waiting for Henrique || à espera do Henrique

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing one of my closest friends and her family. She was about to have her new baby, a boy named Henrique, so we did a short but adorable session at the park.

Gabriela, their older daughter, was delighted to be the center of attention and it allowed for some wonderful shots. And knowing how she reacted to her baby brother when she saw him (he was born a couple of days after this shoot) she was right to be excited. They're the most adorable pair!

Bloglovin' reminder!

Hello, dear friends!

I'm being a little bit of a pain in the rear and reminding you again that Google Reader is closing in three days, so if you haven't started following Luminous Photography on Bloglovin', you should do it right now!

The only reason I'm suggesting Bloglovin' is because it is the blog reader I most commonly use, and from personal experience, the most efficient. You are free to follow us anywhere you want, just make sure you keep up with our work and allow us to stay on touch with you as well!

Have a lovely end of week!

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Olá amigos!

Estou a ser um bocadinho chata e a lembrar-vos que o Google Reader fecha daqui a três dias, por isso se ainda não seguiram a Luminous Photography no Bloglovin', está na hora de o fazer!

A única razão pela qual eu sugiro o Bloglovin' é por ser a ferramenta de leitura de blogues que eu mais uso e que, depois de usar outras, me parece a mais eficiente. Como é óbvio, podem seguir-nos onde preferirem, mas não deixem de o fazer, e de nos permitir ficar em contacto convosco também! 

Tenham um bom resto de semana!

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Edited to add the link that allows you to import your Google Reader list to BlogLovin'!
Editado para adicionar o link que permite importar a nossa lista de blogues para o BlogLovin'!

http://www.bloglovin.com/import/reader

senhor de matosinhos

June is finally here, and with it comes my favorite time of the year: the city parties. Here in Portugal, it's common for several parts of town to get parties (what Americans call 'state fairs' or so), starting in May and ending in September. One of my favorites happens in one of our suburb cities, Matosinhos.

I love going there. My friends and I make a point of going most every year; it's the joy of eating 'churros' and listening to horrible music, the colors everywhere, the smell of sardines and green peppers in the grill that make everything so vibrant and sweet. It's almost a sensory overload — but not really, because it's so beautiful at the same time.

I tried to capture the best of it for you guys. I hope you like it as much as I did.
Junho já cá está, finalmente, e com ele a minha época do ano preferida: a das festas populares. Aqui em Portugal, já se sabe que é comum haver festas espalhadas por várias partes da cidade, a começar em Maio e a acabar em Setembro. Uma das minha preferidas acontece numa cidade vizinha, Matosinhos. 

Eu adoro ir ao Senhor de Matosinhos. Eu e as minhas amigas fazemos questão de ir (quase) todos os anos; é a alegria de comer churros e farturas, ouvir música horrenda, as cores em todo lado, o cheiro a sardinhas assadas com pimentos que tornam tudo mais vivo. É quase uma overdose visual, mas não, porque é tão bonito ao mesmo tempo. 

Eu tentei capturar o melhor para partilhar convosco. Espero que gostem!

[more beyond the link |  mais para lá do link]

The French Fries

I know, I know, as usual I've been away. I'm trying to correct that. But life has been completely mad, between having a family member hospitalized for a week and taking care of her, having a lot of work to do, getting a new camera (I KNOW! I'm so excited, but I'll get there in the next post!), I sort of slacked on the blog.

I'm here now, though, and I'm ready to share with you the pictures of a photoshoot I did with the lovely Carolina from The French Fries. Her blog is wonderful and she was lovely to work with; she did everything I asked and I don't think she found me too weird. Did you, Carolina? I hope not!

Either way, here is the result! Thanks Carol for being sweet enough to collaborate with me!

new camera!

So, you'll realize that this post should have come after the French Fries post, but I'm so excited that I'll share it anyway!

I have a new camera! A nikon D600, which is a full-frame camera — an upgrade that I should have done about a year ago, but I was lacking on funds. Until now. I finally took the leap and I can honestly tell you that the difference is astounding. 

I had been struggling with sharpness for a while. I looked at everyone else's pictures and I was heartbroken that I couldn't make mine look that clear, that focused. I tried and tried to go over it on photoshop, but it did close to nothing — ending up leaving me sad and frustrated and not even wanting to photograph. 

Until I bought the D600. 

I realized that the problem wasn't exactly mine, but the camera's. The full-frame makes a huge difference — the photos are clear and sharp and wonderful. It's amazing. And here are some of the examples!

