Tag Archives: wall

Bench, Wall With Fado Tiles

Bench, Wall With Fado Tiles
“Bench, Wall With Fado Tiles” — A bench on a slanted sidewalk and a wall with Fado tiles, Lisbon.

I love little off-kilter scenes like this one. In the center are two tile illustrations of the fado music tradition of Portugal. (The tiles were seen in an earlier post on this website.) They are aligned to perfect verticals and horizontals. But everything else tilts — the bench on the cobbled sidewalk, the pipe that frames the image, the wiring attached to the walls. A door at the left, barely intruding into the frame, is the only other thing that lines up.

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Fado Tiles, Lisbon

Fado Tiles, Lisbon
“Fado Tiles, Lisbon” — Fado tiles on a wall along a sidewalk in the Alfama neighborhood, Lisbon

I found these beautiful little tiles on a wall along a street in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon. The truth of the matter is that I made a photograph of the wall, only barely aware of the tiles, and then took a closer look at them while working on the larger image in post. They appear to have been created by the same artist/craftsperson, judging by the signature, and I think they are relatively contemporary.

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Lisbon Graffiti #2

Lisbon Graffiti #2
“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.

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Ivy Roots

Ivy Roots
“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.

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