The MOOD Podcast
In The MOOD Podcast, Matt Jacob, renowned cultural portrait photographer, dives deep into the world of photography and the visual arts, with guests from all around the creative industry, across all parts of the globe, sharing inspiring stories and experiences that will leave you wanting more. With years of experience and a passion for storytelling, Matt has become a master of capturing lesser-told human stories through his photography, and teams up with other special artists from around the world to showcase insights, experiences and opinions within the diverse and sometimes controversial photography world.
You can watch these podcasts on his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mattyj_ay.
You can also follow Matt's work on his Instagram @mattyj_ay and his website: https://mattjacobphotography.com.
The MOOD Podcast
Creating Through the Struggle: Dario Viegas, EO73
What keeps a creative person going despite setbacks?
Dario Viegas is a photographer and filmmaker who is celebrated for his minimalist style and keen eye for composition, as well as his ability to connect art with storytelling. From a challenging upbringing in Portugal to then living in various places around the world, Dario discovered his passion for photography through a life-altering journey whilst traveling the world, where in each destination he kept refining his craft and building his portfolio. As he opens up about the pressures of viral success in my conversation with him, Dario underscores the importance of staying true to one's passions against fleeting trends.
In this conversation:
- How Dario's journey into creativity began.
- The impact of his upbringing and early struggles on his artistic perspective.
- His breakthrough moment with photography during his time traveling the world.
- The pivotal role of social media in building his career and lessons learned about trends and authenticity.
- The importance of curating work and finding one’s unique style in photography.
- Insights into the evolving relationship between photography and videography in his career.
- Advice for beginners on practicing, failing, and growing through repetition.
- Dario’s future aspirations, including his plans for storytelling through video.
Find Dario Veigas' work on his channels:
Website: www.darioexplore.com
Instagram: @dario.explore
You Tube: @dario.explore
Thank you to Luminar Neo for sponsoring this episode - get 25% discount on all their products here using the code MOODPODCAST25.
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Welcome to the Mood Podcast, uncovering the art of conversation one frame at a time. I'm your host, matt Jacob, and thank you for joining me in today's conversation. 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. His journey into photography is as compelling as his images, shaped by a challenging start in life and an unconventional path to professional success. 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.
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. We looked back on the pivotal moments that shaped him as a creative and the lessons he's learned along the way. 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. In the same breath, we reflected on growth, creativity and self-discovery all along the way. It was really lovely to get Dario in the hot seat finally. So now I bring you, dario Villegas.
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? You would describe yourself as photographer, artist, content creator yeah, I think nowadays would say more content creator.
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. Yeah, I still like photography more. I think that's my core passion.
Matt Jacob:Why.
Dario Viegas:Why, I don't know. 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. And yeah, for me it gives me more. 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. So I think, yeah, for that reason, yeah, I wonder why.
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. It's still image.
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. 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. 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.
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Matt Jacob:What is your story? How did you begin in photography?
Dario Viegas:Quite a long story.
Matt Jacob:We have a long time.
Dario Viegas:We have time, yeah, okay. Actually, photography was not my first creative outlet. Let's say, I've always been drawn to art, but photography was not the first. And the first, I think, was music.
Matt Jacob:All right.
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. 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. 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. 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. And that's what I start to gain joy in art, in creating something Because it was not there before.
Dario Viegas:And so fast forward, I finished high school and I had to go to university or get a job. But I really wanted to make music. I really wanted that. So I went to university because I wanted to buy more time for the music thing, and my parents didn't know this. 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. 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. 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. And, yeah, and I was studying communication and multimedia design and that was my first contact with photography. I had two, two assignments of photography and probably the ones I hate the most that time.
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. So Theory is nothing.
Dario Viegas:without application, Theory is nothing absolutely nothing, so I absolutely hated it. And then I finished university and I was still nothing in music. It was not working out. And so, yeah, at this point I really had to find a job. And so, yeah, Totality was completely forgotten at that time and I started working a nine to five, which I absolutely hated. I hated so much where I quit after three months.
Matt Jacob:Really, what was that doing?
