About the Illustrations in My Book: “Meu Próprio Livro”

The text below “Photography as a Hobby” will be part of my version of “Meu Próprio Livro” in English, which I’m translating to publish as soon as I can. The self-help book of articles and chronicles will be illustrated in the same way the one in Portuguese is with the pics I’ve been taking for some time as a hobby, including several of them that are very recent. I value  the professional photographers, and I think photography is an art, as I say in the text below. In this case, however, I made it a point to use my own pics because I’ve destined some of them to make collages I like and I also turned all of them into BW images through some effects. As a full color book is very expensive to print, I published it also in a version in BW, but I launched it in a full color paperback because it’s the same material I used in the full color illustrated e-book, which, in the case, is much more reasonable in price.

I wouldn’t have been able to afford professional illustrations in my indie publication, but I sure recommend them to those who can have this service as well as professional pics. But, in my case, these amateur pics I used to illustrated the book mean a lot to me, and though they are simple, without the techniques and expertise professionals use I thought they were perfect to illustrated my articles and chronicles book because of their meaning. These are pics I’ve been taking during outings with my family, or while I exercise in the park, or while walking or biking.

They are pics full of feelings, which I took when I was happy, or overwhelmed by the simple but at the same splendid beauty of my surroundings, when I was overcoming some obstacles, when I was full of hope for the future, when I was feeling blessed to be healthy and alive, and confident enough to be in those places. Lots of those pics were taken with the pure joy of being well after overcoming a very difficult period in my life, which I’ll comment better with time.

I made my book from scrap, all of it, spending no money, the way it was possible and available to me through an amateur edition _ though with no less care or diligence for that reason _, and I can humbly say I’m very proud of the result.

As Aprendizes de Escritores/Writers’ Apprentices is a blog about writing, among other things, I hope this book of mine, which is a dream that has finally come true and has given me incentive to dedicate myself to other projects as well, serves as an extra encouragement for all of those who also want to publish their things.

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Photography as a Hobby

     I love to take pictures, but with a simple camera, as most people do. They’re pictures of an amateur, unpretentious pictures I’ve always taken the way I know, without the aesthetic considerations and techniques of the area professionals. I also enjoy creating collages and mosaics with these pictures.

     They are pictures I take during common outings, especially of landscapes, flowers, parks, or even of interesting things on the streets…  There are amazing urban landscapes. I use to photograph almost everything I think is beautiful, pleasant _ things I like to eternalize together with my memories (those memories of good times when we feel so great). Of the zoo giraffe only, for instance, I must have some two hundred pictures! But I take pictures as a hobby because I’m in the Letters area.

     It’s not the camera that takes the pictures, but the photographer. There’s, therefore, a big difference between professional and amateur photographers like me. Those who take pictures as amateurs, do it as a hobby and just for fun.

     Professional photographers are sensitive and they’ve got the gift to take the best out of an image with theirs lens and transmit it to those who see it later. They study a lot, they master the use of their equipment and use several techniques. They know the best angles, make the due framing and perfectly catch the light. Photography is an art.

     Thus, no matter how sophisticated the equipment, nothing can replace the real photographer when it comes to professional photography.