Life hacks give us cheap, elegant ways to stay organized and productive.

For instance, who knew a bowl could double as a makeshift iPhone speaker? Or that binder clips could preserve the life of our toothpaste?

But some life hacks are more trouble than they're worth, and won't actually save you time or energy.

Here are the hacks you should probably avoid.

SEE ALSO: 15 unethical, illegal ways people get ahead in life

1. Toasters don't make good grilled cheese.

The life hack: Making a grilled cheese sandwich by turning a toaster on its side and putting two slices of bread inside with a slice of cheese atop each.

Why it's bogus: Aside from the fire hazard you're creating, the method is just ineffective. Buttered bread will grease the inside of your toaster, and the final product won't have the same texture. Plus, the bread might pop out and get melty cheese all over the place.

2. Wooden spoons don't stop pots of water from boiling over.

The life hack: Placing a wooden spoon across a boiling pot of water to prevent the water from spilling over.

Why it's bogus: You may have some success with a simmering pot, but the real enemy here is the rapid, rolling boil. Expect the water to engulf your feeble spoon.

3. Nails won't help you get the cork out of a wine bottle.

The life hack: To pull a tightly plugged cork out of a bottle, jam a nail into it and pull it out, taking the cork with it.

Why it's bogus: The hack only works if you have multiple nails in the cork. If you're celebrating the grand opening of your hardware store, you could probably gather enough. Otherwise, go find a regular bottle opener.

Cars clogged the streets of Borehamwood, England, an outlying suburb of London, for decades. But in the mid-1990s, the town added new pedestrian-only areas to its center.

The change transformed the town, according to Esther Kurland, the director of Urban Design London, a nonprofit that connects urban designers and planners in the city.

"This was one of the first ‘traffic calming’ shared space schemes in the country," Kurland tells Business Insider. "And I was fascinated in how the behavior of both drivers and pedestrians changed." 

Borehamwood is just one example of the way innovative public space can improve the lives of an area's inhabitants. To find more, we reached out to urban designers and planners around the world. They told us about spaces that have been game-changers for cities, that inspired them to go into the field, and that they simply find stunning.

Here are 12 of the world's most beautiful parks, libraries, streets, and plazas, according to people who design them for a living.

SEE ALSO: This insane bamboo treehouse doesn't use any nails or screws

Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois.

"It was clearly a game-changer, not only for Chicago and the real estate that surrounds the park, but for its influence on cities everywhere," says Carol Coletta, the VP of Community and National Initiatives for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Coletta manages millions of dollars annually in grants for city design, and says Millennium Park is the ideal public space. Intended to celebrate the second millennium, the 25-acre park hosts public art and events.

"Lurie Garden, tucked in the park’s southeast corner, is one of my favorite places in the world that somehow manages to remain deeply calming in the midst of the chaos of the larger park," she says.

Spruce Street Harbor Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Bordering an urban beach, Spruce Street Harbor Park features colorful lights at night and hammocks for lounging.

It "was intended to be a temporary intervention — really a desperate move for a very tough location separated from Philadelphia’s Old City by a wide and busy road," Coletta explains. "But it keeps going and going because people keep coming and coming. It is a simple, loving intervention whose design elements have been widely copied." 

The central square in Seaside, Florida.

Building a new residential housing development that actually feels like a small town is almost impossible, says Steve Mouzon, the founder of Mouzon Design.

But the founder and developer of Seaside, Florida did just that, using public space to foster a new independent, tight-knit community.

"The developer had the audacity to build a town square, with a post office, a grocery, a bookstore, and a collection of other restaurants and shops with apartments above," Mouzon explains. "Never mind that the post office wasn’t a sanctioned US Post Office, but rather ganged mailboxes installed inside a tiny civic building. Because the mailboxes wore civic clothing, people behaved in a civic way. And even though Seaside has never been incorporated as a town, people nonetheless behave in neighborly ways."

The life of a "van dweller," or a person who lives in a converted vehicle, is nomadic and legally precarious. Van dwellers risk being found out by their employers for parking on company lots, and many keep their living situation on the down-low.

While van dwelling is an increasingly popular lifestyle choice among tech workers in Silicon Valley, it's far from mainstream, making resources sparse for prospective or struggling road warriors.