Dario Viegas:It was working for a company, a tour company. It was a startup and they wanted people to help in the design and like getting more customers and visual. And because I studied that, I thought, okay, let's try this. 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. Company and I get nothing. So I felt so frustrated and I also didn't like the way that he was moving forward. So I quit and for a few years I didn't really know what to do. I worked as a lifeguard for a couple of years and then I decided to leave Portugal.
Dario Viegas:I went to the UK and tried to find something, and all this still on the hope that music would work. So when I got to the UK, it was kind of hard, it was very hard. The jobs were not really well paid there. I had two jobs on the same day. It was like 12 hours working, three jobs. And yeah, when I was in the UK I started also losing, be more disconnected with the music as well. And when I was living in Edinburgh in the third year, I really that I was disconnected with everything. I got a depression, I got panic attacks, anxiety, and at the same time that this was happening, I got the iPhone 6. I think it was the iPhone 6. And I was just coming back from work and there's these sometimes very, very beautiful sunsets In Edinburgh, edinburgh, yeah.
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.
Dario Viegas:Um, yeah, so my first photos were iphone 6. Okay, um, and I don't know, the iphone already had something that makes makes it look good. I was like like, oh my God, this looks amazing. And so I got this like I don't know maybe four photos that I posted on Instagram. This was around 2060, let's say. 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.
Dario Viegas:And there was one day I was scrolling on Instagram and this was towards the end of 2017. And I was really having this really bad time in Edinburgh. My brother was living with me and he left. Also, I had a friend that left as well Edinburgh. So I was kind of feeling alone there and I was scrolling.
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. 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. So I started searching and I came across the concept of influencer or whatever it was. 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. Wait a minute, yeah, and I'm having panic attacks and stress with my life. I'm gonna give this a try. 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. I cannot live here, anymore.
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. It's like it's not a whiskey factory, but they did three bottles of all the brands of whiskey. It's a big company in the UK. Um, so I was just team leader and nothing wrong with the job. The only thing that was wrong was that I had the panic attacks and I didn't know why I had them. 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. 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. And so I quit and I bought the camera. So that's when I when I got into it what was that?
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.
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. My first time in Bali, it was February 2018 and I fell in love with this island like right away. It was a different vibe than it is now. I felt so much freedom here. One month in Thailand, one week here, and then I went to Australia. 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. Right, because they give you one year visa, but if you want another year, you have to work on a farm or a hotel. I read it. So I think that's how Australia gets their agriculture running as a whole business. They get backpackers.
Matt Jacob:Just see these foreigners yeah.
Dario Viegas:They only have backpackers running the whole business. So they say like if you want another year, you have to pick up lemons or like watermelons or plant whatever. So when I arrived to Australia I was straight out doing that and it was so hard. 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. And then I was two weeks doing like planting capsicums. Two weeks. It was very hard. When you talk about it it doesn't seem so hard, but you are bending all day. 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. And then one day one guy came to.
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. I was like solo farm, what's that? They pay super well. You guys want to start? 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. I was like, okay, let's try. And then I tried a job. It was really paying super well. We were we would work like 12 hour shifts to make more money and 21 days in a row without. But then I found if I do this job long enough, I can buy money. I can have money and buy more gear and maybe travel more and pursue what I want. 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. And there was some people that are huge on Instagram now they were on that. Yeah, I'm sure $12 or $7.
Matt Jacob:I can probably name a few.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, you probably can. Those huge guys were on that yeah, I'm sure $12 or $7.
Dario Viegas:I can probably name a few. Yeah, you probably can. Those huge guys were on that course. 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. The plan was work as hard as possible in the solo farms and between solo farms. I had like two week break. I would travel. So I came back to Bali for actually two months. I came back for two months and those two months I shot a lot here and I still had no money. So, um, still shooting with the A6000 and I think I only had the kit length, so I still had not enough money. But then I started building my Instagram feed because everyone was at that time. The feed was something super important and it was just photos.
Dario Viegas:It was just photos, yeah, but everyone that I saw on that course had a super well-curated feed, yeah. So, okay, yeah, I have to go. 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.
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. I didn't really understand composition or light. Yeah, then back to Australia, work a little bit more and then travel again. But then I found that there was a problem on this. 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. 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.
