ENGLISH LESSONS FROM THE TRASH CAN

How did you get into photography? How did you earn your degree in journalism?

I’m often asked these questions, and the answer isn’t simple—or as romantic as many photographers’ stories, like “I come from an artistic family” or “I got my first camera as a child,” and so on.

Well, my story is different.

My love for writing started very early. I learned to read when I was just 2 years and 8 months old. Loving to write naturally followed.

Born and raised on the outskirts of the São Paulo metropolitan region, I’m the first in my family to earn a university degree. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for my studies, but I received a full scholarship for low-income families from the government and was able to attend one of São Paulo’s best private journalism schools at the time.

The old Yashica was a prize my father won in a raffle. Film rolls were too expensive for us—so was developing them. So, the simple act of setting aside a day to use a roll was a big event in my family, something that happened only once every four or five years. In this photo, my father shows the moment I held the camera case for the very first time.

So no, I wasn’t familiar with photography “since an early age” like some photographers were. In this photo, my father captured the moment I held the camera case for the very first time.

So no, I wasn’t familiar with photography “since an early age” like some photographers were. In this photo, my father captured the moment I held the camera case for the very first time.

Back in 2020, Grant Scott from the United Nations of Photography asked me, “What does photography mean to you?” on the fantastic podcast A Photographic Life. I shared more about how it all began, along with other stories.

The podcast is in English. By the way, since I’m sharing how some things started in my life, I guess I should tell you how I learned to speak English.

When I was 11, my father — a former metallurgist — was working as a janitor in a condominium and was in charge of recycling waste. One of the residents was moving to the US and threw away all his English books — very old ones, complete with tape recorders and everything.

He knew his studious daughter well, so he brought those books home just in case. I remember feeling like I’d won the lottery and dove into studying on my own. My teenage friends mocked me, saying I was wasting my time and would never need English in my life. (Don’t ever tell a determined, nerdy girl what she can’t do.)

That’s how I learned. It’s not perfect, but hey — it gets the job done. That was back in 1998. Nowadays, YouTube would probably make everything so much easier!

Then came the path that led to a full scholarship for a journalism degree for low-income students — and the long, early morning bus rides to a postgraduate program in anthropology, seven hours from the capital. But that’s a story for another post.

https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2021/02/10/podcast-a-photographic-life-episode-136-plus-photographer-ana-caroline-de-lima/

You can also find it on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, and most other podcast platforms.