatures of your homeland for their entertainment. Being an immigrant means performing normalcy and exoticism, while never being allowed to truly be yourself. I am excited to continue working and learning in all the mediums I love, and hope to get my voice to those who need to hear it.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I’ve had a lot of audiences on social media. I used to have a semi-large following on Twitter that bled over a little into my Instagram when I was just a teenager. I was very involved with the EDM scene and made a lot of drawings and graphics for my favorite songs and artists. I was making connections and friendships with tons of cool people, who have gone on to do amazing things. At a point, I kind of lost interest in the work I was making, and got a bit freaked out by my following online. So I disappeared for a while and rebranded, losing touch with tons of people and my audience. In 2020 I made a Tiktok account and my first video immediately went viral. The traction boosted my page, and during the pandemic, I began uploading a lot more TikToks. A lot did okay, but some did really well, and my page began growing rather quickly. Again, I became freaked out by my online presence and some people whose attention I was attracting. I deleted my account. A year or two later, when I’d started a band and wanted an additional page to promote it on, I found myself wishing I hadn’t quit. A while ago, I’d started making videos on TikTok again about artists I like. My page was building a small but loyal following of people with similar tastes and interests as mine. When I returned to college, I fully intended to make more of those videos, but, I never did. I made a video about philosophy just for fun, and it happened to blow up. I spent so much time thinking about what my audience would or wouldn’t want that I just never got back into it ever again. Artists that I started following back when I made those videos, are now selling out shows and have thousands of monthly listeners, because they never gave up. If you spend too much time worrying about your audience, about what they think or don’t think about you, you’ll get stuck and have nothing to show for it. It doesn’t matter if you want to change your content, or take a *short* break, or change your username. As long as you’re open, communicative, and never give up, your audience will always find you.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
You can just email people. And if they don’t respond you can just email them again. And if that does or doesn’t work, you can still add them to email blasts. If you want your work in a magazine, send an editor a pitch, or if you don’t have a pitch yet, just ask them out for a coffee, or a Zoom call even. If you want to assist more people, find people in your area and email them! Wanna shoot a show? Scour the internet for a band’s manager, and email them! I’ve had so many wonderful opportunities and friendships come out of just emailing people, and I wish I’d known you can just do that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lgaphoto.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lga.jpeg/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardo-amaral-0/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lgajpeg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lga.mp4
Image Credits
Credit to my models Amber Lobos and Matthew Gerety for their pictures. Credit to Torr for their pictures performing. Credit to Tracee Ellis Ross, FLAUNT Magazine, Fabien Montique, Jordan Boothe, and Chloe Cussen, for the picture of Tracee Ellis Ross (where I provided lighting assistance).