“A Lisbon Street” — A narrow, curving street in Alfama, lined with colorful buildings.
From my limited experience, this feels like a “typical” street of Lisbon’s Alfama district… except that the street is wider than many of the passageways. The lines suggest that it is two lanes wide — though I imagine that when a trolley goes up and down those tracks there isn’t a lot of room for anyone else!
There is a lot in this scene that attracted my attention. The street itself with its pairs of tracks and optimistic center dividing line is one. The stacked and tightly spaced buildings are another. And I love the saturated colors, from the nearly pure white to the many yellow buildings, and the bits of blue here and there.
“Woman in Sunshine” — A woman looks upwards in the sunshine, Lisbon.
I made this photograph on our first foray in Lisbon during our visit this past May. If I recall correctly, after arriving late the previous night, we were up (and quite jet-lagged) and out the door to walk some of the surrounding streets. We joined the crowd and made our way down to the popular Praça do Comércio square.
I made this photograph quickly, since photographing such subjects happens in real time — there’s little opportunity to stop and carefully consider. There’s an element of serendipity in such photographs. The right person has to be in the right place and light at the right time, I have to be there, I have to look the right direction, and I have to react quickly.
“Alfama Street Art” — Detail of street art on a wall in the Alfama district of Lisbon.
This detail of a bit of Portuguese street art comes from the Alfama district of Lisbon. This is the oldest neighborhood of the city, with tightly spaced buildings and streets so narrow and twisting that vehicles cannot pass. It was (and reputedly still is) a neighborhood where the poor are more likely to live — though one can see a creeping urbanization occurring around the edges.
I don’t generally photograph graffiti — the “I am here” initials and other personal marks made in public spaces. But there’s a fine line between that and what I think of as street art. I will photograph the latter. Here the imagery covers of a mundane wall — look closely and you can make it out beneath the paint — and uses wildly exuberant patterns and colors.
“Night Street, Santiago de Compostela” — People stroll along quiet streets in the early evening, Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela was one of two Spanish cities we visited on this trip almost on a whim. We knew almost nothing about it, aside from the fact that it is the endpoint for thousands of Camino participants, who take weeks or months to walk there. We ended up loving the town, with its old central district that is charming and has a different feel than other cities — in part due to the connection to the caminos.
When traveling we walk a lot and often just head out with no well-defined plan, expecting to see and discover things as we go. My recollection is that this was a post-dinner walk — though given Spain’s late dinner our it could have been pre-dinner! This street, with its old stone buildings, porticos, and narrow passages was almost deserted.
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