‘‘The sunset catcher’’. Capturing dreams and moments. My story into photography.

It was a certain wonderful autumn day, the wind was blowing gently, the leaves of the trees were rustling, there was, let's say, the smell of autumn, of late autumn, but it was an ordinary day, full of energy. I was at the beginning of my journey into the world of coffee culture, trying out cafes, tasting and trying to differentiate notes, nuances, from Ethiopia, from Peru, from all sorts of places. At the beginning there was also a café, in Scandinavian style, which elevated coffee making to an art form, and more, it offered you the story of coffee, from bean to what you taste from that magical cup, and its ambiance helped you to transport yourself there, right to the native places of coffee.

Slowly but surely a culture, a coffee community was being created, and even though I didn't know it then, I somehow felt it and frequented it, frequented it because it brought me closer to a state of mind I empathized with. I made quite a big parenthesis, but I promise it's relevant and it speaks about passion, because that's exactly what happened, a passion developed. It was an interesting day for me because I had in my backpack, in a brand new box, the new iPhone from back then, I was excited and I wanted to unbox it, enjoying a cup of coffee. I was 15 years old and I had heard about photography for a long time, but something inexplicable brought me closer and closer to it. After I opened the phone nicely, tested it out, put it on the table and enjoyed it, the moment, the experience. Being close to sunset, a golden light gently hit the glass of the café window, and on the thin lenses of the iPhone's camera, made of sapphire, such beautiful hues began to reflect, that I couldn't help but be captivated.

I looked deeply at them, and I couldn't believe the magical colors that exist on Earth, it's a blessing to see them. I couldn't help but take out my phone and take a photograph. I had no idea if what I was doing was right, because I knew nothing about technical and compositional parameters, I was clueless, but still with an affinity for colors, creativity, and imagination. I started photographing the sky in different ways and forms, I couldn't stop anymore. Instantly, it felt like time froze, it was just me and the camera and that's it. The light faded away, and the shades of orange and pale pink slowly disappeared. I met with a friend afterwards, to whom I showed what I had done and he said: ‘‘Wow! You should start an Instagram account’’, the platform being in its early stages in the country, and I being very hesitant when it comes to social media. Nevertheless, I made one and started posting photos of sunsets every day. I was becoming more and more obsessed with sharing those moments and having a collection of sunsets, it was something of my own, of which I was proud and happy. It made me happy. I started searching for videos, tutorials on how to do this, how to better capture those moments, and slowly, I discovered the editing process, and other things that connected me to photography, more and more. It didn't take long before I understood well what ISO, shutter speed, or aperture meant, I understood certain concepts, even though I never had the chance to play with them on a camera, and my phone didn't have such features. But they fascinated me. I looked at cameras in stores that cost a fortune, I couldn't afford them, but I dreamed of getting my hands on one too, and even though I was skeptical and confused, I knew deep down that I would get them, I believed and felt it with all my being. It didn't take long before I started receiving different messages on Instagram, about how beautiful what I was doing with sunsets was, about how I did it, it was something new to me.

I ended up having a community, because I was doing something that connected certain people to a passion, it was such a beautiful, indescribable feeling. I spent 10 hours a day just learning, just exploring, just testing new perspectives, and mind you, I started with a smartphone camera, a phone. There came a day when, from someone very dear to me, I received a large part of the budget needed to buy a Canon, I already knew what I wanted, I studied for over a year, and at that moment, I bought it. You can't imagine what feeling I had when the box arrived, I was crying. I was... I was in my own movie. I remember going out into the woods and taking the first photos with an 85mm, a special zoom. I photographed some flowers, and the way they turned out fascinated me. I started reaching out to artists, photographers, passionate people. I surrounded myself with people from whom I had to learn, I explored, day by day. It was my obsession. I ended up working at the coolest studio in my city, I told them my story and... and they accepted me. They taught me so many things, you have no idea. I'm forever grateful for that. Every experience brought me immense knowledge, but I was also open to learning, to accepting constructive criticism, to learning from others, to learning to be self-taught, to read, to participate in workshops, to want more. This is a very important step you need to take, very important, because the people around you, empathy with them, are the key to a career. The online community helped me a lot too, because thanks to it, I was invited to all sorts of workshops, people saw what I was doing, I was slowly becoming a brand, without knowing what that meant. Well, it's a stretch to call it a brand, but you get the idea. As time went on, I decided to do all sorts of things on social media, not to find myself in some things, to be overwhelmed by others, I think that's normal, and it comes with experience and age. So, that was my beginning, which brought me to where I am today. I always intertwined this passion with traveling, because I always loved to travel and discover new cultures and horizons, to see the wonders of the world. A thing which at the beginning, I thought was impossible, because I didn't travel at all. That came spontaneously too, I started traveling in three years to an enormous amount of places, I combined it with photography, with the passion for coffee, they became something that forms a state of mind. I thought with this little story, to offer you some details that can help you become better, to motivate you, to help you make decisions.

