Update
Any random update, like a rant or some kind of news.
I could apply this as is to other genres, like travel photography where exotic locals sometimes are seen not more than photographic subjects… How Photography Exploits the Vulnerable - NY Times
Counting the days until December, can’t wait to take part on this!! Meet you all at Aveiro?(via vimeo.com/264331036)
My World Press Photo 2018 favorites
Having this year the World Press Photo exhibition closer to my home, and also free again, meant that I went more than once to see it. Despite the new venue not being the best, a neat old factory but too small for it, this year’s great selection still shined. I honestly think it was one of the finest selections of the last years, and I ended up picking some photos or projects that caught my eye:http://tirelesseye.tumblr.com/tagged/worldpressphoto2018
Eid Mubarak | João Pedro Almeida
João Pedro Almeida (@joaoalmeida) | Ello
‘It was like being Alice-in-India’: artist Natasha Kumar on Bundi, Rajasthan
Street photography trinity
Kai, with or without DigitalRev, is in many ways the Top Gear of photography: people see it more because it’s entertaining than for having in-depth, factual and highly accurate reviews. But, like Top Gear, it’s contents aren’t entirely fiction and actually have some interesting facts underneath the fun and jokes.In this video Kai nicely goes through the street photography trinity lenses: 50mm, 35mm and 28mm (or in APS-C/crop focal lenghts: 35mm, 23mm and 18mm), and shows how this setup can capture both the details and the environment around us. This is my current setup, and one you probably have noticed that I’ve been thrilled about it since buying my Fuji XF23mmF2. And unlike his full-frame setup, because going mirrorless my combo can easily fit in my small hand! (via www.youtube.com/watch)
Testing my Ektachrome 100GX preset on some night shots taken at Intendente and Mouraria, in very low light and with a compact camera: expect very noisy shots!(more on my Flickr account www.flickr.com/photos/t3…)
A hot Sunday morning by the sea, nothing to do but take snaps. Then playing around with my Darktable presets, this is Fuji 160C! (more on: www.flickr.com/photos/t3…)
Observer by nature
Earlier this week I wrote something about how in my recent shots around Lisbon there were some with people actively interacting with their devices, but more than those devices the’re very engaged with the moment, being the selfie stick the most eye catching of the “tourist rituals”. Coincidence or not I had this photo from last year from Havana ready to publish on my Flickr account (https://www.flickr.com/photos/t3mujin/29069643805/), this made me think about how I perceive photography…I’m an observer by nature, someone who collects its surroundings rather actively interacting with it. That means that people photography for me is much more about capturing them, specially when engaged in their rituals, which can be as diverse as their faith, but also their craft or leisure. I don’t do portraits often and the reason is that I don’t like to direct people, I’m not creative person so my work is not will never be imaginative or visually compelling. In fact I don’t create anything, I just capture it.
League of the Last
If the previous month was all about Lisbon this has to be about football! The epic victory of the Portuguese National team reminded me I kind of have a football related project still ongoing: football pitches, not the green turf and covered seats stadiums, but the empty small fields where no plays at, some for quite a long time other only since the previous day. Throughout the years I paid attention to unlikely, empty football fields, never looked for but payed attention whenever those appeared in my path. Now is time to put it together.The name League of the Last? A blatant copy of an old TV show here in Portugal dedicated to lower league football.
Liga dos Últimos
Se o mês anterior foi de Lisboa este certamente é o mês do futebol! A vitória épica de selecção nacional fez-me lembrar que tenho um pseudo-projecto em andamento relacionado com futebol: campos de futebol, não os estádios de relva viçosa e modernas bancadas cobertas, mas sim aqueles campos vazios onde não joga ninguém, alguns há bastante tempo, outros provavelmente desde o dia anterior. Ao longo dos anos fui tendo uma especial atenção para campos de futebol vazios e improváveis, nunca os procurei mas sim ia estando atento a eles quando se cruzavam no meu caminho. Está na altura de juntar tudo isso. O nome Liga dos Últimos? Um roubo descarado do programa de televisão, com a diferença que nesse havia mais animação.