For those who eat and sleep on the open road, Reddit becomes a second home.

The subreddit vandwellers is a safe space on the internet where 36,000 subscribers talk about what life is like living in a van, share hacks, and seek advice. Members from nearly every corner of the US appeared to be on it when I browsed the group.

I found out about the subreddit from a van dweller who works as an engineer at a major tech company, and who says he made friends with other Bay Area-based, van-dwelling techies through the group.

Some of the most well-known cases of Silicon Valley van dwelling involve a software engineer at Google who lived in a truck in the company's parking lot, saving 90% of his income, and a Tesla employee who paid off $14,000 of student loans by living in a van for five months.

Living in a van provides appeal to those who want to save money, either because they can't afford to live elsewhere, or because they want funds for entertainment and travel. After the initial build process is over, the owner's biggest expenses are gas and maintenance.

A Reddit user by the name of PM_ME_SOME_BIRDS dwells in a Jeep Liberty and claims to pay nothing in rent, utilities, or internet. When they need to charge their devices, they plug them into a power strip at the gym or library.

"Mine is barebones [sic] in the shady part of town but I've never had any issues," PM_ME_SOME_BIRDS writes.

Getting started goes far beyond hiring a real estate agent. The community turns to one other for help. Subscribers have posed questions ranging from "what's the best mini-fridge?" to "what it's like to live in a van with a significant other?"

One San Francisco-based user, Moon_Man_Jay, offers to trade beer for help diagnosing a mechanical issue with his friend's '79 Volkswagen. Last year, an experienced dweller held an AMA (or, "Ask Me Anything" forum) filled with tips on the best places to park and observations on towing enforcement.

But life in a van is not without its drawbacks.

In a post on what it's like to dwell in the Bay Area, one user named fulfilled-life says the cold weather can be a bear. "I'm living in San Francisco in a van," they write. "When I'm 'home,' I wear a marmot [sic] 700-fill jacket, and have a -25 degree sleeping bag at night."

A female user, badluckbritt, warns that the most dangerous part of van dwelling is the risk of being broken into. "It's a little tough at first to get used to the sounds of people walking by without getting paranoid," the San Francisco van dweller writes. "Best advice I can give: black your windows out in some way." She says she owns a knife and pepper spray just in case.

It's unclear how many people actually live in vans or reside in the Bay Area. A recent poll of the subreddit found that 36 survey participants consider themselves full-time or part-time van dwellers, while 84 people are actively preparing for the transition. The rest were just curious.

The legality of van dwelling varies from state to state, making the decision to go mobile even more difficult.

Reddit user Vanholio, who drives his van across America and blogs along the way, recently posted an overview of the laws to the group. "While living in your vehicle is a legal right, this freedom is often curtailed," they write.

There's no law that explicitly requires US citizens to maintain a permanent address, but failure to do so can result in a flurry of issues. Applying for a driver's license, registering to vote, or filing taxes, for example, requires an inordinate amount of communication between the van dweller and the government to overcome the obstacle.

It's also illegal in a growing number of cities to sleep in your car. Even if your area protects your rights as a van-vagabond, the owner of the parking lot you squat in is entitled to call the cops on you for trespassing or loitering.

For some, the liberation of living in the city of their choosing is worth the risk of being caught or judged by their peers.

Reddit user censorinus works in a tech support role and moved into a van about four months ago. The user currently parks in public garages, and hopes to one day drive the van into the woods or the mountains.

"I'm sure I am like many vandwellers [sic] these days who are gainfully employed, maintain a neat and respectable appearance, and am just sick and tired of being financially boxed in," censorinus writes. If more people adopt the van dwelling lifestyle and rebel against the rental market, "it can only be a good thing."

SEE ALSO: How to buy a home in San Francisco's completely insane housing market

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Only in San Francisco — inside the 232-square-foot micro apartment that sold for nearly $425,000

Students who go to well-designed schools can learn much better — a year-long study from British researchers shows that kids benefit more from schools designed to be inviting and friendly. After all, it certainly doesn't help to feel like you're spending the day in a crumbling brick prison. 

When you look for architecturally stunning educational buildings, international schools often dominate the spotlight. But the United States, too, has a long list of schools with beautiful, innovative designs. Here are a few of them.

