Sinto tanto a falta de escrever e publicar imagens que eu crio com todo o meu coração, com todo o meu ser. Só me falta o tempo de escolher por entre milhares de imagens, de as partilhar tanto como sempre desejo. Partilhar é também uma grande parte do que eu mais amo fazer. É algo de que falo aos meus noivos e os sensibilizo pois só assim, só mesmo assim os possibilitou a encontrarem-me. E essa sabedoria fez toda a diferença. Porque o seu amor, a sua celebração, a sua fé, a sua entrega pode inspirar um mundo inteiro. E inspira. Por agora vou apenas partilhar algumas, soltas, do que tenho criado e algumas das cores e sentimentos que têm colorido os meus dias e os tornado tão únicos, porque os meus noivos e as pessoas que entram na minha vida através desta minha paixão o merecem. Mal consigo acreditar nas tantas coisas que ainda tenho que partilhar de 2014, e 2015 tem sido tão, tão bonito. Sou tão sortuda por poder ser testemunha das coisas que testemunho. 

I miss writing and publishing images I create with all my heart, with all my might. I just lack the time and getting through thousand of images, to just share them as much as I'd like. Sharing is also a big, huge part of what I love most to do. It's something that I speak about with my couples, while trying to make it sensible that without my love of sharing they couldn't have found me. And that wisdom makes all the difference. Because their love, their celebration, their faith, their deliverance can inspire a whole world. And they do. For now I will just share a few images I have been creating the past months because I know I have to share more and more, because my couples and people that enter my life through this passion of mine deserve it. I can't believe I have so many things to still share from 2014, and 2015 has been so beautiful. I am so, so lucky to witness the things I witness. 
 

Sometimes I like to film. Most times. I was supposed to have finished college to become a cinematographer. But life happens and then I, so, so suddenly just wanted to create worlds and dropped out of school because it was highly limiting my capacities to dream bigger and the possibilities of getting more and more inspired. So I picked my mom's camera and started to shoot myself in the darkest corners of my room. Shooting for me, and myself only, was the best thing I could have done for years, before agreeing to start shooting and capturing other people. 

Moving images deeply move me. Perhaps in complete different ways than photography. They are just different. They are too opposites of the same side of a beautiful coin. And I could never stop living with neither. Together they sing songs of my life and of my heart. 

Some stills follow and the video waits at the bottom (you should watch it HD on Vimeo). This means a lot to me. This is my sister. And she is beautiful. This is just something else entirely from what I usually create. It's simple.
 
 

Song This Place is a Shelter by the incredible Ólafur Arnalds. 

Shooting for myself produces the most important work on a personal level. It enables me to tell the stories going underneath my own skin. The thoughts, fears my mind drips and feeds on constantly. Sometimes they are just failed moments, a bit like life. Sometimes things just don't work out. Like life. These are some things I create for myself. No deadlines, just weekly whispers of how I shape myself into the person I want to be and stories that my soul creates when I am fearful, lonely or even peacefully at thought. These are reflections of who I am, who I aim to be. The one I've become. 

 

Os quatro primeiros frames são das minhas duas irmãs. Elas têm um trabalho que amam que não podia ser mais longe de ser modelo. Elas só me deixam a mim fotografá-las e é porque eu ao princípio as obrigava (ninguém diria, certo?). Eu apareço nos dois frames seguintes. Em modo auto-retrato, mas a defender também o que quero fazer com este projecto (não seria justo se também eu não tivesse abraçado a minha própria crença se não assim). Esta intro vem a propósito de eu estar a desenvolver um novo projecto. Um projecto com o qual pretendo que as mulheres, acima de tudo mas não só, percam um pouco o estigma de se verem como realmente são, mulheres, pelo medo de nos rotularem como algo que não somos. Não é um projecto de empoderamento. Não pretendo sequer banalizar esse termo ou contexto, pois não é de todo essa a questão. Mas quero que as mulheres se sintam femininas ou o que mais desejarem, que se sintam quem se querem sentir sem complexos. Sem julgarem que só as modelos se conseguem sentir "sexy" ou confortáveis no corpo que têm. Quero dar-vos a entender um lado vosso que nunca viram retratado, e que percam duas horas a ver o reflexo disso na minha camera e no meu olhar, e depois nas fotografias que vos entregarei, para sempre. No fundo é uma sessão individual mas com um teor diferente, mais íntimo, mais cru e sem capas, e para mulheres que aceitam ser o início de um projecto que espero que ajude a alterar mentalidades acerca do corpo feminino e da forma como no fundo o que mais interessa é cada pessoa ser uma pessoa, cada mulher uma mulher. E nós somos muito mais que um corpo. Mas que este é nosso e temos o direito de o celebrar, seja ele como for.

