Nelb Rodrigues: Fashion Meets Nude Art and Boudoir Photography

Artistic Background

Brazilian born Nelb Rodrigues is a 27-year-old “work in progress” (as he describes himself) photographer who lives in Mantova, Northern Italy. He is still a baby in the photographic world, having only started to experiment in the art form 4 years ago. His girlfriend at the time had a mirrorless camera which he simply started to use for the fun of it, capturing portraits of her. By the time the relationship ended Rodrigues had found a new passion – photography.

Art in various forms has always been an integral part of Rodrigues’ life as a musician he plays drums and guitar. He also used drawing as a creative outlet and says that as a child he drew places, peoples faces, anime stuff and even captured the street in Brazil where he lived in his drawings.  As he grew he shifted his artistic interests away from drawing and found 3D models more amusing but this was before he discovered the enticing world of photography.

The Driving Force Behind Nelb Rodrigues’ Photographic Journey

Rodrigues admits that at first, he was clueless as to what all photography entailed, and even basic photographic concepts such as aperture or f-stop were foreign phrases. He simply knew that he wanted to create beautiful images to please his own visual imagery needs. It was a simple matter of not really knowing how or what but wanting to be behind a camera lens capturing and creating art.

When asked about his style he says it is 3 dimensional in that he likes to take portraits/fashion; nude/boudoir and cinematic pictures – all quite varied and different in style but he finds his photographic fortitude lies somewhere in the middle of these 3 styles. He improvises when it comes to choosing a location for his shoots and will aptly use the streets of Milan for his fashion and portrait shoots or his own apartment for his boudoir images.

Inspiration comes from his own memory or perception of places he has visited, movie scenes and real-life experiences. In fact, Nelb’s oversensitivity at times to everything around him he sees as a moment to draw from and when overwhelmed by his senses will stop and write. When the mood or feeling is hard to put in words he will use music to feed his moods and inspirations.  

Being a Young Photographer in a Modern Society

As a part of Nelb Rodrigues’ future plans as a photographer is his ambition to collaborate with more brands and shoot for high fashion are where he would like to be in the photographic world, but his primary focus is to have people awakened by his images. If he could see people resonating with just one of his images he feels that he will be achieving his goal.

I feel that my position is constantly changing. I feel good when people give value to what I do and what I try to achieve. For some I’m an inspiration, for others I’m just “another guy in the business”. The society today puts a “tag” on you that says “just another photographer” and it’s up to you to change it or leave it as it is.

As a young photographer in a modern society, Rodrigues says it’s very hard to show people the value of your work.

More and more society these days is trying to teach you quantity over quality and this really brings you down. If you like me don’t work with photography 24/7 than you could feel a little left behind by all the people that produce a high quantity of content per day.

My advice would be always “quality over quantity” but at the same time, never stop doing what you’re doing, habits are very strong and it’s hard to get back on the horse. Consistency is key.”