I am ashamed

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On the 25th of April, Portugal will celebrate thirty five years of democracy.

So they say...

On that April morning, young army officers finally put an end to Salazar's dictatorship.

A new era had began...

But the dream of equality, fraternity and mutual respect has long faded away.

We now have to deal with lies, greed and corruption.

We lost our dignity.

For some months now, almost everyone who crosses the door of my studio is struggling for surviving: they beg for something, or try to sell something.

I wish that I could give them a helping hand, but I struggle too.

The clients are long gone, the telephone seldom rings...

I am ashamed of beeing part of this society!

Each day I have a little faith...

Dear Landlord

Please don't put a price on my soul

My burden is heavy

My dreams are beyond control


When that steamboat whistle blows

I'm gonna give you all I got to give

And I do hope you receive it well

Dependin' on the way you feel that you live


Dear Landlord

Please hear these words that I speak

I know you've suffered much

But in this you are not so unique


All of us at times we might work too hard

To have it too fast and too much

And anyone can fill his life up with things

He can see but he just cannot touch


Dear Landlord

Please don't dismiss my case

I'm not about to argue

I'm not about to move to no other place


Now, each of us has his own special gift

And you know this was meant to be true

And if you don't underestimate me

I won't underestimate you.


Bob Dylan, "Dear Landlord"

(from the album "John Wesley Harding", 1967)

Some information about the photographs: the hand was pictured in Mannheim, Germany, September 1986.
I shot with a Rolleiflex 3.5 F equiped with a Carl Zeiss Planar 75mm lens, and loaded with Kodak Plus-X, developed in Kodak Microdol-X, 1+3.

My portrait was shot February 2009, and is courtesy of Helena Roque.

I happen to have on my neck the Rolleiflex that made the image above, and a Leica M5 with 50mm Summicron lens.

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