How I come up with new ideas

I love the default Notes app on iOS - because it synchronizes across all my devices, it's like having a notebook always with me.

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One of the ways I use the Notes app is to capture all my thoughts and ideas, in whatever form they might happen. Every day, I create a new note and I start filling it with everything the day might bring: from a rough schedule of how I expect the day to go, to notes from books and articles I read, or podcasts I listen to, including images of stuff I find interesting, inspiring quotes, audio recordings of ideas that come to mind, and in general, anything that goes through my mind that might be useful or inspiring in the future.

Every once in a while, usually on the weekend, I'll go through my notes and pick the most interesting parts. This is how I come up with ideas for my videos / blog posts, places I want to photograph, and how I learn (some of the things I write down are good starting points to research more about the topic).

Here for the long term

I’ve been making images for a few years now. Back when I got started, I had no idea where this passion of mine would lead me. Today, I spend most of my days taking photographs, editing photographs, writing about photography, thinking about photography, talking about photography, studying photography.

While I don't know how long I'll be able to do this full time, I do know that even if I had to get another job to pay the bills, I'd still be doing photography.

This project of mine has grown to the point of being the purpose of my existence: to record what I see in a visual form, and to inspire others to do the same.

As I admitted recently, there's something missing in my work, and there always will. The same way a diary is never finished, I will never be "done" with my images which I consider to be my reflection, a part of me.

This is a life-long project. One I'm extremely excited about.

The Bronica Guy

Since I got my Bronica back in 2017, I’ve produced so much content with it (and about it) that some people started to identify me as the Bronica guy.

Many stumbled upon my work while looking for information about these cameras (and film in general). Over time, a large part of my audience was built around the Bronica.

My camera was becoming more important than what I was creating with it.

As I realized about this, I started to wonder if those new eyeballs were looking at my images or at my camera. Would they stop being interested in my photography if I didn't shoot the Bronica? Would they look away if I shot digital?

I doubted myself and my work.

The Bronica had taught me so much about photography. And yet, it was making me feel trapped, even if this was a mostly self-imposed sentiment.

I knew what I had to do: to the disappointment of many, I decided to leave the Bronica behind on this trip. Not only because it'd be a pain to carry, but also because I could break that Bronica guy label once and for all.

This was one of my most productive trips and I'm very proud of the work I did on the road. It's all digital, it feels liberating, and I can't wait to use my Bronica again.

Life update from Galicia: the adventure begins now

I didn't post anything on the blog yesterday. I think it was the first day that went by without new content in months!

There was a good reason, though: after waiting for 4 months, the new car is finally here!

Making images while traveling

This means that our time here in Galicia is about to end, as we'll start traveling as soon as this Sunday. Galicia will remain as our base camp, headquarters, whatever you want to call it, but we'll be on the move most of the time.

More trips means many new images and videos coming.

Film images will take a bit longer, though. I'm not planning on bringing the "darkroom" with me like I did in America, instead I'll develop all the rolls once I'm back at HQ.

Traveling also means I'll have less time to spend in front of the computer -the end of the summer will help with this as well- thus I will have to organize in a different way to keep the content coming, here and elsewhere.

Where I will be in the next few months

Where will we be going, you ask?

That's a good question. The answer is... not sure, yet.

I like to change plans a lot, so take this with a grain of salt, but as of right now: in the next few months and until next summer we'll be visiting and spending quite some time (one to three months in each place) in Portugal, France, the UK and the US.

Can't wait!