We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thaís Mendonça. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thaís below.

Thaís, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I believe every project is meaningful, but putting it in a general context, my meaningful current projects are photographing women in the water and creating poetry with that. The images are already some kind of poetry to me. The way I like to photograph is to feel present where I am and the water helps me with that. It’s important that the person I’m photographing also feels connected to the moment, which creates a fluidity, a certain peace that appears in the photos. That’s where my art begins.

One of my latest projects that evolved women, poetry, and water was with Corona. A group of friends from different countries living in California. All of them love being outdoors, connected to the ocean, and being there for each other. You can check the final video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqGYT73viSm/?hl=en

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Okay. Well as you know, my name is Thaís, I am a Brazilian journalist and I decided to change my career in my 30s. I worked for TV, and PR companies, and at some point, I needed to improve my English. The best way I found was to start traveling and book an English course abroad. Then it all begins in Cape Town, SA. I spent five months there in total and for another three months, I traveled around Asia and Europe backpacking.

When I went back to Brazil there it comes to a huge question. What to do with my life after seeing so much, different countries, cultures, and ways of living? Is there a way to pick one career now? Nature was always my place to be, especially the ocean. Images in general, photographing and filming, also my passion. I put both things together when I applied for a volunteer job on a beautiful island in Brazil called Fernando de Noronha. There I started doing underwater photography and videography becoming a scuba diver.

Then life gave me other opportunities and I moved to Curaçao in the Caribbean working with tourism as well, doing scuba diving images. Until that point, I was always working for companies. When covid hit, my partner – who I met in the Caribbean – and I had to make a decision because we were both working in the diving industry. All the opportunities shut down for a period, which in my case wasn’t all bad because I started doing my own photography.

My women photoshoots started happening in Curaçao, then in Santa Cruz – CA. It was always about capturing the beauty that I see in the connection between women, their love stories, and nature, on earth and in the water. Now my current location is Maui in Hawaii where I can enjoy even more the warm weather and waters and create beautiful memories throughout my photoshoots. I mix my images with poetry, which is another passion, and bring them together for my clients.

It’s not easy to build a career in photography. It’s an everyday challenge with multiple tasks and it needs persistence and patience, but I have hopes that soon I will get to the place I want to be having my full income with my work/art.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think my generation was programmed to work for big companies. I didn’t learn that I could pursue a career based on something that I was passionate about. I learned that succeeding was getting a good job with a corporation, having stability, and a standard path that would work for everybody. That’s something everyone should unlearn.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resources in my opinion are within. If I could have trusted myself earlier that’s something I would definitely have done. Trust that my work and my art have their values and there are people out there who value them. It’s not about putting yourself in a box to fit anywhere but being open to what you believe. Then you start looking for what you need to make your creative journey happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.islandmusephotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/islandmusephoto
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/islandmusephoto
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/thais-mendonca-islandmusephoto

Image Credits
Photos by Thaís Mendonça – @islandmusephoto