Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on João Azevedo

NAME:
João Azevedo
http://jazevedo.net/
https://headshotcrew.com/azevedo
https://www.instagram.com//bemyfriendpt
http://www.instagram.com/azevphoto

WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND WHERE DO YOU LIVE NOW?
I am from Coimbra, Portugal, and I always lived here.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS?
I have been shooting headshots since 2017, when I found this amazing crew. Before that, I thought I was doing headshots, but it was something else I want to forget.

WHAT IS YOUR LIGHTING SETUP FOR HEADSHOTS?
I started with the triangle but last year changed to something similar to a parallel setup. I use two big soft lighters, almost parallel. With the triangle, I wasn’t able to get half body with good light, if needed. This way if I need to get more body (some realtors and politicians want that), I just take a step back.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT?
Portraits, I love doing portraits with artists, and dogs. I have a project called Be My Friend, where I shoot shelter dogs to help with adoptions. It’s almost like headshots, but with dogs. I have a gallery here with some of those images. https://www.instagram.com//bemyfriendpt

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC?
Peter, I discovered 6 or 7 year ago. I was browsing youtube and found an interview with him. I watched it all, and I liked the way he talked about headshots, but I thought headshots were boring.
Some years later, in 2017, I don’t remember where, but I found some Peter Hurley stuff again. But now headshots were something I wanted to shoot. As usual, I thought “I’ll learn this by myself”. So I did my first headshots trying to imitate Peter’s style. They were not bad photos, but still not good headshots. I was quick to realize I needed help, and when I found the HSC it was perfect.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW ONCE YOU FOUND IT?
Maybe one or two days. There was no need to think much. I wanted to learn, I saw there were some videos from Peter, and there was a helpful crew, it was an easy decision.

WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU?
I have very low confidence in speaking English. I understand almost everything but when it’s time to talk, it annoys me not remembering the words I need. Writing is much easier!

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU?
Today I can only think of a goal I achieved this week. It was one of the goals I wrote on a paper last year - Having one of my photos on the cover of a big Portuguese magazine (it’s like Time magazine). And it was not only one image, but four! The magazine did four different covers! Since we are all photographers here, I think you’ll understand the joy I am feeling with this.