Ventre is a Belly Dance Photography Book by photographer Pedro Bonatto in support for Ukraine. All profits from sales will go to institutions helping women and children in Ukraine who are impacted by the war. The book features more than 50 dancers from Ukraine and all over the world that have been photographed by Pedro throughout the years.
Read MoreWartime Birthday Gift
Thoughts on the war in Ukraine and my immigrant ancestors in Brazil.
Read MoreDay 8 of the Invasion in Ukraine
I am a Brazilian citizen and this is the perspective of a foreigner who lived in Ukraine for the past 3 years.
Read MoreThe Castle in the Clouds
I woke up today to a strange surreal view of Istanbul, taken over by a thick white fog. It’s been 10 days since we left Ukraine in a hurry, with many projects postponed and plans deeply changed.
Read MoreExperiments in Fashion and History
This year I want to focus on combining fashion and ancient history and places in some new fine art series.
Read More
Model Yulia Naumenko, photographed at the Karman Studio in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. © Photo by Pedro Bonatto.
Back in studio
The day after writing my last post, I got a chance to get back in studio for a personal project and have some time to play around with some ideas. I got together with model Yulia Naumenko at the Karman Studio in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, and my goal was to come up with some intuitive ideas inspired by the outfits she brought and the space itself.
Read MoreA Tale of Three Countries: This Year in Review and A Fresh Start
This is my first post after a year, where I talk about the lessons learned during my travels in Ukraine, Brazil, and Egypt. From stagnation during lockdowns, to family crises and getting Covid, to going into desert adventures, to setting up a routine in a small town, I share my process in getting my enthusiasm for creating again.
Read More
Dancer Iana Komarnytska photographed in Chichen Itza. Photo by Pedro Bonatto.
We Will Travel Again
Over the past few days I’ve been reviewing some travel projects that were left lingering in quarantine - of the pandemic and psychological kind - and I found myself visualizing wandering into paths of ancient secrets and modern beauty, turning imagination into courage to create personal and meaningful art.
Read More
A New Normal and a New Routine
As the quarantine progresses (6th week as of this writing) I finally found a new normal and a possible new routine to deal with the current situation.
Read More
Model: Iana Komarnytska - Hair: Olena A. - Photo: Pedro Bonatto.
Creating Beauty in Dark Times
I’ve been thinking of what kinds of shoots to do at home during the quarantine and I came across this shot with Iana Komarnytska and hair by Olena A., mixing elements of ethnic fashion and high end jewelry.
Read More
Pedro Bonatto and Dan Hecho, photographed at F11 Studio in Kiev. Photo by Serdg Zub.
Starting the 2020 season of the Wanderings Podcast
Today I am starting the 2020 season of the Wanderings Podcast with a very very special guest. His name is Dan Hecho and he is not only one of my favorite photographer but also one of the top Ukrainian artists focusing on fine art nudes.
Read MoreModel Rylee Wolf, photographed by Pedro Bonatto with make up by Olena Al for the Kintsugi-inspired Art of Precious Scars series.
Personal Gold
A message for 2020.
Read MoreDancer Iana Komarnytska, photographed by Pedro Bonatto in 2013, during their first collaboration together.
Art as a Call to Adventure
In this post I share some thoughts on how art can be seen as a call to adventure, as understood by Joseph Campbell in the Hero's Journey. This is a transcription of my latest episode of the Creative Walks Podcast.
Read MoreModel Asha Porteous photographed by Pedro Bonatto with make up by Olena Al.
Kintsugi and the Art of Precious Scars
Here is the first photo in a series I created in collaboration with make up artist Olena Al and model Asha Porteous inspired by Kintsugi. Kintsugi is a Japanese pottery practice where you repair broken artifacts with gold to ‘glue’ the broken parts. The idea is that the object becomes more beautiful exactly because it was broken and put together.
Read More
Criticize by creation
After weeks working on proposals and grants for a new music and dance project I got a chance to get back to some photography work yesterday, creating sets and transforming my home studio into different imagined worlds.
Read MoreDirection of Sight
This was the first group scene I created for The Orientalist. In fact, it was the first group shot I ever took as a professional photographer.
Read MoreThe Letter
This photo is called The Letter, and it's basically where the whole project really started, a year ago
Read MoreA celebration
First photograph in The Orientalist series with a small discussion about the process of making it.
Read MoreThe marathon in the dungeon
Here I talk about the process of sorting, selecting and editing 7000 photos down to about 50. I also show how I'm going to use 'oriental' patterns on the backgrounds of some images.
Read MoreLocation, location, location
Sometimes a location can inspire a shoot as much as a person or a concept. Here I explore how a space became a key component of a photograph.
Read More