Sessions of Light

A 365 project that became a documentary of my days.

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Ninh Binh, North Vietnam.

September 2016.

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Perfume Pagoda, North Vietnam

The time I felt like I was truly inside an Indiana Jones movie. The Perfume Pagoda itself may be wonderful to contemplate, but it doesn’t come close to the glorious cave it holds when you hike a bit further down.

Can’t recommend this enough, especially late in the day when it’s peaceful and quiet enough that you can hear the water droplets falling down, ever so gracefully.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

September 2016

Day two in Hanoi, fully recovered from non existing jet lag. I think the city wakes you up to your full potential just as you’re walking around, there’s no time or place to complain or even feel like you’re jet lagged.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

September 2016.

Day 1 exploring the streets of Hanoi, completely overwhelmed with the sensory overload coming from just about everywhere. The sights, the smells, the noises... everything raging. This would just be the beginning of an incredible journey, which I’ll do my best to properly share with you.

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I’ll never get tired of this view.

Feeling slightly lost and unable to sleep, going for a walk on a Friday night around 1am in Kreuzberg is the perfect reminder that life continues to happily happen all around you. 

It was completely dark; you could barely see the water. Luckily a 12″ exposure does miracles, and most of this light was naturally coming from the moon.

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Someone keeps leaving Absolut Vodka’s bottles on top of this mailbox, about twice a week, for at least 3 or 4 months now. This seems to be Berlin’s late night medicine.

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I was trembling as I shot this.

“The shutter will make noise; she’ll wake up and shout at me.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t take it. Shit, I still don’t know how to ask for permission in German. Kann ich die Fotografie sie, maybe? Is that rude?”

“Fuck fuck fuck. Why do I want a picture of her anyway? To feel better about myself? A reminder to be grateful? I’m sure she enjoyed that watermelon more than I ever could.”

“Fuck this, I’m taking the picture.”

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I distinctly remember waking up, around 6.45am and looking at this scene in the living room. The shadow play was mesmerising, and I shot it thinking “this is the saddest picture I’ve ever taken”.

Yet somehow, I was completely at peace with that thought.

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Pavillon am Ufer.

Berlin, June 2016.

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Berlin, June 2016.

It’s been a while since I last posted here. To be honest, I haven’t been shooting much; it took me a whopping 6 months to finish a 36 roll of film. Photography is a funny, intimate thing: it can easily dictate your mood, or be influenced by it, very much depending on how fragile your notion of self is at a particular moment.

This beautiful Kreuzbergian scene, captured exactly as I pictured it. The sun at its finest golden hour, the soft reflections of the water and the shy indian summer colours. Yet, I remember distinctly feeling completely detached from the scene as I was shooting it. Certainly a bittersweet moment. 

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Planterwald, Berlin.

A must go-to... more than once.

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Let me be, I’m animaling just fine, thank you. It’s what I do.

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Being a tourist again in Berlin.

Though to be fair, I had never visited the Berliner Dome before, and I can’t say I’m disappointed! If you ever make it there, make sure to go at a time where you can listen to the glorious 7000 pipe organ being played... worth it.

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Nikolaiviertel, Berlin.

June 2016. We all love it, let’s just admit it now.

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Prague, Czech Republic

I spent a lot of time by the Vltava river in Prague. Just like I spend a lot of time by the canal in Berlin, or by the Thames in London. Being surrounded by the grandiosity of flowing water seems to have become essential to my inner mind peace.

And despite this, I’m still a horrible swimmer.

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Prague, top of the Klementinum.

The most beautiful library you’ll see. Ever.

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The hidden streets of Prague

Prague reminds me a lot of my original city, Porto. The cobble stones, the hidden little alleys, the you-can-find-anything-around-the-corner feeling while you’re walking around not knowing what you’re gonna see next.

The way the lights hit the pavement when sunset is coming.

The unique, distinct sounds of footsteps of the couples walking in the pavement.