throughout 2012 – part I

i gave it a lot of thought, but to be honest there’s always something in myself that needs to step away from certain trends or fuss about some things. in the beginning of this year, countless photographers mainly went through the past year in photos. i didn’t know if i wanted to do it, but i thought to myself that there were a few projects that were a priority, so i wouldn’t do it in the first few weeks of january. and then the idea started to mold itself and i started to go through lightroom and my personal memories of 2012. i started to pick them and i ended up with around 100 photos. and obviously i wouldn’t write a post with 100 photos. so i needed to go through them again and pick the really meaningful ones, for any reason. sometimes just a very emotional reason. so let’s do this!

january

a new year had started and i was full of hopes. i wanted to shoot more and after a few pro-bono “let’s build a portfolio” photo sessions in 2011, now i would get paid for photo sessions! there were a few strolls around the city to take pictures (as i did each and every month that went by), mr kobe celebrated his first anniversary and i did a photo session with a friend for my etsy shop. as i lost my hard drive in march these two pictures were taken from flickr, hence the watermark and size!

february

i had three photo shoots this month, a mother and daughter one in ericeira, another one with a beautiful girl and baby golden retriever, and another one with children for a shop in lisbon. i was working with a 24mm canon tilt-shift lens and was loving every moment with it. i had traveled with it to new york and i was fascinated. not a perfect lens for portraits, but works in a very interesting way! i also stepped out my comfort zone and emailed a few cafes in lisbon to go there for a few photos to blog about them. during the weekends we traveled to areia branca as usual, and one weekend we went all out for lunch, the whole family and we visited a horse riding school in obidos. the weather started to change and it felt good to have windows opened, sometimes it felt like spring already!

march

a full month with my first wedding, a newborn session and an engagement session! this was also the month in which my mum had a simple surgery, and i had to spend a few days with my dad, who was diagnosed with alzheimer in 2012. it’s funny because i was stressed because i was away for a few days from home and work and was going crazy. but then as we know things usually happen for a reason, and that was the last time i could spend time with my dad and talk to him, even if he was severely loosing his conversation skills. the following months were terrible for his health and he lost his capability of many basic things, including saying a simple word. march was also the month of the simplesmente branco showcase, and i had the chance of officially meeting some friends! i also visited obidos and sintra for the pleasure of taking pictures! both villages are extremely charming! this month was also the month in which i lost for the second time all my previous work, as my external hard drive suddenly stopped working! lesson learned this time!

april

this month i had two photo sessions, a bachelorette session for a bride whose wedding i was shooting in may, and a maternity photo session. it was a calm month and a very rainy one too, as i recall being postponing the maternity shoot for days and days, until we got very lucky and had a beautiful winter day just for us, thought it seemed like a storm was always there ready to happen! we kept going to areia branca for the weekends and i took mr kobe to the beach for a couple of times, and went to peniche for photos of the old fishing boats. we found a charming place that sells the best chocolate cake i ever tasted and stood on a fancy place on the same day, and as prices were so outrageous and the waiter took forever to talk to us, we ended up leaving the place. ah! that felt good! april was also the month we received our friends from new york, the ones who welcomed us months earlier in their home and of course, i took them to pastéis de belém!

may

i shot another wedding, went to a wedding as a guest, celebrated a bachelorette day with friends for one of my best friends who was getting married in june, went to an ikea press conference and strolled around in lisbon as usual! it was a good month and i remember booking two more weddings and a friends photo session and a web-design project! it was a full month and i was feeling good about what i was doing! i believed in my project more and more! also in may it starts to feel like summer as lisbon dresses itself for the popular outdoor festivities! i also visited lisbonaire apartments for a few pictures for the blog! it was tremendously hot that day, and i was happy for being welcomed and having someone taking their time to show me around and tell me about their concept and ideas for the project! may was also a month in which we went to a few wine tasting proofs as we actually do quite often!

june

june always comes as the month in which we take a few days off to our favourite island in portugal – berlenga. it’s this quiet place, no mobile connection, no internet, no lights after midnight, and if we want a hot shower, we have to heat the water ourselves. i had a photo session with two girls that are all about parties and another one with three finnish girls who were on vacations in lisbon and booked me for a session to celebrate their friendship! i was so excited and this was probably the hottest day in the city! lucky for them! poor girls (and myself too) dragging themselves on that heat! this month was also important because i upgraded to a canon 5d mark ii and bought a new 50mm 1.4 lens and a 70-300mm. it was also around this time that i started to question my own style, feeling a bit bored about it and started to change a little bit, though i had some hard time in letting go what was my well-known style. i started to explore and shifted a few times… i think i’m still on that same place, in which i’ trying to figure out what speaks more to me.

and these were the first 6 months! more to come of course! i had so much fun doing this and i guess i learned so much during this last year! this “throughout 2012” has been quite a lesson to me and has given me energy to keep on going, as this week i needed a bit of “i pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again!” and this post was exactly it!