Hi I’m Gonzalo
Why I take Pictures of Strangers
Hi! I’m Gonzalo Casas de las Penas! I was born in 1998 in Lima the capital of Peru. When I was young I was terrified of rejection, didn’t talk much, and was mostly stuck in my own head. I really REALLY struggled to make friends much less talk to strangers. I say this because many people say that I’m an extrovert, but most of my graduating class would call me awkward, and quite frankly socially inept. This changed when I moved to the US in 2014 after graduating in Peru. Nobody knew me in Florida, I could be someone completely new. Rejection mattered very little, so I would push myself every single day to conquer my fears
At first, it was just going outside to talk to 1 new person a day. Afterward, I would compliment 5 people a day, then I started talking to everyone I’d see. Soon I wasn’t as awkward, I didn’t feel as nervous and I genuinely felt much more confident. It felt like I could finally be who I was meant to be. Not the kid who was afraid people would look at him, but someone who actually wanted to enjoy other people’s presence. When I found out my mom didn’t want her beginner camera she had bought for a college course I immediately borrowed it and tried asking strangers for pictures. I decided I’d look for some people and went to South Beach to ask strangers to take their pictures. I was a bit nervous at first, but it got easier as the day progressed.
My Pictures of Strangers (some)
1000 strangers all over the world
I learned to love capturing strangers and learning their stories it felt addicting, so whenever I had free time i kept going out to meet and shoot people. At some point I started recording it and made it my goal to shoot 1000 strangers which I currently just accomplished! My next goal is to make it to 10,000 strangers.
I’ve shot strangers in Brazil, Thailand, Myanmar, Peru, and the United States of America. The difference in the way I shoot portraits is that I want to give people images they’d love to have of themselves, I’m proud to say many of the strangers I’ve shot use the pictures as their profile picture.
About Miami Profile Portrait Photography
Straight after I used those pictures to get my first client to hire me (for $30 wow) and then I started working as a photographer full-time. I worked in mostly corporate events, weddings, fashion shoots found a small niche taking people’s Tinder and Social media pictures. I also like many photographers directed a couple of commercials and music videos.
Pictures of Strangers Popularity
I’ve now amassed over 100k followers on my social medias and want to expand even more. I have a constant flow of clients wanting to hire me off seeing the videos and I hope to keep photographing people and having this successful business.