Dario Viegas:I don't know because it was so limiting, but I had to learn composition. 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. So I was like, yeah, I'm progressing a little bit, but not too much. So I thought like, okay, I need to do something different, otherwise I'm not going to progress enough.
Matt Jacob:But you were building a portfolio and learning how to take photographs each time it wasn't a waste or anything.
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. Eventually the time in Australia will finish because it was only two years right. So I decided that the second year in Australia I will not go to any party. I will not spend any money, anything else, I'll just not even shoot. I was not even shooting, I just worked the whole year and my plan was that I will travel for one year. I was already studying a little bit on how to do things, how to reach out and all that.
Dario Viegas:So 2019 I worked, that was it. 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. So absolutely nothing to do nothing, nothing. I is like 40 degrees outside, like I come back from work which is outside. I don't want to be outside anymore.
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,. I was really thinking to myself, man, I've been going with this music thing. 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.
Dario Viegas:I think you know what's coming so I had planned to travel.
Dario Viegas:I had the trips planned until June. 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. Um, yeah, I did the Philippines with my brother. That was great because, yeah, that was when I was I was free.
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. 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. So I got a lot of shots. I shot so many memory cards in the Philippines and then I came to Bali for one week. Again, I shot the whole week Shooting with private people here and India. 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?
Matt Jacob:where were you? In india?
Dario Viegas:in india, yes and I yeah, it was just the indian story itself. It's all like another podcast it's.
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. 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. When I arrived to London, my my flight was to London. They didn't let me go anywhere other than Portugal, so I really had to go to Portugal. They didn't allow me.
Matt Jacob:The only so they had to send you to your citizen, your country of birth.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, so my dream was Shattered, yeah, shattered, and I really thought that was really bad. Like damn, I I work one year in 2019 to travel and build this thing, and now it's like nothing. And then one one, one week pass, and then one month passing, two months pass and but yeah, I um. Actually, at the end, the covid was the best thing, because I didn't watch a single movie during covid. I was, I was editing every single day. 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. So those months I was, it was insane. I was editing every day. I was curating my own work, I was studying everything about photography. 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.
Dario Viegas:And I met a friend. So in portugal, we don't have many creators. It's uh, it's not a thing. And I met this friend. So in Portugal, we don't have many creators. It's uh, it's not a thing. 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. I was like I quit my nine to five in Australia before I was going to do anything with photography. So my friend had a nine to five and I remember every, every single of his days off. We will go shoot. We will go shoot every like.
Matt Jacob:He was a photographer, a hobbyist, he was at exactly the same level as me, but he had a 9.5.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, so we will like go shoot and we start growing together and shooting together all the time. And, yes, I was really really addicted to photography. I really enjoyed like how I was progressing on that short time, more than music. 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. 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. I flew to the netherlands to borrow his van to drive to the dolomites in italy. I did like a two week just shooting, like with the tripod and I don't know, I really got. 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. That's when the reels came. At that point I was still I haven't made any money with photography or whatsoever but I already realized how it works. I just didn't have yet enough content to keep going, you know. But yeah, I think it was end of 2020.
Dario Viegas:I got my first paid job and there was also the time when Reels came. 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. That was like I was 4K or something and I was just saving all the reels that were over a million. 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. 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. And then in the beginning, my reels were super silly. It was kind of mini tutorial. I was always showing on camera, which I don't do now. I was showing more at that time than now. It was those photo reels that this shows the photos super fast.
Matt Jacob:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember those.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, those trends kind of trends.
Matt Jacob:I'm a photographer and these are my photos.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, something like that. You know, or there is a super fast song and you match the beat, of which every photos? Yeah, something like that. 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?
Matt Jacob:why was the intention so um so deep with instagram? I mean what? Why were you just desperate to to grow so much on instagram? It was a business. I was not desperate but uh posting for 90 days and copying other reels is pretty desperate it could be, but it was again.
Dario Viegas:we got another shutdown in december, so it's just at home. So why not try it? Because, according to the formula, if you get more work out there, eventually people will start reaching out, and that's exactly what happened. So, after posting 90 days, my account started growing.
