We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vinicius Marmo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Vinicius thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Thinking about whether it is necessary to restart my profession as a photographer today, without a doubt I would start by making networking strategies and offering my work, initially free of charge so that you can learn about all my work, to people or companies of great relevance in the market where I am. living. This is certainly a differentiator and creates future connections for the possibility of new work. I consider myself a versatile photographer, I have a passion for photography and not a specific niche in photography. I am a dynamic person, easily adaptable and focused on my goals, which also makes a difference in being able to pursue each professional’s projects and dreams more effectively and quickly. Strategically, I would focus on photographing large corporate and advertising events with a focus on promoting my work, connecting with people and also learning about different areas and specialties that each product or lecture can offer to add to my personal knowledge as well. In this way, it is possible to present my work to the public of these large companies or people and, consequently, scale the visibility of my work to a greater number of people, thus gaining greater visibility and time invested in my own advertising marketing more quickly. It is also important to have a profile on the main social networks (instagram, tiktok) that is always as up to date as possible and with personal communication behind the scenes of my daily life. It is also essential to invest in your own website at the beginning of your career, as it will provide more support for your future hires.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Vinicius Marmo Azevedo, I’m 34 years old, graduated in advertising and specialized in an MBA in Marketing. My career as a photographer began in my childhood because I loved photographing the trips I took with my family. My mother always encouraged me to believe in my dreams and talents. This was important to be able to continue to this day. Years later, after graduating from college, I set up my own business, which was a beverage delivery company in Brasilia – Brazil. Since that time, I was already involved in advertising photography because I needed to create content for social media. It was at that moment that I made my first investment in photography equipment, buying my semi-professional camera. Over the years I expanded my photographic styles, and in addition to product and advertising photos, I started taking photo shoots of people, nature, birthdays, motorsports, aerial photos with a drone. In 2015, I chose to sell my company and focused solely on photography and video work. The search for a hotter tourism market and incredible landscapes, plus my passion for Rio made me make the decision to move from Brasília – DF to Rio de Janeiro – RJ in 2016. From 2017 onwards, I started to get jobs larger photographic campaigns, internal product activation campaigns, such as from the company L’Oreal, film festival events, photography in tourist locations in the beautiful cities of Rio de Janeiro, among others. From 2018 to 2022, I had the opportunity to photograph great Brazilian artists, I did photographic work inside Sapucaí during Carnival, music videos, advertising campaigns, corporate events, family and professional shoots. A curious thing about my career is that I worked at the company Globo within the technology area as a Video Image Editor and it added a lot to my career as well. In the period from 2020 to 2022 I had the opportunity to photograph and film two complete seasons of the largest automobile category in Brazil, known as the Stock Car Pro Series. I photographed great drivers such as Raphael Reis, Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Tony Kanaan, Ricardo Zonta, among others. In 2021 I completed the full season of the TCR South America automobile category in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. In the USA I have already carried out large projects and significant work. Participation in major business events, musical shows, fair exhibitions, personal, family and advertising photos. I received awards for my photos in internal photography competitions. I consider that my delivery in all work is of extreme quality, with a differentiated and exclusive artistic look for each project, company or person that hires me. Each photographer is unique and has their own profile, their own editing and analytical perspective. Therefore, there is no way to copy anyone. My brand is an artistic look, along with all my professional background from studies and knowledge that I have acquired over the years. My focus has always been to deliver the solution for all proposed environments along with my versatility and taste for different areas and segments of photography and video.

Have you ever had to pivot?

From 2011 to 2015, I set up my own business, which was a beverage delivery company and had photography in the background of my life. During this period I used photography as a hobby and the company that generated my daily finances. It was then, at the end of 2015, that I decided to sell this Business and dedicate myself 100% to photography. I lived in Brasilia – Brazil and moved to Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, a city that opened up great jobs and connections for my professional career as a photographer. With the aim of improving and learning new techniques for my profession, I sought to qualify by taking courses in Photography and Film Direction, I sought to expand my knowledge and network in the area. In this course I took at the time, we were a class with 16 students and among them were great professionals in the field, who opened the door to connect with several directors, actors and producers who I had the opportunity to carry out advertising work. From this initial start, I gained confidence and experience in different areas of photography, where the limit was just having the courage to always face new challenges and gaining experience with each new achievement. I am very proud of having taken all these initiatives and decisions in my past that made me grow and have all the talent that I have today in my photography and video profession and that I continue to live and stand out here in the United States.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I decided to create my professional account on Instagram, I needed to think about how I could publicize my work and consequently how to attract the public’s attention to my work, after all, in the photography segment, many contracts cannot expose the photos captured by exclusive to each client and project. So, I needed to tie together the proposals well and think about a differentiator to showcase my work to future clients. It was also necessary to focus first on a single niche and photographic style at the beginning of my career and the beginning of building my social network. Having analyzed the niches at the time I started my career, I chose to publish essays by people and family members amidst the tourist attractions of Rio de Janeiro. I also expanded my rehearsals to beaches, natural parks and even tourist trips. The initial tip to give is to take advantage of each shoot and also photograph scenes of the environments without the clients or contracting company, which could serve as future material to post on social media without necessarily having to post or inform the client. It is also important within your social network to follow and connect with strategic people and other professionals in the field so that together you can add value and support the work, whether through likes, comments on photos and exchanges of knowledge. Being consistent on social media is important and fundamental in the beginning, even if you don’t have many followers or likes yet. Bringing your own daily life as promotional material and posting personal photos of yourself in your work environment or performing some work is also enriching for growing and gaining credibility with the public.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.viniciusmarmo.com
• Instagram: @viniciusmarmo and @vinicuus_marmo