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Let's start from the beginning, especially because I don't even know if we've met before or if you just know me from Instagram. My name is Gonçalo M. Catarino and I've been a full time freelance photographer for the last 10 years. If you've been following my online content for a while, you may have noticed that I do have other interests beyond Photography. You can find more info about the personal projects I’ve created on the “About” page. This G's Notes newsletter is my second newsletter. It will not be a translation of GStudio's Newsletter, which I've been writing on a monthly basis for several years now. G's Notes will be a peek into my personal notes. Most are related to philosophy, psychology and history - but on a practical level. Photography is still my favorite form of expression, but I found in writing, a better of way for organising my thoughts, ideas, and all the stuff that I absorb from what surrounds me. WHY DON’T I JUST USE TWITTER, THREADS, INSTAGRAM OR MY OLD BLOG? Well, when it comes to social media, I've been playing that game for more than 15 years... MySpace, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat... I've tried them all. And I still use a couple of them; I'm not closing any of my accounts. But the constant changes of the algorithm and the pressure to play by their rules are not really my thing. I understand why they do it but I don't like the game. As I said, I'm still "active" in a couple of them, for professional reasons and because I'm an observer. I like to watch people's behaviour and social media is still one of the best places for that. And, every once in a while, I do actually find and meet some very interesting people thanks to these platforms - gotta give them credit for that! Speaking of which... why am I writing in English? Over the years, I've had the chance to meet and work with a lot of non-Portuguese people. Hopefully, G's Notes will also be a way of staying in touch with them. Why not use social media for that? Besides what I mentioned before, I see a “structural” issue in social media platforms - the short and easy content - which is one of the reasons contributing to a lot of misinformation, poor choices, lack of attention and often, a waste of time… I mean, let’s be honest… after scrolling for 10 minutes on social media, what’s your take away? Sure, there’s nothing wrong with 10 minutes here and there, but throughout your day or week, how many minutes (be honest!) do you spend scrolling and what benefit does that bring to your personal or professional life? I used a screen time app to help me track the time I spend on Instagram and Twitter... 1 hour per day of no-specific-purpose-scrolling = 7 hours per week. That’s almost like an extra day of work! Hopefully, you are much more self disciplined than I, when it comes to social media screen time. I'm not here to tell you what to do with your time. I just want to suggest another option - take 5-10 minutes from social media and replace it with something that feeds your brain and soul. What about my old blog? I don't think it's a match for these Notes. It served it’s purpose between 2016-2021. But much has changed since. And if you have a look around the old blog, you'll see it was very Photography-centered. And I'll keep it like that - an Archive - which I think is an important thing for a Photographer to have. So… WHAT TO EXPECT FROM G’s NOTES? a once or twice a month mail, delivered in your inbox (don't forget to add the address notes@goncalomcatarino.com to your contact list to avoid the spam or promotions folder), so that you can read it at your convenience and archive it for any future reference; a peek into the things that I've been thinking about, studying, discovering, maybe even some red pills for you; a little dive into some of the artists, authors and thinkers that have influenced me the most; insights that (I hope) will be as useful to you as they've been to me; in a nutshell: goodies for your mind and soul.
Hope you enjoy the coming "Notes" and feel free to invite your friends to join this newsletter. Cheers, G. PS - I'm Portuguese and not a native English speaker, so you'll have to excuse possible mistakes or typos. I know there are spelling and grammar tools, but I'm trying to keep this as less time-consuming as possible, which means, I'll be copying/pasting from my notes app to the newsletter app with a quick review before hitting the send button. Slightly edited and as natural as possible, just the way I like my photos 🙂
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