Luso-Canadian celebrity photographer refuses ‘paparazzi’ label

Luso-Canadian photographer George Pimentel has dedicated his career to photographing celebrities, but he always wanted to get the message of not being a paparazzi.

“I’ve always wanted to be such a photographer because I’ve always wanted to respect. In all my career, I have not been in the bushes to show scandals through photographs,” said George Pimentel.

The son of emigrants from Rabo de Peixe, on the Azorean island of São Miguel, the Portuguese-Canadian has already photographed seventh art stars such as Robert de Niro, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Al Pacino, Sean Penn and the musician Bruce Springsteen, among other celebrities.

“I’ve always been more like showing the glamour of photography, revealing the charm of the people, the celebrities I want to glorify. I want to show them why I was a fan of them, I followed them in the movies,” he explained.

A graduate in photography from Ryerson University in Toronto, the Luso-Canadian stressed that he only wants to “take good pictures” and only needs “five seconds” of celebrities to show his “tenacity and persistence.”

“When celebrities leave a limousine or car I always ask with respect if I can take a picture, they always give me at least a second, and I take my picture, I have photos with many celebrities like Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney, “he said.

Since 1993 George Pimentel has photographed at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and is currently the official photographer of the event.

This year the TIFF ran from 6 to 16 September, an edition that will last in the memory of the Portuguese-Canadian due to Lady Gaga.

“It was a great honour to shoot Lady Gaga. She even asked the security guard to let me feel free to take pictures of her on the red carpet, which was the most valuable photo in sentimental terms. hands, telling me that there was a great synergy between us and that it was epic what we did, “he said.

George Pimentel’s passion for photography comes from family ties, an activity initiated by his grandfather ‘Laranjo’ in the village of Rabo de Peixe in the 1940s. His father, José, immigrating to Canada in 1966, continued and since 1971 his photography studio, located in Little Portugal in Toronto, has remained open.