The first camera I ever held belonged to my grandmother. I was simply curious, and at the time I had no idea that such a small moment could set something in motion. A few years later, my future maid of honor talked me into joining the film club at school. We made up stories, acted them out, filmed them, and somewhere along the way it became obvious that I didn’t belong in front of the lens. I belonged behind it.

In my later school years I found my way into the multimedia and tech team, a wonderful mix of editing, photography, stage work, light and sound. It wasn’t just an extracurricular, it felt like a real education. That love for the visual stayed with me. I studied communication and multimedia, took a photography course, as well as an event management one and then came the call that connected the dots: an internship in the communications department of a hotel, right at a time when social media was still young and content creation was only just becoming truly important. For me, it was the moment where film, photography, storytelling and design suddenly made sense as one language.

Since then, I’ve photographed hotels, food and travel stories, and that background still shapes how I photograph people. It’s not just about smiling at the camera. It’s about the place, the mood, and the small details that later turn an image into a memory you can actually return to. If you’re curious, you can find that side of my work at janinesilva.com. And thankfully, that spark eventually rubbed off on my husband too. Today, he shares the same love for creating and telling stories.