Black and White Assignment

Photoblogs or albums are made to register exquisite frozen moments -- the perfect fraction of a second... That second which is found within the existence of everyone and everything.

Unlike videos, photos are supposed to release meaning without motion; it won't move for it is pure frozen magic. It can't launch any odor since fragrances pass on and fade away due to motion. It will never sound since sound waves exist when moving.

I majored in Journalism from 1994 to 1997 in Brazil. Photojournalism was among my favorite college courses. The fact that it was an enjoyable subject to me didn't make me a good photographer, unfortunately. I wish I had taken that course more seriously. Maybe I could've learned a little more. I could've gotten the perfect snapshots but that actually never happened.

Earlier today, while checking some Sebastião Salgado photos on the Internet, I ran into a photograph which caused me to reconsider my old college assignment pictures. That photo linked into my "social glance" that I tried to keep in my early shots. I am very fond of black and white photos and Salgado's work is definitely outstanding, IMHO. Most of my college assignments were done Black&White. I went to my old files and figured - "who cares if these photos weren't professionally taken and developed?" I've gotta admit attempting being professional. I tried. I did as much as I could. I am aware that my college assigned photos never got any closer to Salgado's work (dah!) but it only made me wonder...

I'm older now. "I ain't a fuckin' journo! Aight!?!?!" A firm BOY would say... I am not gonna be ashamed of my old work. So, some of them ended up being posted at this photoblog. Those photos aren't good at all. They are provoking in its own way, anyway. In short, they are simply "laila-nice" and that's it. What does "laila-nice" mean? According to my poor visual and organizational skills, a "laila-nice" photograph may be depicting shades, perspectives of some sort, and especially "odor", "sound", texture, feelings and all that with or without meaning. To come up with a meaning had never been my goal. To accomplish the assignments back then, yeah!

Most of the pictures found on that photospot are latest - some of them were taken a month ago. If you decide to take a peek at them, you oughtta know that you'll find portraits, landscapes, erotic figures (those haven't been posted yet), nature elements, children (love them), and many other assignments there. Hope you like them. I've decided to start this photoblog, even feeling lousy about my own snapshots, because I appreciate taking photos to pass on not only 'possible-meanings' but also to reveal the plain power of that frozen magic which lies in each fraction of a second in the existence of all beings and things.

This is a snapshot taken thanks to the timer of my good old Yashica FX-3