Matt Jacob:So one reel every day for 90 days Wow.
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. I was over it. Yeah, it was too much. 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.
Matt Jacob:And that's also like Comes with the territory. Yeah, and I was not ready for that.
Dario Viegas:No, I was not ready. The first reel that got viral, I was. I was like why? Why is people so mean, like there's no reason for that? 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.
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. If someone's doing in that position, but now in 2024, end of 2024, what would your advice be to them?
Dario Viegas:Yeah, I think, not be too greedy about it, the numbers. Just follow what you really really like and there'll be audience for it. Because that's what I'm doing now. I really only post what I feel like I really like it. 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. But I knew the principles, how it works, yeah, how it works. So I think I got into this mindset before I realized, oh, I really like doing this. This is amazing, yeah.
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.
Matt Jacob:Let's rewind. I mean, that's a. You know, you told me it was a long story. 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. 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? 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.
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. Hit in some other things, like art was something that will give me that. So I think, yeah, and I also live far from the town so I had no other friends around, so I would have to. I think you always have to get such amount of dopamine or whatever will always have to get such amount of dopamine or whatever. 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. It's a new thing, it was not there before.
Matt Jacob:yeah, what is it? What is the the fear that comes with that creative process? We all have it. 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. But now you're an established artist and creator. Where does the fear come from?
Dario Viegas:Where does the fear come from? Is there any fear that you still have on a daily basis? Uh, what people will think about this and what people will say about it? And yeah, yeah, when you throw yourself out there and internet is brutal. You know, internet is brutal, for sure, but I think I learned how to manage that and not get attached to it. And yeah, usually when someone criticizes problem is on their side, not in your side, of course.
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.
Dario Viegas:You know you learn, you always learning. So I think there was many lessons and there was uh many days there. I was super upset and super sad, but uh, the mindset it's if you have the mindset, you can overcome that. If you know that you have the lows and there will be the highs after the lows. It's always like that.
Matt Jacob:So so how do you practice having a healthy mindset? Is there something that you deliberately do? Is that a deliberate, conscious process, or you just grow older and wiser?
Dario Viegas:yeah, I think you just with the time. I think it's with the mistakes and with the feelings you get when something goes wrong. You just absorb that and try to react differently the next time. Yeah, knowing that things are always changing for good or for bad, so it's evolving, you have to move on. You cannot keep on thinking about something that was bad yesterday. You have to move.
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? 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. 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. Right, oh, am I, you know? Is the sixth one actually going to work out? Or why did this keep happening to me and knowing that that's potentially just part of the process? But my question about fear is more fear of the unknown. I guess you know what's coming next and how do I prepare for for what's coming next?
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.
Matt Jacob:Yeah, what's changed?
Dario Viegas:Yeah, I think I got more confident in the work I put out and what comes after I put that work out. Also, I think I've got more work this year, which gave me more confidence. But yeah, it's always a cycle, you know, um, but yeah, it's, it's always a cycle, you know, um. There's this cycle when you get a lot of work, and then there's the cycle when you get less. 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. 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?
Matt Jacob:you're paying for your own travel, paying for your own projects, just to get content. Now that's someone else paying you to get that. How has your photographic filmmaking artistic process changed since then, or hasn't it? You've just become better artistic process changed since then or hasn't it?
Dario Viegas:you just become better? It's tough to say because, uh, there is also a line between the art part and the commercial part. 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. 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. So I, at the beginning, I was always trying to make something different, you know. 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. 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.
Matt Jacob:I was going to say, it depends on who, what, the company, what brand or agency you're working for, right?
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? Or do I go more commercial and that's more easy to monetize? Right, and I would always bounce a little bit to one side and then to another when I see there's no work coming. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. Okay, look, these are. 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
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.
Matt Jacob:Which is weird, isn't it? Because they find you and they like your work, and then they think that they can just change.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, to change everything sometimes and it doesn't make sense.
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. Right, it's very it, can. 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. 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? Right? 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?
Dario Viegas:Yeah, I think so.
Dario Viegas:I think there has to be balance and there was many times when I was off balance. 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. 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. 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.
