2021: When life gives you lemons you make…

A bittersweet year, full of amazing adventures, the opportunity to meet wonderful humans and a year focused on new goals: that’s how I would describe 2021 from my perspective. When life gives you lemons you can make some lemonade, yeah… But when things go the right way, with the right ingredients, you may try some lemon tart. And when things seem to go to opposite way, grab the lemons and drink some tequila with it. Whatever the situations we’re facing, I’ve learned during this year that we have to simply embrace every moment, the good ones and bad ones, and take the best of it.

Here’s some of the shots of my favorite works of 2021. Not everything I’ve done is in this post, but I think it would be appropriate to share some of it. I hope you like these.

See you soon,
With love,
Catarina.

Let’s start with one of the things that clearly marked my year was the amount of work me and Zahra did together. It was truly a great surprise for me to meet a content creator, influencer, pilot*, whatever you want to call her, that fully respect my work and vision as a photographer and was always willing to work with me in every appropriate opportunity. Not only we developed a great work flow but also an unexpected friendship.

So thank you a lot, Zahra.

*it’s a private joke between us.

After all these bad times we’re living, as we remember, the beginning of this year was again marked with the pandemic numbers going high… March was a pure blessing. I was extremely happy and overwhelmed for the amount of love I received during that week, when it finally came back to life this project that Margarida was planning for so long. We were meeting up since November 2020 to plan this shoot, and to feel that we accomplished our goal really fulfills my heart until this day. La Que Sabe is a Portuguese brand that focuses on

Big thanks to Casa Vadia for letting us shoot in their place. Another enormous thank you to all the beautiful women evolved in this, who took place in front of my lenses, Tuna, Diana, Natalie and Lara. Always grateful to work by the side my friend Catarina Duque and the wonderful Ana Marta Dias who I had the pleasure to work with before. Last but not least, Margarida, Luís and António, thank you guys so much for making me part of this unique project.

Couldn’t resist to share this portrait of our team, when we wrapped the shooting.

Fátima is a wonderful human being that crossed my journey in 2021. She actually saw me while I was working on Craveiral during last year, and kept me in mind for a few months before getting in touch with me. For me it’s very touching the way this woman trusted my vision trough this year, and also all the things I’ve learned with her while staying behind my lenses. Two of those things is to not be afraid of taking the right risks and to love yourself for who you are. Thank you, Fátima.

And here’s just a few of my favorite portraits of her.

Natalie and I have worked together before, and for me, it’s always a pleasure when a client comes back and trusts my vision. This time, we created some content for her business website and Instagram. You can learn more about it here:

Speaking of working again with amazing humans, it was a pleasure for me to spend this afternoon with Márcia, and shoot for her brand Nazareth in this beautiful location an hour away from Lisbon some of you may know, but it’s Comporta. It was a warm summer day, with a beautiful sunset view and an unique landscape… all the perfect conditions for a photoshoot.

Founded by Fátima and Afonso and born this year, Cool Explorers is a a licensed tourism agent that focuses on providing unique experiences and making each customer fall in love with Portugal by sharing the best the country has to offer for people from all over the world. It was such a fun day shooting with them and exploring some of my favorite places in Sintra.

Another content creator that I had the pleasure to work with during this year, was André Chaiça. I love his creativity and all the care and dedication he puts into his work and beautiful images that you can find easily on Instagram or Tiktok. Can’t wait to shoot with you again!

Around May, I invited Beatriz to shoot a couple of portraits at Casa Arco, for her project Lady dos Lenços. Naturally, I was already inspired by her strength and the project, but meeting Beatriz in person made me admire more someone who had so many beautiful stories to tell, a great sense of humor and a contagious laughter. Beatriz set the goal to help other women fighting with cancer, to feel more comfortable with themselves, by sending them scarfs.

Always good to come back to the Algarve and work with friends, and this Summer I had the opportunity to shoot for Tiago’s new Airbnb located in Olhão, Casa Bali. It was not an easy task, especially because the house was still under construction and we had to shoot for three days (in separate months), but I am so happy with the results and to once more, realize how team work can always surpass any challenge.

Another human that I enjoyed to work with several times during this year was Maria Andrade. Maria is an extremely talented actress, model and beautiful inside out. I am so grateful for all the shooting we’ve done during this year, and ideas that we were able to put in real life and not just our minds. I am extremely grateful for that.

On a beautiful sunny day back in August, I had the pleasure to shoot with an amazing team for the new portuguese jewellery brand: Alyattes.

The idea was born and the inspiration comes from an artisan who lived in one of the first empires on Earth, where nature served as an escape to create special pieces.

Big thanks to António and Sara, the owners of the brand and the minds behind these beautiful pieces. And obviously, an enormous thank you to my amazing team during this day: Zahra and Ella as models and the awesome Beatriz Texugo who was responsible for the makeup art.

I think that is so important for a woman to feel confident and beautiful with her own self inside and out. From skin care to infusions, we did a lot of shots during a warm day of August for Frederica. Had also the huge pleasure to shoot a lot with film during this day and again, couldn’t be more happy with the results.

Big thanks to Vanessa Martins — the owner of Frederica — for the opportunity to work with her.
Also enormous thank you to my awesome team during this day: Margarida Rodrigues — the creative director, Sara Castro — styling and makeup. And last but certainly not least, our beautiful model — Benedita.