SEE ALSO: The new Sandy Hook Elementary School hides high security in beautiful design

These unconventionally shaped buildings make up the Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, California.

The buildings were built on a hill that at first seemed impractical, if not impossible, according to Architecture Week.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BFuyGEZzLR8/embed/
Width: 800px

 Source: Architecture Week

The buildings at the Ramon Cortines School of Performing Arts are shaped like irregular pyramids. The school was built on the edge of Chinatown in Los Angeles, California.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BAGFoL_kIuK/embed/
Width: 800px 

Video courtesy of Johannes Stoetter Art and WB Production.

Follow TI: On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

At some point or another all of us have experienced a rough patch. The trick is to pick yourself up and keep going. Tony Robbins, bestselling author of "Money: Master The Game," reveals the best way to get yourself out of a funk. 

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

In Carlos Slim's perfect world, Wednesday would be the new Friday.

The Mexican billionaire said in a recent interview with Bloomberg that three-day work weeks could — and should — be the future of labor.

Slim's vision for the ideal employee career path involves shorter hours but longer tenure. Instead of asking people to work 40-50 hours a week until they're 65, they could work fewer than 30 hours a week until they're 75.

"I think the companies that can take this on are those in which productivity has led to excess personnel," Slim said. "It's a great change to exchange fewer days of work for more years until retirement."

The change would allow senior employees, who generally understand their industry better than junior employees, to stay with the company longer and better balance their daily lives with their careers. Slim says he began offering the system in his telecommunications company, Telemex, about two years ago. To date, 40% of people have adopted it.

Productivity experts have been praising shorter workweeks for years. Research finds people tend to be happier, more focused, and more productive when extra time is tacked onto their weekends. Only recently, however, have companies started to take those benefits seriously.

Ryan Carson, CEO of the technology education company Treehouse, has seen his employees become happier and more productive since he implemented the 32-hour work week in 2006. Core to Carson's leadership philosophy is the belief that forcing people to work 40-hour weeks is nearly inhumane, he told the Atlantic last year.

"It's not about more family time, or more play time, or less work time — it's about living a more balanced total life," he said. "We basically take ridiculously good care of people because we think it's the right thing to do."

The company isn't struggling to make ends meet, either. Its yearly revenue is in the millions, and according to Carson, people love coming to work each day.

Carlos Slim is a shrewd businessman, too, so his radical weekend policy also helps his company.

"Instead of cutting personnel, you can enter a scheme like this, where you can have more people, maybe pay more salaries, but you're avoiding having to pay when workers retire early," Slim says, referring to the cost of replacing experienced workers with greener ones and paying for pensions.

Most people say 60-65 is the perfect age for retirement, since many want to take full advantage of their later years. They view leisure as something to look forward to. Slim’s policy offers a different work-life balance. By taking that backloaded chunk of time and spreading it across more years, he gives people the chance to keep working without getting tired out.

So while retiring at 75 may seem extreme, if people are passionate about their work at 35 they'll probably still enjoy it at 55 and 75. The true value of a later retirement could be sparing people the choice between continuing to work full-time and wasting away as they wait for fish to bite.

SEE ALSO: Experts think a 4-day work week would be more beneficial than 5

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The common way of checking bad breath doesn't work — here's how to really tell

Everyone jokes about catching the travel bug after they travel to a truly spectacular place for the first time. 

This last weekend I found that Tinder Social, the dating app's feature released stateside in July, which allows members to form groups and find other groups to go out with, satisfied that travel bug in a way I wasn't expecting.

As a 21-year-old who's spent some time abroad, I constantly have that itch to book a flight to some far away place. Visiting new places, experiencing new cultures and trying new foods is amazing. But my favorite thing about traveling? How easy it is to meet new people. 

This last winter while I was traveling solo in Guangzhou, China, I was sitting in the lobby of my hostel to use the wifi when a Norwegian couple sat down to ask me for directions. And, just like that, I had people to explore the city with. I ended up spending the better part of the next 48 hours going around Guangzhou with them and a Dutch woman.

Tinder Social duplicated the best part of that experience, and I never had to leave New York City.

Not a date...unless you want it to be

Tinder gets a bad rap. I've personally had terrible experiences the few times I've actually met up with someone from the app.

