Frequently Asked Questions

Have you only 16 photos to show us?

Of course not :) I weekly update the page adding photos and eliminating exactly the same number. So this page will keep simple, slim and fast.

If you like the photos and do not want to miss anyone, it is a good idea to visit the page once a week.

I will also show photos already seen if I feel like it, there are always new visitors :)

Why this page?

The only goal of this page is to share photos I shoot every now and then as quite an amateur photographer.

Who are you?

My name is José Varela; al-Farrob is only a nickname I have been using on the Internet for some years.

al-Farrob seems like an Arab name, is it? Does it have any meaning?

As far as I know it has no meaning at all and I am Portuguese, and live in Algarve the most southern region of Portugal.

"Alfarroba" means carob (ceratonia siliqua), which is very common in Algarve, and inexistent in the rest of the country.

And the Arabs have been here for more than 5 centuries, thus leaving great influence, greater than in the rest of the country.

So this nickname is only a pun mostly to be understood by the Portuguese themselves:)

I liked one of your photos, then when I wanted to show it to a friend it was no longer there. That was frustrating, what can I do?

Well, it is there, only it is not on the main page. For now, you have one way to prevent this situation, when you like specially one photo, bookmark it (put in your favorites). Another way is to do a search on google.com or another search engine.

I have suggested you should do X or Y kind of photos. You seemed not to listen to me. Don't you think you should listen to suggestions people make?

Yes and no. Critiques are welcome because they can open your eyes to matters you would not be aware of. On the other hand, no free photographer can take critiques for commands. In fact, one of the advantages of being an amateur is you can do just what you want.:)

Don't you think that, being you portuguese, you should put portuguese language in first place?

Well, it is true that I am portuguese, also it is true that I love my language and my country, but I am not portuguese above all. Above all I belong to human kind:).

English language is nowadays the de facto means for the most part of human kind to communicate. This is true wether one likes it or not. So, I think I do a much better service to my country and even to my language if I can communicate to other peoples than if I ask them to learn portuguese if they want to communicate with me :)

I have seen your nickname associated with Linux. Are you a Linux user? Is it worth while?

Yes, I am a Linux user since 1999, right after a virus has literally burned the motherboard of my PC.

Is it worth while? I could give you 1001 reasons. As this is a photography page, I won't make you delve too deeply and will give you just one:

In my home country we have a proverb which literally translates into: "Do not carry all the eggs in the same basket". I dare bet there's some similar proverb in your country, too:)

Imho, never had this proverb been so true as nowadays. That's all, folks!:)

May I save any photo from your page to my hard disk?

Feel free to do so. I only don't allow the commercial use.If you'd like to use any of them for another public purpose I'd be very honoured to be contacted.

Are these the only questions you are going to answer?

No, these are only the essential, imho. I will upgrade this section gradually.

Have fun!