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Se lerem bem o post vão perceber que este era suposto vir a seguir ao da French Fries, mas eu estou num entusiasmo tal que não aguento esperar até ao fim da tarde! 

Tenho uma câmara nova! Uma Nikon D600, que é full-frame — e que eu já devia ter há coisa de um ano, mas a verdade é que me faltavam fundos. Até agora! Consegui dar o salto, finalmente, e constatar que a diferença é abismal. 

Há algum tempo que eu andava a lutar um bocadinho contra a falta de nitidez e de clareza das minhas fotos. Eu olhava para o trabalho todo à minha volta e ficava de coração partido ao aperceber-me que não conseguia fazer o mesmo; tentando em photoshop ou na própria máquina, não havia nada que desse aquela nitidez, aquele contraste às minhas fotos. E isso deixou-me imensamente frustrada. 

Até comprar a D600.

Apercebi-me que o problema não era exactamente meu, mas da minha máquina anterior. O facto de a D600 ter um sensor que permite o dito full-frame faz toda a diferença e torna as fotos absolutamente maravilhosas. Eu estou histérica de felicidade. E ficam aqui alguns exemplos!

This was the first picture I took. ||  Esta foi a primeira foto que tirei!

the cat in the woods

the cat in the woods

it's somewhere in this patch of the woods. it's here. It has to be. this is where she buried it and oh my god, she can't have lost it, not now, not when the flames are coming. she needs to find it. mushrooms, plants, small insects. there are bones from the carcasses of small rodents and her finger lingers on the bone for an instant, waits for the soul of the mouse or rabbit to patch itself onto her finger and moves on. one more soul, one more creature. she has almost enough.

her feet are cold against the tree trunk she is standing on. she can hear the men in the back, shouting, asking the women to take the children, take the animals they can. the fire is coming to take the village and there's not much they can do. but she does need to find it. she needs it desperately.

if she doesn't find it, she won't be able to carry the souls of the dead.

she considers dropping the soul of the small animal to leave more space for the humans, but she knows she won't be able to. all souls are alike, she was told. humans or animals, they are equal. neither has predominance.

a small rat makes its way through the wood and stops, stares at her. she hisses. the rat isn't impressed, but the tiny paws come together and she knows it's one of her own. she's probably looking for souls to save, as well. they share a look and the rat moves on.

'take them for me, would you?' she whispers, and she swears she can see the faintest nod. she can go back to searching for the vial. it's somewhere in here.

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I hope you like this. I really, really, really hope you like this, because today I finally feel like I'm telling stories again. this photo feels like a new beginning, like coming home, like doing what I love. I'm actually happy about it. And all I had to do was to get out of the house and shoot. i realized this week that I hadn't taken my stuff and gone into the woods to shoot in almost a year and a half. I forced myself to do it on wednesday, because it was sunny and warm and I wanted to try out my 1.4 in the wild — and this came out. I am so very happy about it. I hope you are too.

And let's hope I'm able to keep up doing this, and not slacking like I have been until now.

Thank you so much for your immense support, dear friends. You guys are amazing.

I am less than fifty followers away from 2,000, on my facebook page! Don't forget to like it and to tell your friends, I am doing a print giveaway as soon as I reach 2k!
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I will keep asking: do not blog my photos without credit AND linking back; do not use weheartit.com to bookmark my photos and please please PLEASE don't instagram my work. Thanks to those of you who respect these requests.

Hello, my darling friends! 

Since the news came out this week that google reader is closing by July 1, I thought I should remind you all to follow this blog on other platforms. Personally, I prefer bloglovin' (and clicking on the picture above will take you right to the Luminous Photography bloglovin' page, so all you have to do is click follow *wink wink*), but if you have any other platforms you'd like to share, please let me know! 

Thanks for following me! You're all wonderful!

Olá meus queridos amigos!

Desde que saiu a notícia, esta semana, de que o Google Reader vai fechar a 1 de Julho, lembrei-me que vos deveria recomendar que sigam este blogue em outras plataformas. Pessoalmente, eu prefiro o bloglovin' (e se carregarem na foto, vão ter directamente à página deste blogue no bloglovin', por isso é só mesmo carregar no botão 'seguir' *wink*), mas se conhecerem outras plataformas que queiram partilhar, é só fazê-lo nos comentários! 

Obrigada por seguirem este blogue! São todos fantásticos!