“Gingihha Vendor” — A woman selling ginginha from her doorway in the Alfama, Lisbon.
One can never be sure things like ginginha are tourism constructs or actual traditions — or perhaps a bit of both. (Parallels include Portugal’s pastel de nata, San Francisco’s Sourdough bread, Belgium waffles, and more.) But I understand, both from reading about it and from seeing it, that gingihna is a traditional drink in many places in Portugal. It is a sweet, cherry liqueur that is often sold on the street, either in small shot glasses or in little chocolate cups that you simply eat when you are done. (Nice way to solve the litter problem!)
You can step up to small ginginha shops and buy one all over the place. But there also appears to be a less formal sales force operating from their front doorways. On our recent visit we saw several women set up this way to sell ginginha, including this woman sitting in her doorway in the Alfama district.
“Walking Couple” — A couple walks up a narrow, curving street in Montpellier, France.
As the end of our December visit to Montpellier approached, we took a walk through some areas that we had missed the previous days — a walk that took us to the train station, then through a sort of light industrial area, and finally back up into the old central city. Here the streets are often very narrow and lined the tall buildings — and not much light penetrates all the way to the street level.
I grabbed this shot of a couple pushing a stroller up this narrow, curving street. In addition to the usual appeal of the street designed for walking rather than driving, the way the street curved and the increased glow of light at the curve attracted my attention. The unusual pattern of the paving also directs the eye toward the curve and, in this case, the two people.
“Organic Landscape” — Erosion patterns in a desert landscape, Death Valley.
Believe it or not, I am getting to the end of the photographs I made on this year’s winter visit to Death Valley National Park. I go every year during the cool months, sometimes more than once. When I returned at the end ofFebruary I wasn’t sure if I had gotten many keepers, but since then I have managed to find more than a few. This is a typical situation — I often don’t immediately see the potential in image files, and it takes a while to get to know them.
This photograph includes a small section with details of a portion of Death Valley “badlands” terrain. I photographed it in the early morning, before the direct sunlight arrived. The soft light and the curving shapes remind me of forms we see in living things, hence the “organic” title.
“Ride the Tiger” — A woman taking a ride on a Paris carousel at night.
Last December we were out for a cold afternoon and evening walk in Paris, and on our way back towards our hotel we passed a carousel set up in a square near shops and other upscale amenities, apparently as part of holiday season events. I could not resist making a few photographs of the merry-go-round and its patrons.
Most of my night photographs are as sharply focused as the images I create in the daytime. But sometimes I like to take advantage of the low light levels and play with longer handheld exposures that incorporate motion blur. In cases like this one the blur better suggests the motion in the scene.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)