From that innocent child, full of passion, to invitations from important people in the industry and the opportunity to work with major brands, it's a blessing; even now, I don't have words to describe it. Nevertheless, I feel like I'm still at the beginning of the road, that I still have a lot to learn, and that I don't know many things. It's such a complex field that I believe the learning process never stops; you can never become a photography guru, it's a myth, a story, an allusion, such a thing doesn't exist. This is also why I believe that a photograph cannot be bad because it's art, and art cannot be bad; it cannot have this label. Sure, it can be categorized, it can be segmented, but it cannot be bad. Photography at the beginning was pure journalism; it was a simple means of capturing things meant to facilitate daily life, in medicine, in the press, in the community, by no means something at the level of art; there were no trends, there were not so many labels. They appeared with the development of society and were refined with the introduction and development of artistic concepts, creative concepts, and so on, but it still remains one of the greatest technologies on our planet. The fact that you can share so much with others, the fact that you can make them transcend into places, moments, and experiences is something special. That's why when I'm asked, I tell people not to listen to opinions from people who don't know what they're talking about, not to get demotivated because if you truly believe - but truly, truly believe, you don't give up, you're consistent, you learn, you make sacrifices, and you work enormously hard towards this dream, photography can open horizons you didn't even know about; it can fulfill you in ways you can't even believe. It's something so unique. Try to shape your own style, to put something in it that represents you, something from your soul, without listening to too many opinions about what's good or bad. A good person in photography, if we can define such a concept, will never tell you that what you're doing is bad, that it's terrible, that it's not in its place, but will encourage you and will tell you specifically what you've done wrong because we cannot not make mistakes, and we cannot learn without making mistakes; mistake and failure are two keys to success.

When you start with photography, especially when you transition it into a business, you need to know that no matter what you do, networking is your key to various opportunities, and empathy with others plays a crucial role. It's important to have a beautiful portfolio, it's important to find that something that sets you apart from others, but it's important to be around people you empathize with. And that something, be careful, because now, you can do many things that can bring you closer to success, but be careful, because you will need to make sacrifices, to make decisions, because not everyone in the industry is friendly, you know. I admit, photography is by no means an easy path, entrepreneurship is not easy either. It's a path filled with trials, with failures, with sleepless nights, with moments when you have to reinvent yourself. You know that saying: "Get a real job, what job is this anyway?", which I've heard so many times and I believe many of you have heard it too. It's not far from the truth sometimes, that's how you feel. Instability, tough moments can mess with our minds. But if you believe, work, and succeed, think of it this way. You're doing what you love and working in a field you love, it's so important.

Long ago, when I first began to dabble in photography, and as I mentioned above, sunsets were my most photographed subject, as I was fascinated by everything that sunsets, skies, and colors entailed. Over time, they were the ones that sparked my interest in exploring, knowing, and seeing unique places that I only dreamed of. St. Augustine tells us that:

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."

In a short time, I began to have the chance to see places I had only dreamed of, to discover and "read" more and more chapters, and then to have a great desire to share the experiences of these wonderful places with those around me. Recently, I have started actively working on a visual album, titled just like the title of this article. Everything was born from the desire to put on display unique moments, experiences, ideas, and fascinating cultures, all through the lens of visual communication. It is an immense project that will take me from the unique terrain of Madeira Island, lost somewhere in the Atlantic, to places I cannot even speak about today. In this way, the foundations are laid for an educational visual project, with and about biodiversity, travel, all seen through textures, shades, and unique fragments. As important as the moment is as an element in photography, with its spontaneity and naturalness when captured, making time stand still for a moment, it is equally important in our daily lives. I believe... often we do not realize that all we have is the moment, and its value is finite in time, just like our activity here. Simply believe in your dream and you can go absolutely anywhere you want.