Covering Gold Coast’s Brazilian and multicultural events

The Gold Coast is more than one crowd, and its events show it. I photograph a lot of the Brazilian and multicultural scene here, from festivals to private parties, and covering a room that moves between two languages and two ways of celebrating is its own skill. Here is what I have learned works.

Trust is half the photo, and it crosses a language. The difference between a stiff frame and a real one is the person in front of the lens trusting the person behind it. I work in English and Portuguese, so I can put a mixed room at ease in whichever language lands, and you can see it in the faces.

Every culture peaks at a different moment. A Brazilian party builds late and explodes on the dance floor. A more reserved crowd gives you its best in the small moments between the loud ones. Reading which room you are in, and when it is about to peak, is the whole game. Eleven years of events taught me to feel it coming.

Food, music and movement are the story, not the background. At a multicultural event the culture is on the table and in the rhythm, not just on the guests. I shoot the drum, the plate, the step, because that is what makes someone who was not there understand what they missed.

One photographer, both worlds. Being from Brazil and working here means I am not translating a culture from the outside. I know what the moment means, so I know when to lift the camera. That is hard to brief and easy to see in the results.

If you are putting on something that brings people together across cultures on the Gold Coast, send me a message. I would love to cover it.

See more of my event coverage across the Gold Coast. Related reading: How to choose an event photographer and Event photography for brands.