“Lisbon Graffiti #2” — Brilliantly colorful graffiti on a door in the Alfama district of Lisbon, Portugal.
I am often a bit uneasy about photographing street art, tags, and graffiti. In some cases it feels more like attention-getting vandalism than creative work. But there are exceptions in places where it seems to be mostly tolerated, and when the work seems like an interesting expression.
“Woman With Blue Bags, Alfama” — A woman carrying heavy blue bags walks along past weathered buildings along a curving Alfama street, Lisbon.
This photograph is a result of one of the quick, unexpected encounters that occur when doing street photography. Sometimes they happen so fast that there is hardly time to photograph. This one was brief, but not so quick that I couldn’t make a couple of photographs.
“Ivy Roots” — Intertwined ivy roots draping across a concrete retaining wall.
I have walked past this place scores of times — it is along one of my regular walks. I walk almost daily, often along one of a group of familiar routes. It had been weeks since I last did this one, so it was time again to visit it. As I walked along a creek and past some commercial buildings I “saw” something that I have certainly seen before, but not really noticed — a great wall of ivy roots stretched across concrete.
“Stairway, Santo Amaro Chapel” — A stairway leads to a door at the Santo Amaro Chapel, Lisbon
Thisq is another photograph from Lisbon’s Santo Amaro Chapel, a very old structure near the waterfront and almost beneath the April 25 Bridge (“Ponte 25 de Abril“). That is the one that looks very similar to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. After passing beneath the bridge’s north end, we walked a little further west, then climbed steps to this location. It is one of the better viewpoints of the bridge, with a wide plaza open to that view.