Amber 
27.00 € 


18 x 24 cm hardcover 
56 Pages, digital offset printing
160 gsm semi-matte coated paper
First edition of 100 
Printed in Portugal
In 2017, I finished college and moved to Gdansk, Poland, still very undecided about my future and career options. I embraced this change as a photographic challenge, and throughout the year I spent there, I always carried my camera with me. The photos I took during the early mornings on the way to the office and during travels around the country explore the contrasts I encountered in a reality very different from what I had in Portugal: the lightness of my independence away from home was countered by the loneliness I felt in some of the remote places I visited; the infinite light of the long summer days was replaced by the cold and darkness of a snowy winter; and the more I learned about the rich history of this country, the more moved I was by its tumultuous past, marked by wars and revolutions, with scars still visible in the landscape and in the people.
The book consists of 27 black and white images, mostly in square format for the balance and serenity I sought while photographing. In the process of selecting the images, I explored contradictions as a way to analyse the experience I had in Poland, five years after returning to Portugal.
I illustrated the cover with three pieces of amber that I collected on a beach near Gdansk, one morning after a stormy night. These semi-precious stones brought to the shore by the Baltic Sea represent one of the most vivid memories of the year I spent in Poland and also a message of hope - that after the storm, comes calm.
The design of the book was the result of collaboration with Luís Silvério, a longtime friend and co-founder of the 1/4escuro collective.