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. I think that's what's been happening this year mostly not not like maybe 80%. 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.
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. What was it that made you post photos on instagram at that time? What was it that came into your brain and go? I'm?
Dario Viegas:gonna post this. It was my brother, was it? Because I was not really. Uh, I was. I'm always late to the trends or whatever. 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.
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. And then, when I bought the iPhone 6, yeah, it was great and I thought that those four photos were already worthy of posting. So, yeah, I think there was that. It's simple. It was my brother that told me to install and yeah, and now look at you.
Matt Jacob:what is um, what is the the concept of travel, or what does the experience of travel really mean to you? 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? But really my question is what is it about travel that sparks your creative pursuit? You know what sparks your storytelling in terms of travel?
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. I have no memories and because I was that guy that didn't want to have the smartphone oh yeah, I was not capturing.
Matt Jacob:How do you think the travel now, having traveled the world, how do you think that has shaped you as a person?
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. 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. Um, yeah, I get inspired, like just getting on a train and be on a window seat and looking outside, seeing things move around. If, if I do that and I'm listening to music at the same time, I get inspiration. I start visualizing things in my head like, yeah, I get inspiration. I start visualizing things in my head. Yeah, I get super inspired, like moving things, like getting on the airplane or stuff like that. Yeah, I get inspired all the time.
Matt Jacob:And the same question with photography. What is it about photography that well? How has photography shaped you as a person over the last four or five years?
Dario Viegas:Yeah, it changed my life.
Matt Jacob:Your outlook on life or your life.
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. You can do whatever you want. So it's a huge opportunity and I'm super grateful for that. 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. So, yeah, in that sense, I think it changed. Photography changed everything. Yeah, I totally agree.
Matt Jacob:How about the technical side of photography? You mentioned the gear that you had and the fact that you relied a lot on editing, you know, in the first few years. How is that now? What? How do you? What is your process in terms of the shoot, in terms of how you use the light composition? What are you looking for? And then, in the post-processing as well, what are you, what are you trying to do? And is that a long process, short process? Complicated presets, what are that stuff? Tell us your secrets.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, first, I gotta say that I've been shooting less photography now I've been shooting more video. 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. Uh, but like that time when I was shooting more photography, uh, the I want to get like perfect composition, perfect light. I would. I would probably go to the same place many, many times until I get good light.
Dario Viegas:Um, and especially shooting where I'm from, in the Algarve. It's one of the hardest places to shoot like because the main thing there is the beach right and so you have tides. When it's high tide there is no beach, at least in the Algarve. When it's high tide there is no beach. The place looks really bad when it's cloudy, so there is no beach. 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. 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. But then the editing process was very. It was very not complicated, it was just tone curves, a bit of tone curves and a bit of cleaning. And yeah, I usually don't have, don't, didn't like, I still don't like like too much contrasts on the photos. I like more monologues. Monologues like Analogous.
Matt Jacob:Yeah.
Dario Viegas:More like on the same range of colors. Yeah, so I will. 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. 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. Cool yeah Now. Now I should be shooting more videos.
Matt Jacob:So it's a different process. What made you go towards more video? Is it the algorithm, essentially, or more money?
Dario Viegas:No, actually, I like it okay, yeah, okay, I, I actually uh, when I started photography, I was already liking video. Uh, um, watching sam kolder, you know, I think everyone got a little bit inspired. 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. Yeah, more things that you have to consider.
Dario Viegas:So, yeah, at that time, no, yeah, I cannot do this, it's too complicated. 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. So, yeah, I start trying and then, um, yeah, start posting, because I I was. If the the goal was like, let's say, grow instagram or whatever, I was growing with just photos. I was growing with those photo reels. It was not because of growing, it was because of, oh, I really enjoy this form of art as well. So, yeah, I think I follow a little bit the market, or how is it going, how social media is pushing it, more video. But also because I like it, and I think it's always because I like it either photo or video.
Matt Jacob:Which is the most important lesson, right? Otherwise you're not going to do it.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, you have to like it enough to keep going every day.
Matt Jacob:And with those videos and photos and generally your body of work, would you say. It's the places that you go to or the experience you experiences you have in those places that shape your photography and videography.
