“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.
“Trogir Building” — Bicycles are parked in front of a Trogir building in morning light.
A friend and I arrived in Trogir very early in the morning. Our plan was to photograph the city before the daytime tourist crowds arrived. We had already been photographing for some time when I made this photograph in reflected morning light. Much of the city is connected by very narrow passageways, which means things are often in the shadows. But here the city was open enough to allow reflected light to illuminate this building.
This photograph is largely about the beautiful, warm, soft reflected light. But other things play into it as well. To my eye, there is a lot of interesting geometry here — from the triangular shapes of the roof structure to the big rectangles of the windows and doors, and then the finer patterns of the stones in the building and the sidewalk. Yet all of the geometry is broken up by other elements — the curving wire on the roof, the metal cylinder near the right door, and the bicycles.
“Trogir Waterfront, Morning” — Morning along the waterfront as clouds build, Trogir, Croatia.
I made this photograph close to the conclusion of early morning photography in Trogir, Croatia. We arrived in the old town on the island before sunrise and photographed the nearly deserted narrow, cobblestone streets, the architecture, and a few people who were out early, getting the town ready for the coming onslaught of visitors. As we finished — and before stoping for coffee nearby — we emerged on this side of the island, facing the channel between it and the part of the town across the water.
It was a really lovely morning. The warm sunlight was muted a bit as clouds appeared and a large thunderstorm appeared to develop over the city of Split, down the coast. Here we just had the over-spill from that mighty cloud — just enough to make the sky more interesting and to soften the light a bit.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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