But this last weekend one of my closest friends from my hometown was visiting me in New York City. It was Friday night and we wanted to go out. I'm new to the city and haven't really taken part in the night scene, so we joked about using Tinder Social to find people to go out with.

The next thing you know, we created a group in-app and were swiping right on other groups interested in going out that popped up on our screen. 

We exchanged messages with a few people and then committed to hanging out with two guys who wanted to take night pictures down by the East River. 

When we met up, everyone admitted that this was the first time they had used the new social feature. We then joked about past Tinder dates, how awful or weird they had been, except for one of the boys who said he had used Tinder as more of a networking tool or to find models for his photography work. But that's another story. 

We spent the better part of the next 48 hours exploring New York City with these two guys who were literally strangers before we matched with them on Tinder Social. It was an insanely fun. 

The thing about Tinder Social is it doesn't have to be or feel like a date if you don't want it too. If it turns into that, you get to determine whose chemistry actually matches whose better in-person, instead of being stuck with that one person you swiped right with on Tinder.

I do think keeping the group small was a part of what made our Tinder Social experience so successful, as it was easy for all of us to get to know one another and maintain a group conversation. 

And I think it helped that we didn't meet up at a bar, so that everyone got to know one another at least a little bit before we decided to keep hanging out. 

Tinder was also smart to take a page out of another dating app's playbook in its design of Tinder Social.

In Bumble, if a user messages a match and he or she don't respond within 24 hours, the two unmatch.

Tinder Social is even more intense. Even if you do match and start messaging, your Tinder Social group expires the next day. You're still able to swipe and match with people who were in your group match individually, but I think this disappearing feature demands immediate action and possibly prompts a higher ratio of people to actually meet up. 

None of us came in with expectations of what that night would turn into, but as we were saying goodbye on Sunday, one of us joked that the friendships we had made using an app were a one in a million chance.

I'm not so sure.

If it's that easy to meet people while traveling, why can't it be that easy using a group dating app?

SEE ALSO: The Playboy competitor for the Snapchat generation is now an even bigger threat

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'Pokémon Go' just released an update that fixes its most annoying problems

Business Insider sat down with Ivanka Trump to talk about her strategy for success in the workplace. Her father may be a billionaire and the Republican presidential nominee, but Ivanka has carved her own niche as a successful entrepreneur.

We asked her to share what she thinks are the biggest mistakes people make when negotiating. 

Ivanka Trump is the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at The Trump Organization, head of the Ivanka Trump lifestyle brand, and advises young professional women with her #AskIT YouTube series.

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

Florida Governor Rick Scott said Tuesday that the state is looking at what's now 21 cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika, that all appear connected to one neighborhood in Miami.

These are the first reported cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika in the continental US, though the outbreak has affected other US territories including Puerto Rico.

"Every day that passes that Congress and the president fail to come to an agreement hinders our national response to Zika," Scott said in a statement. "This is not only an issue affecting us here in Florida – this is a national issue. Florida is just at the head of it with the first cases of local transmission of Zika."

The infections appear to have happened all in one neighborhood, called Wynwood, in Miami. In earlier statements, Scott specified that the location as bound by "NW 5th Avenue to the west, US 1 to the east, NW/NE 38th Street to the north and NW/NE 20th Street to the south."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised against pregnant women traveling to the area, and people living in the area should take steps to prevent mosquito bites. The CDC also said women in first and second trimesters of pregnancy who live or travel frequently to Wynwood should consider being tested for Zika. 

Zika, which is transmitted mainly by mosquitoes, has been spreading around the Americas over the past year. The cases in Miami are the first time local transmission by mosquitoes has been reported in the continental US. Only about 20% of people who are infected with Zika ever show symptoms, which most commonly include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.

Here are all 54 countries and territories where local transmission of Zika has been reported as of August 3, not including Miami:

SEE ALSO: The first case of female-to-male sexually transmitted Zika has been reported in NYC

DON'T MISS: Zika reached 2 more Caribbean islands in July — here's a map of all the places it has spread so far

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to watch the most incredible meteor shower of the year that's happening this week

If you've got $18 million to spare, we've got some real estate investments for you.