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. 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. You know, so after I would go out and try to create more of that kind of work that I've previously created.
Matt Jacob:Interesting. It's a good way of putting it. 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? What is my photography all about?
Dario Viegas:right, yeah I think you also. It's, it's a big part of it, is your taste like, yeah, and I? I don't consider myself the best photographer, but I think I, the photos I take, I can curate something that is visually appealing.
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? Do you just kind of focus on doing what you're doing or do you have other grand plans?
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. I've been thinking about YouTube for a while. Oh yeah, oh God, I don't know, it's kind of hard. It's another hard step. But yeah, I might give it a try next year.
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. I think it is the future of a lot of creative communication.
Dario Viegas:I think it's never too late.
Matt Jacob:Yeah communication.
Dario Viegas:I think it's never too late. Yeah, that's the first like thing. It just start when you start and if you keep going, you'll be where you want to be. Yeah, but yeah, uh, actually I think I want to do more photography coming next year. 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. 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. Yeah, yeah.
Dario Viegas:It's always like that. 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?
Matt Jacob:put the commercial thing aside for a moment. What do you think it is? Just to think deep down, what do you think it is that really drives that passion for photography, and you know why. 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. Is there's something inside of you that there's just like a little light bulb going? Well, that's makes me feel amazing. What do you think that is?
Dario Viegas:Yeah, that's a really good question. 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. 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. I have to add something new and I don't know. It's like a, it's a stimulus for your brain, I think. And yeah, when I browse through, I see something like oh, this is so cool.
Dario Viegas:Like, sometimes are those like blurry photos, but there's one thing that isn't focused and the whole thing is blurry. I'm like, oh, this is so cool, it's different. 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. 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.
Dario Viegas:Take on something, right and that's what creativity is.
Matt Jacob:Of course, it's how you express yourself.
Dario Viegas:Yeah.
Matt Jacob:Yeah Well, it's been a pleasure hearing you, hearing how you express yourself and watching your journey. We've been chatting going back and forth for a couple of years now, so it's been an absolute pleasure to have you. Thanks so much for coming. Where can people find you? Give us an idea of where to showcase your work.
Dario Viegas:Mostly on Instagram. Darioexplore yeah, for now Instagram, maybe something else in the future.
Matt Jacob:Maybe YouTube in the future. I have YouTube already. Yeah, the same I know, but you haven't used it for maybe a year.
Dario Viegas:Yeah, yeah, I was. I was trying to post one video per month and, yeah, it was only three months.
Matt Jacob:That's the other thing. It's just a lot of work.
Dario Viegas:Yeah.
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.
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. 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. I can create like a short movie about what happened in india and how that impacted me and, yeah, some segments like that. I don't know if I can do it, but maybe, maybe I'll try, yeah we'll see.
Matt Jacob:We'll watch out for it before we wrap up. What is one thing that you can offer the audience watching and listening to this? That that may have helped you along your journey. But it comes to mind right now a piece of advice for beginner or intermediate, even professional photographers. 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.
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. I, yeah, I feel like every time that I fail on something, I grow a little bit that just comes with practice.
Matt Jacob:The more you put, the more reps you put in, the more you'll fail and the more you'll learn.
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? And learning from that, and then go again. And then, yeah, move on, go again, learn.
Matt Jacob:Great advice. Actually, that's the most common piece of advice from everyone I've spoken to and it's I would would. If I was asked the same question, I would give that advice as well, and people used to say that. When I was learning, people used to say that to me. I'm like no, I can just basically my subconscious saying I can shortcut it.
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. 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. Etc. Etc. So, yeah, I totally agree with you. Yeah, it.
Dario Viegas:It's a buildup that never, never stops. You know, there's not never a ceiling for that.
Matt Jacob:Yeah, thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure. I look forward to having you back. Hopefully, when it's not raining we'll chat again.
Dario Viegas:Sorry if I took so long to get into it Not at all.
Matt Jacob:No, sorry, sorry, I took so long in getting you on the show, but, um, we got there in the end. So, dario, thanks very much, really appreciate your time, thank you.
