Book features 164 photos spanning the decades between 1970 and 1990
A new book featuring photos of Olhão between 1976 and 1990 taken by local self-taught photographer Luís Torres will be officially presented at the municipal auditorium on Friday (April 26) at 6.30pm.
‘Quando éramos só nós’ (When it was just us) is published by the municipal council of Olhão and features 164 black and white photographs which provide an “almost anthropological portrait of Olhão and the people of Olhão,” mainly in the 1980s.
Everything from the town’s most iconic locations, such as its market, to its taverns, children and fishermen are documented in the book.
“This is my contribution to those whom I photographed. With this book, I offer my legacy to the history of the town and its residents, giving back what they also provided to me freely,” said the photographer, who was born in 1957 and still lives on Olhão. “They gave me the opportunity to have the pleasure of photographing them freely, and now I give them this book, with my images, so that those years, those people, those moments of life in society, those houses, and those streets are never forgotten”.
Born into a low-income family, Luís Torres started working when he was just 11 years old at a fish warehouse near his parents’ house, which they shared out of necessity with two other families. As he was working and studying at the same time, he had little time to play.
“Looking back, I realise I learned a lot and matured quickly. Difficulties sharpen our capacities, and those years were also a school of principles for my life, which are still with me today and give me a way of looking at the world which is very much my own and different from usual,” Torres said.
His passion for photography came later at the age of 18. “It was intentional. I wanted to learn, and I started from scratch, I didn’t know anything,” he said.
He started out with a “very simple” plastic camera he borrowed from his uncle, experimenting on his own and then developing the photos at a local printer. He was also friends with the children of the Côrte-Real family, which had recently returned to Olhão from Angola to set up a photography studio. This connection also helped him develop his photography skills and learn to develop, amplify, and print the photos he took. Torres also took a long-distance photography course and later set up his own photography lab inside one of the restrooms of his apartment.
Now equipped with a higher-end Nikon F and several lenses, he would travel across the Algarve and the Alentejo on weekends, taking photos with his friends. He was unaware of the European and international photography trends, instead being inspired by the photographers who participated in local and national competitions.
His horizons were broadened, however, when he first participated in the Coimbra Photography Meetings (Encontros Fotográficos de Coimbra) and met photographers from around the world, who led him to question explore “other ways” of photographing.
Regarding the photos featured in his new book, Luís Torres said that his motivation was always to “photograph the people I knew, who I could analyse and understand. That’s what interested me most. Photographing my town, Olhão and its people. That forced me to think about Olhão, discover what was most interest and deserving of being registered and frozen in time to later be shown to those who wanted to learn of Olhão’s recent past and its people.”
The book, costing €30, will be available at a reduced price at the presentation event with part of the proceeds going to local charity Celeiro de Amor.
Original article written by Bruno Filipe Pires for Barlavento newspaper.
