Photo of the Month (November 2024 Edition): Restart

 

A year ago, I published the first edition of “Photo of the Month”! As I anticipated from the beginning, this personal challenge would be a huge risk. Indeed, there were many times when I considered giving it up. Whether due to personal difficulties, a lack of photographic inspiration, limited opportunities to go out and shoot, or even just the laziness of writing to publish. All of that happened. Yet, this great risk became a driving force to keep me from quitting, and thanks to the challenge, I maintained consistency in my artistic output throughout the year.

 

The “Photo of the Month” posts also brought a second challenge: I didn’t want the blog to be entirely consumed by a single section. So, in addition to the photo, I committed to publishing a second text each month, with reflections on the current state of photography, exhibitions, inspirations, and anecdotes. This was great because writing is the best way to organize ideas—and for that, a lot of study is required.

 

I might even say that I dedicated as many hours—or more—studying and writing for the blog as I did photographing in the field or attending photography exhibitions and festivals. Due to the personal challenges that nearly prevented me from fulfilling the one-photo-a-month goal, the long-term projects I wanted to focus on also slowed down. The main one is “Cradle of Waters“, a documentation of the beauty and threats to Brazilian Cerrado, which unfortunately saw very little progress. I am also working on two other photographic projects, which I had hoped to launch this year, but I now realize it’s best to wait for a more suitable time in 2025.

 

All this effort has made me reflect a lot on whether it’s worth continuing with the “Photo of the Month” after a year. One of the initial ideas was to use photos from my ongoing projects for this challenge, which rarely happened—in fact, it only worked out with the photo published in June. On the other hand, stepping away from the projects also opened important doors and new possibilities for creative work.

 

I genuinely want to focus more on my projects and let go of random photos. But it’s also true that, with less time spent in the field dedicated to those projects, this challenge pushes me to think about compositions, to explore my surroundings beyond what I’m used to. So yes, the “Photo of the Month” stays—not as a continuation, but as a restart, at least for the next twelve photos.

 

It’s a restart because life is different, the context has changed, and the opportunities ahead will be different as well—in fact, the uncertainties have also taken on a new dimension. Last year, it felt right to begin the challenge with a photo of Tanzanita, a young lynx from the Sierra de Andújar in southern Spain. So why not repeat the gesture and restart with another young lynx?

 

The motivation for this is that October was an intense month, filled with rethinking many things, reconnecting with people I love, and reliving a bit of the life I had when I launched the challenge a year ago. And  reliving that moment without spending hours searching for an Iberian lynx photo just wouldn’t feel the same. That’s why I’m restarting in the same way, but very differently. The lynx in this photo is Uvita, Tanzanita’s younger sister by one year.

While looking back, Uvita gives one step forward—just as I did during my brief visit to the place where this blogging journey began. From here, I’ll keep moving, but now with my gaze set ever more firmly on the road ahead.

Photo of the Month (November 2024 Edition): Restart

 

A year ago, I published the first edition of “Photo of the Month”! As I anticipated from the beginning, this personal challenge would be a huge risk. Indeed, there were many times when I considered giving it up. Whether due to personal difficulties, a lack of photographic inspiration, limited opportunities to go out and shoot, or even just the laziness of writing to publish. All of that happened. Yet, this great risk became a driving force to keep me from quitting, and thanks to the challenge, I maintained consistency in my artistic output throughout the year.

 

The “Photo of the Month” posts also brought a second challenge: I didn’t want the blog to be entirely consumed by a single section. So, in addition to the photo, I committed to publishing a second text each month, with reflections on the current state of photography, exhibitions, inspirations, and anecdotes. This was great because writing is the best way to organize ideas—and for that, a lot of study is required.

 

I might even say that I dedicated as many hours—or more—studying and writing for the blog as I did photographing in the field or attending photography exhibitions and festivals. Due to the personal challenges that nearly prevented me from fulfilling the one-photo-a-month goal, the long-term projects I wanted to focus on also slowed down. The main one is “Cradle of Waters“, a documentation of the beauty and threats to Brazilian Cerrado, which unfortunately saw very little progress. I am also working on two other photographic projects, which I had hoped to launch this year, but I now realize it’s best to wait for a more suitable time in 2025.

 

All this effort has made me reflect a lot on whether it’s worth continuing with the “Photo of the Month” after a year. One of the initial ideas was to use photos from my ongoing projects for this challenge, which rarely happened—in fact, it only worked out with the photo published in June. On the other hand, stepping away from the projects also opened important doors and new possibilities for creative work.

 

I genuinely want to focus more on my projects and let go of random photos. But it’s also true that, with less time spent in the field dedicated to those projects, this challenge pushes me to think about compositions, to explore my surroundings beyond what I’m used to. So yes, the “Photo of the Month” stays—not as a continuation, but as a restart, at least for the next twelve photos.

 

It’s a restart because life is different, the context has changed, and the opportunities ahead will be different as well—in fact, the uncertainties have also taken on a new dimension. Last year, it felt right to begin the challenge with a photo of Tanzanita, a young lynx from the Sierra de Andújar in southern Spain. So why not repeat the gesture and restart with another young lynx?

 

The motivation for this is that October was an intense month, filled with rethinking many things, reconnecting with people I love, and reliving a bit of the life I had when I launched the challenge a year ago. And  reliving that moment without spending hours searching for an Iberian lynx photo just wouldn’t feel the same. That’s why I’m restarting in the same way, but very differently. The lynx in this photo is Uvita, Tanzanita’s younger sister by one year.

While looking back, Uvita gives one step forward—just as I did during my brief visit to the place where this blogging journey began. From here, I’ll keep moving, but now with my gaze set ever more firmly on the road ahead.