60 Photos of Brazilian Men, Raw and Ferocious

Brazilian photographer Helio Beltranio is a poet with a camera -- less like a romantic and more like a mid-century Beat poet. Some of his photos are shocking, some breathlessly beautiful, but they are always very fresh and spontaneous. There is danger as well. His subjects perform as acolytes, willing to go to extremes to help him get the image.

Passion seems to burst right out of Helio's images. He tells us, "Photographing for me is not an exercise, it's an exorcism."

Helio was born in northeastern Brazil, but now lives and works in Sao Paulo. Since he was a teenager he had been interested in photography. He loved the old photographs of his family, but he had no training at that point; he was just drawn to it.

As he graduated with a fashion major, his interest increased. He fell into it naturally, taking photographs of people both dressed and undressed. And he began shooting more photos of his boyfriends naked as well. By now he was no longer a boy with a camera in his hand; he was a man with his lover.

Follow him on Facebook, Tumblr, his professional Instagram, and his personal Instagram. (Both are equally intriguing.)