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Photography is a total catharsis for me. It’s the process, more so than the result. When I go on a photo pursuit, I am consumed by the act of observing landscape, people, colour, shape, form, light, shadow. The act of imagining, discovering, composing a photograph occupies me fully and the sound of the shutter release becomes the culmination of an almost mystical performance. I hold my breath, I heave a sigh, I smile… done.
I have thousands of Kodachrome 64 slides from my trustworthy Nikon FM that have never been projected. The process of making photography satisfies me completely and, after a perfunctory glance to confirm that I did get the exposure right and that the framing was as I intended, I am happy to return the slide to its box without further ado. Nowadays, the wonders of digital photography provide the immediate gratification of seeing the nearly-final result on the spot. Greater convenience, alas, less romance.
I like a deliberate approach to photography. Scouting a subject, waiting for that ray of light, that yellow dress, that red umbrella… Slide photography taught me to compose and expose carefully forcing a discipline unaided by the safety net of darkroom work. I like that. I apply the same approach to digital photography and keep computer manipulation to the minimum required to recreate a “slide look” (nostalgia, I know…), mostly a bit of colour saturation and sharpness, a touch of exposure compensation when warranted.
Travel photography is my passion. Travelling has been a favourite pastime ever since I can remember, probably fueled by curiosity bred from exposure to several places and cultures, growing up in Angola and Portugal, starting professional and family life in Canada and now in the United States since 1997, with much travelling in between. It seems that Graziela and I are never content to explore our own backyard; our travels always take us far afield to less familiar terrain. I love to record the people and places of the lands we visit, searching to illustrate, with a hopeful artistic bend, what makes them unique. I hope that you will enjoy these moments captured in our travels around this wonderful world of ours.