The experts at property listing site Estately helped us find 16 of the most architecturally stunning homes on the market right now.

From a concrete estate that resembles the Flinstones' Bedrock property to a wooded, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed residence, any one of these private mansions could be yours if you have the cash. Either way, they're fun to look at.

SEE ALSO: Inside the new 'co-living' space where San Franciscans pay $2,600 for maid service and new friends

Glass walls and a signature domed roof on this John Covert Watson-designed home help it blend seamlessly into the wooded suburbs outside Austin.

Address:504 Spiller Ln., West Lake Hills, TX

Architect: John Covert Watson

Price: $1.5 million

The Cooney House, affectionately named the jewel box of Sarasota, features clean lines and bold pops of color. A lanai circles the 2,400-square-foot home.

Address:44 S Washington Dr., Sarasota, FL

Architect: Tim Seibert

Price: $1.5 million

The Scorpion House makes a statement in the Arizona desert with its masterful blend of poured concrete, glass, and oxidized titanium panels.

Address:28023 N 96th Pl., Scottsdale, AZ

Architect: Eddie Jones

Price: $5.5 million

There are now more billionaires on earth than ever before — 2,473 of them, according to wealth information and insight firm Wealth-X, which released its annual Billionaire Census Monday. As part of its report, Wealth-X analyzed the Earth's growing billionaire population geographically, breaking down the regions that have seen the most growth in new billionaires and their fortunes. 

The majority of billionaires have traditionally hailed from parts of the world with advanced Western economies — Europe and North America have 806 and 628, respectively. North America's group is the wealthiest with a combined net worth of $2.56 trillion, while Europe's billionaires are worth $2.33 trillion. 

But Asia is minting more new mega-fortunes than any other part of the world. The region overtook North America by adding 85 new billionaires last year, bringing its total to 645. The combined wealth of Asia's ultra-rich now stands at $1.69 trillion.

Check out the rest of Wealth-X billionaire map below:

SEE ALSO: The 20 most common hobbies of the richest people in the world

DON'T MISS: The 50 richest people on earth

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what Goldman Sachs looks for in a résumé

Join the conversation about this story »

It's believed that we humans are creatures of habit, but there's something to be said for trying great new restaurants, especially in a city as vibrant and diverse as San Francisco. 

Whether you've just arrived in "The City by the Bay" and are looking for some good local eats, or you're an old-timer wanting to change up your usual restaurant routine, Foursquare's "Trending This Week" list has your back. 

To establish the coolest new joints in town, the city-guide app combines implicit visits from its users with check-ins from its sister app, Swarm. The list is published every Tuesday morning.

Be sure to check out these popular new locations before everyone else gets the same idea. 

SEE ALSO: The 25 best Brazilian restaurants in America, according to Foursquare

DON'T MISS: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on facebook!

15. Ohana Poke Bar combines chill surf vibes with top-notch Hawaiian grub. It seems to be flying fairly under-the-radar for now, so visit soon before it starts to draw a crowd.

605 Kearny Street, Chinatown

14. If you're looking for incredible ice cream creations, The Baked Bear is a place you have to try. The Bear Bowl is a special favorite: a warm cookie base topped with cold ice cream is a combination that can do no wrong.

303 Columbus Avenue, North Beach

13. Little Giant Ice Cream will satisfy any sweet tooth cravings with their funky flavors. Mexican Rocky Road and Dirty South have rave reviews, while the asparagus flavor is perfect for those seeking a little adventure (apparently, it tastes a bit like caramel).

214 Sutter Street, Union Square

The Crock-Pot has been a staple in many kitchens since the 1950s. The cooking process is simple: Throw in meat, veggies, herbs, potatoes, and broth for a stew, turn it on, and let the ingredients simmer until they're tender.

Crock-Pots make it easy to cook one-pot meals, since you can put everything in before work and come home to a warm dinner. But the device has a major flaw: different ingredients — like chicken and potatoes — have vastly different cooking times, which means one can wind up under-cooked while the other gets soggy or too well-done.

Enter Oliver, a sleek new slow cooker from the San Francisco design consultancy Matter. Controlled by an app, the device has six canisters that keep a dish's ingredients separate. The containers are programmed to drop their ingredients into the mixture at the ideal time in a given recipe, ensuring that each component of the dish comes out with the optimal texture.

