The Root of Saudade

An open letter to my heritage

I started taking photos when I was ten, often losing hours staring at my parents’ photo albums,  as if every time I looked, I could feel something new stirring inside me. What I was feeling, though I didn’t know it then, was saudade.

I captured that cloud photo while flying to Santa Maria, Portugal, an island in the Azores, adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also the island where my paternal family is from.

Saudade is a word I grew up hearing, often from my avó, as we said our goodbyes after a visit. It was her way of explaining the ache she would feel for me even while we were still together — a longing within the moment itself.

Saudade defies simple translation. It’s an exquisite, poetic part of life  that weaves deep emotional bonds, cherished memories, and an enduring sense of yearning. It’s not only a longing for who or what is absent, but also a love for the moment itself, already slipping away.

I didn’t truly understand saudade until I returned to my ancestral homeland, carrying a camera and a heart full of questions. In that homecoming, I realized: I had always been trying to capture the intangible.

With Studio Saudade, my purpose is rooted in this feeling. I take fleeting moments and transform them into timeless keepsakes. preserving the authentic love, joy and truth of your experience, so you can always return to it.

yours,

Chy

Studio Saudade