Observations that trigger her images
Isabel Pinto is a photographer who uses images to express her vision of the world. She tells Margaret Harris that, rather than doing a lot of planning, she follows what inspires her
What does your job involve?
Like most photographers, there is always something that triggers the need to take photographs. My impulse has to do with people and their extended ways and reflection in the world. From this basis, my job involves a commercial side into fashion, advertisements, catalogues, travel and more personal work that has to do with life itself. What would your typical work day involve?
If it is a fashion shoot or advert, the team has basically the same structure — from models, makeup and hair artists to stylists and clients. We all work together because everybody has an important role to play in the final image. I depend on a very updated and creative team — great hair can really upscale an image.
Whether in the studio or on location, a work day involves everyone, and a lot of focus and expertise is needed to achieve the most beautiful results. I rarely have a plan — most of the time I follow what inspires me. What drew you to this career?
I started taking photographs very young, just capturing life around me — my family and friends. Then I started following bands on the road because my first husband was a music manager. My work took several unexpected turns from that. What did you study and how does it help you to do your job?
I have a degree in anthropology but never studied photography. I started as an unpaid assistant at a studio in Lisbon, where I learnt a fantastic technical base, and from there it was basically trial and error — the best way to learn. Experience and intense work were my school. But anthropology gave me a wider approach and focus on human diversity, my main interest being what is diverse and what is universal about all of us. What did you want to be when you were a child?
From a doctor to a nun and a movie director — I have crossed lots of aspirations. Mainly, I wanted to help people and cure the world — nothing small, then. As a grown-up I still do. What have you found the most difficult about the work you do?
As a freelancer, I work with challenging people. As a team and as clients, we become experts on human relations, but sometimes we have to work with the most disrespectful clients or we get the most nonsense briefing. That is when your soul is dilapidated, eroded and eaten for money. I am a single mother of three, and raising them has put me in situations where I really had to bite bitter lemons. What would you change about your work if you could?
I love what I do so much that I would not change it one bit — it is my way to connect and to translate feelings and emotions.
As a dyslexic, I missed using words to communicate. It was hard for me to translate the impactful world inside me — all those vibrant images resonating in me, so photography has been my translator, my expression, the survival kit between me and the others. It is impossible to live without. What would you do if you couldn't do this?
I have so many interests, but photography was the ideal way to pursue most of them — from human stories to travel, fashion and home-nest creating. Through photography I can enjoy such a variety of experiences. Whatever I would do, I would probably have a camera in my hand. What qualities do you need to do this job?
Mind, soul and heart, all working well together.
My eye — the way I see, my vision — is what it is because I am: I am my life, I am the synthesis of my experiences. Photographers are all different because the way our life experiences shape our spirits is different. The synthesis is unique to each of us and that is what makes each of us unique. What advice would you give to someone keen to follow in your footsteps?
Be authentic and true to yourself. Lots of experiences will test you, seduce you, or try to reduce and incapacitate you. Also, be very aware of ethics. Tell me about the book you have recently published.
Familia is a book about the emotional connection and love bonds inside families.
Everything we all do, as artists or not, has to do with our personal life experiences.
Familia relates to my personal experience of being taken away from Mozambique, where I grew up, to live in Portugal, a country that was completely strange to me.
Also, the war at the time made me experience for the first time the notion of end.