A month of Santos Populares is now over
As June ends it means the month of Santos Populares celebrations in Lisbon come to an end, when the city goes out to the streets and its most typical neighborhoods hold a celebration that lasts the entire month. Throughout the month I alternated between some of this year’s shots and looking for some older stuff from my archive, all that can be seen at a gallery in my Flickr account, the best place for my ongoing projects and unfiltered work.
Um mês de Santos Populares chegou ao fim
Ao terminar Junho o mês de Santos Populares em Lisboa chega ao fim, depois de um mês inteiro onde a cidade andou pela rua. Ao longo do mês fui alternando entre os disparos da animação deste anos e ir buscar coisas mais antigas ao arquivo, tudo isto pode ser visto num álbum na minha conta de Flickr, o melhor sítio para seguir o trabalho em curso e uma visão sem filtros das minhas fotos.
Nas catacumbas da Gulbenkian...
…E terraços também!!De vez em quando a Gerador, plataforma de promoção da cultura portuguesa, organiza um tipo diferente de instameet, onde um pequeno grupo de instagramers é levado a um local onde muitos de nós têm acesso condicionado ou mesmo restrito. Neste último fui um dos convidados pela Gerador e a Ana Morais, e para esta edição o local escolhido foi o edifício da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, com todos os seus recantos maravilhosos, e agora aqueles que quase ninguém ve. Podem seguir as minhas fotos e as do resto do grupo no Instagram.
At Gulbenkian’s catacombs...
…And terraces also!Every once in a while Gerador, a platform dedicated to promote Portuguese culture, organizes a different kind of instameet, where a small group of instagramers is taken to a location where most of us have restricted access, or no access at all. On the last one I happened to be one of the invited instagramers by Gerador and Ana Morais, and for this one the location was the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, one of Lisbon’s cultural references and a remarkable building in every single detail. You can check my photos and the also the ones from the rest of the group in Instagram!
But it happened… the 35mmF2 is selling like hot cakes and therefore made Fujifilm rethink their lens strategy! —
Fuji’s sweet spot for me: small, light and fast
I don’t write about gear that often, but this is one of my favorite news from the Fujifilm world, probably more than the release of the new generation cameras.
I own a couple of Fuji X cameras and a few Fujinon lenses, I made the switch as it seemed perfect for travel, street and documentary work. But as I got more used to the system I noticed the available lenses at the time weren’t a perfect match for that purpose; although quite capable, lenses like the XF23mm f1.4 or the XF56mm f1.2 are a bit on the big and heavy (and expensive…) side for someone who wants to remain light.
Meanwhile the Fuji X started to sell, and that made room for variations of existing lenses. When the XF35mm f2 was I released it might seem redundant but I knew that was it and bought one of the first units made available in Portugal, has been a favorite ever since. Fortunately I wasn’t the only one, it was a massive success and Fuji got the message (they usually do), so now more lighter, smaller and faster versions of already excellent lenses are on roadmap.
A workshop that never happened...
I was really excited about my upcoming trip to Porto, going back to a city I love and learning a lot with a photographer I admire. But the truth is that with less than a week to go I receive a dreaded phone call: the workshop was scheduled to a future date… But I already had my train ticket, the city was waiting for me and I really wanted to go so I packed my gear and went north!
Um workshop que não foi...
É verdade que estava ansioso com a minha ida ao Porto, voltar a uma cidade que adoro e aprender com um fotógrafo que admiro. A verdade é que a meio da semana recebo uma chamada e estava tudo sem efeito: reagendado para uma data futura… Mas o bilhete de comboio comprado, a cidade estava à minha espera e como queria mesmo ir meti-me ao caminho.
Workshop with Samuel Aranda
There are lots of good excuses to go to Oporto. Having Samuel Aranda, a photographer I truly admire and author of one of the most impressive World Press Photo winners of the last years, giving a workshop on documentary photography and visual storytelling is certainly one of those! The end of April will be a time to go North.