This comes as an intro for a new project I want to celebrate. I want women to approach me and want to be photographed in raw mode. Like this. The real you. These are not shots of models. These are a women, my sisters, me and client friends that never were ever photographed by anyone but me. I've never even approached a model agency or photographed professional models. Because even models might want to be photographed in more relaxed, casual and cozy ambients. A reflection of the real you. That is who I am. No fancy settings. Just me and the person in front of my lens. Real people leading real lives, women with daughters and sons who want to break the stigma that the body is shameful and the women body belongs to the ones they are in love with (parents, husbands, sons). No. Their body belongs to them, and as weddings, birthdays, special occasions, they deserve to be celebrated. Because they are part of what we are. As women, daughters and mothers.
 

Sometimes nature heals you. Actually most times. Always. But one must be brave enough to not only accept to be embraced by it, but to embrace it back. That's how the best things in life roll. It's not only acceptance. It is surveillance, emancipation of feelings, and magnificent commotion. These are in black in white because the rush of the autumn colours are still engraved in my heart and they deserve to remain there, for a longer while. Sometimes you just have to save a world's secret for yourself. And when the world is ready, release it. This is Portugal.

2013 foi um ano incrível. Na verdade foi mais que incrível, foi simplesmente especial. Ao longo do ano cruzei caminho com pessoas com quem simplesmente nunca cruzaria se não me agarrasse com tanta força a esta minha paixão. Tudo é possível por causa do poder da confiança e da partilha. Esta foi uma muito longa (e ainda assim passou a correr) e intensa viagem. Olho para trás e algumas destas imagens parecem de há tanto tempo atrás, eu sinto a falta das pessoas com quem pude ter aventuras e pessoas que abriram os seus corações e me deixaram entrar. Estou tão grata por vocês. Esta é uma compilação de apenas algumas imagens (algumas, e no entanto já são tantas!) que seleccionei para este post no blog que já devia ter publicado há tanto tempo. Esta é uma forma de vos agradecer por me darem a oportunidade de entrar nas vossas vidas e de poder continuar a fazer o que mais amo. Isso, como sempre, é melhor deixado em imagens. 

2013 was an incredible year. In fact it was more than incredible, it was simply special. Throughout the year I crossed paths with people I would simply not cross if I wasn't holding on to this passion of mine. All is possible because of the power of trust and sharing. This was a very long (yet went on so fast) and intensive journey so far. I look back to some of these images and it feels like some of them were so long ago, that I miss the people I was able to exchange adventures with and people who opened they hearts to me. I am so grateful for you. This is a compilation of a few images (just a few, and they're already so many!) I selected for this long due post. This is a way for me to thank you for giving me the opportunity to enter your lives and to continue to reach out for what I love the most. That, as always, is best left in images. 

Obrigada por me deixarem fazer o que amo. Obrigada por me confiarem os vossos momentos e memórias. Que 2014 vos traga de volta, e os vossos amigos e desconhecidos!

Thank you for letting me do what I love. Thank you for trusting me your moments and memories. Let 2014 bring you back, and your friends and strangers! 

Momentos diários captados com o meu Iphone 5. Podem ver mais se começarem a seguir-me no Instagram! Vão agora.

Daily moments captured with my Iphone 5. You can see more if you start following me on my Instagram! Go on now.

It has been a while. I’ve been neglecting this space because I’ve been dreaming about making up a place of my own, with a portfolio plus a blog with my own domain, but I must take one step at a time, so here I am updating at last.

I already have my beloved Mark II and I couldn’t have dreamed of a better camera. I have the 50mm f1.4, and it has been a joy to take photographs with my new gear. It was a long due upgrade, but I’ve finally erased the fears of giving something to myself and embraced the future with an expensive one-time-only investment. I guess this will be the body I will shoot with for a very long time, and I being only in the beginning of a journey is refreshing. It feels good. I’ve also been trying to create bridges to own my own business, and even though it has been slow I am bracing myself with positivity. On a side note I am always same old me, so I’ve been diving and fighting the same old habits – specially those which speak of laziness and organization. I need to step out of those. I truly need to. Here’s some of the last images I’ve been creating.