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"Photography is my passion," says
Amâncio Alves do Couto |
Amâncio Alves do Couto lives for the moment when he can capture a scene that is worth a million words. He was born September 15, 1945, in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He studied in Escola Comercial e Industrial. He did menial jobs and eventually worked for the Portuguese government in positions he classified as "adventurous and challenging." He went to the former Portuguese Africa, the continent of his dreams, where he worked side by side with well renown journalists. Later he immigrated to Canada, where he still lives today. Once he really wanted to capture a scene and had no camera. That moment is still painful. His love for photography is the greatest passion in his life. Canada's landscape increased Amâncio's love for photography. He has worked for many sports newspapers, plus, as a freelance photographer. Nature and humanity have captured his imagination. Amâncio has always dreamed of traveling the world to see the reality of life in our planet. In that quest, he has visited several countries already. He feels that his raison d'être is to photograph everything and everyone that is near and far. Amâncio has taken courses in photography, but just taking courses is not everything. He has been inspired by the great work of Ansel Adams, a world renown photographer, and other talented printers and friends like Manuel Soares and Euclides Cavaco, a poet, for whom he has great respect. Fernando Cruz Gomes, a well know journalist, and technician Rex Mero, have made a strong impression on Amâncio. He hates photography contests and awards because he believes that there should be no winners and losers in the quest to film the beauty of nature. For Amâncio there is no distinction amongst an amateur and a professional photographer. As a true artist, he says that money and fame are not his goal, but to create art in pictures "The right moment is the key for a great photograph," says Amâncio, who claims that a simple camera can create an outstanding frame, that light is the most important ingredient in photography. "One must look, think and shoot," says Amâncio. "You can take one million pictures, but perhaps only one can be worth a thousand words." He believes that luck plays a role in life and patience is a great virtue. "If you are a patient individual, you can capture the smallest insect eating a fruit and disregard an elephant bringing down a tree" Amâncio says. |