Oliver's inventor, Khalid Aboujassoum, tells Business Insider that Oliver will start a pilot program in September, but the device is not yet available to buy.

Here's how it works. 

SEE ALSO: 6 innovative kitchen gadgets that will change the way you cook

Oliver is about the same size as a Crock-Pot and easily fits on a counter. It can make stews, pastas, stir-fry, and rice-based dishes.

After you download Oliver's app, you can search for a recipe in its database. The app tells you which ingredients to get, how to chop them, and what quantities to use.

You then load each ingredient into Oliver's canisters, according to the app's directions.

Even if you didn't already know that Gary Friedman is the CEO of Restoration Hardware, a walk into his Napa Valley home might give it away. 

The massive mansion called Eight Palms was fully renovated by the luxury furnishing company's design team, and it's easy to tell. Crisp lines, precise symmetry, and meticulous design details are found throughout — not to mention a very strict focus on neutral colors, like grey.

Now that Friedman has put it on the market for a whopping $10.5 million, it's a good time to get an inside look at the place. Let's take a tour. 

SEE ALSO: A former Wall Streeter and shoe entrepreneur just bought this beautiful $2.86 million home in Los Angeles

DON'T MISS: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on facebook!

The mansion is situated on a breathtaking property in St. Helena, in California's famous Napa Valley. Natural elements are thoughtfully showcased throughout the grounds, taking advantage of the environment.

These eight-foot black gates are complete with elegant brass hardware, and make for a dramatic entrance to the estate.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Friedman paid $5.9 million for the house in 2013. He initially planned on turning it into a private getaway for himself, but then decided to remodel and resell it. The whole process took two years to complete, and the results — like this majestic entry courtyard —are stunning.

Source: WSJ

.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: MALCOLM GLADWELL: ‘Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind'

There's no way around it: College is expensive. Not only do tuition prices continue to rise, but location can skew the final price tag as well, especially for students who want to live close to campus.

HomeUnion, an online residential real estate investment management firm, compiled a list of the colleges with the most expensive off-campus housing. The site compared the median rent within a two-mile radius of the university's campus to the market-rate rent for the larger metro area to find which schools have inflated rent costs near campus. 

Universities in California — Los Angeles-based UCLA and Stanford, located on the outskirts of San Jose in Silicon Valley — earned the top two spots, with students paying more than 50% the market rate to live close to campus. Though notorious for its high cost of living, New York City landed at No. 10 on the list, likely due to the fact that prices remain high throughout the city and don't necessarily spike close to New York University's campus.

Read on to see the full list of the most expensive colleges to live near. 

SEE ALSO: The 30 best college towns in America

DON'T MISS: The 50 best law schools in America

30. University of Michigan

Metro area: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Median rent near campus: $1,964

Market-rate rent: $1,793

Percent above market: 9%

28. (TIE) Clemson University

Metro area: Greenville, South Carolina

Median rent near campus: $1,288

Market-rate rent: $1,158

Percent above market: 11%

28. (TIE) University of Wisconsin at Madison

Metro area: Madison, Wisconsin

Median rent near campus: $1,794

Market-rate rent: $1,611

Percent above market: 11%

Brazilian documentary photographer Alexandre Amaral has been capturing the streets of his home country during an interesting time in its history.

Between the 2014 FIFA World Cup, protests for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, and now, the Olympics well under way, Amaral has had plenty of colorful action to capture.

Photo-sharing app EyeEm recently chatted with Amaral about his technique for capturing the life and culture of his favorite place. 

SEE ALSO: 21 stunning photos that show why Rio is famous for its beaches

Amaral has been photographing Brazil for the past 15 years. He's currently based in Salvador, which is located in the northeastern state of Bahia.

"There’s no better way to describe a place than through its people," Amaral told EyeEm.

Whenever Amaral shoots, he walks the delicate line between interacting with his subjects and simply observing.

The original Chick-fil-A in Hapeville, Georgia is a lot different from your run-of-the-mill Chick-fil-A's. The restaurant is one of twelve "Dwarf House" locations in Atlanta, where you can find original menu items that you won't find anywhere else. 

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »