In Bulnes the daily mail, and everything else, arrives by funicular. #picosdeeuropa #asturias #spain #androidonly #vscocam

There’s more than pretty landscapes in the North of Spain, I love when a splash of color comes from nowhere. #spain #picosdeeuropa #asturias #androidonly #vscocam

Sometimes “bad weather” is nothing but a different photographic opportunity (more updates on Instagram Stories at @t3mujin) #spain #picosdeeuropa

Early morning at Lake Enol, João Maia is putting to good use the perfectly still water.

…and at the end of the day they rise from the horizon! #picosdeeuropa #spain #castillayleon #androidonly #vscocam

Picos de Europe, finalmente de volta!Há muito, muito tempo, numa altura onde apenas fotografava com uma velha Nikon FM2, fiz uma viagem ao norte de Espanha, que definitivamente foi a minha primeira viagem digna desse nome. Saindo rumo a Norte, em direcção a Compostela, depois seguindo sempre pela costa ate San Sebastian, para depois cortar caminho no regresso, fazendo a estrada do emigrante até chegar a Salamanca. Na altura um dos nossos pequenos desvios a caminho do País Basco foi Covadonga, o santuário mesmo na periferia do Parque Nacional do Picos de Europa, uma das mais belas cadeias montanhosas de Espanha. Gosto mesmo muito de montanhas, e por isso mesmo saí de lá com o compromisso comigo mesmo que haveria de regressar um dia. Esse “um dia” demorou bastante mais que estava à espera, mas finalmente estou a fazer as malas e, juntamente com o João, companhia de muitas outras saídas fotográficas, vou estar finalmente de regresso!

Picos de Europa, finally back!A long, long, long time ago, in a time where I only shot with an old Nikon FM2, I did a road trip to the north of Spain, it definitely was my my first proper trip, the one worth remembering. Driving straight North from Lisbon, heading to Compostela, and then following the coast until San Sebastian, then return via Salamanca, in what here’s called the “Immigrants route” because it’s one of the common paths for Portuguese immigrants to returning for Summer holidays.One of our short detours before heading to the Basque Country was Covadonga, a sanctuary placed at the edge of Picos de Europa National Park, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges of Spain. I really love mountains, so I left there with the commitment to myself that would have to return someday. That “someday” took longer than I expected, but finally I’m packing my gear and, together with João, my mate from other many other photo travels, I’m finally going back!

<h1>Backups... Your thoughts on this.</h1>

I can’t stress enough the importance of having a valid backup strategy for your work, one that really works and is part of your workflow, and if you find this just a secondary matter I strongly advise you to review your perspective on this (www.thephoblographer.com/2012/04/2… photographylife.com/photograp…). A few years ago I nearly lost my photos on a stupid mistake, it wasn’t a small disaster or even a faulty drive, only a simple “delete partition” command executed on the wrong place; you can say it was my enlightenment moment of backups. Because this isn’t a very technical post I’ll sum up how mine currently works in a couple of lines:My RAW files are automatically synced to multiple external drives.My finished photos (full-size JPEGs) are automatically synced to the cloud. Syncing all my RAW files to the cloud could become time consuming and become more expensive.Right now one of my main backup external drives has died (side note: checking the state of your data is also part of a good backup workflow) and times like these are great to reevaluate the strategy. I can either replace it and keep things as they are, or think in different a different approach like a Network Drive or a higher reliance of cloud backups.Without going too much in detail, what’s your thoughts on this? What works for you?    

There’s something beautiful and ghost-like in the last minutes of the so called “blue hour” outside urban areas, like here outside Lisbon by the Tagus, as if everything is holding tightly to the last remaining rays of light.(this and more from this day on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/t3… All processed with my darktable styles, Fuji Provia 400X preset)

The river people #portugal #tejo #avieiros #vscocam #androidonly

Driving through the Tagus River Bank yesterday day, exploring further away from home, finding interesting people along the way 😀😀 You can still see the story on my instagram at @t3mujinwww.instagram.com/t3mujin/

On leaving Snapchat, for now…Not long ago I was curious on how Snapchat was creating new ways for visual storytelling, more than showing those little details of everyday life I was thrilled on how photographers like John Stanmeyer or David Alan Harvey were using it to bring another side of their photo projects (which happen to also contain those little details of everyday life). None of that changed, what changed was the launch of Instagram Stories.I admit I was reluctant at first, called a mess and just a blatant copy of Snapchat. It is, but it works much better for me, and since it became available I’ve hardly used Snapchat, haven’t posted updates and very rarely opened it to watch content. And for now all my on-the-go updates will be done via my Instagram account.

The very last rays of sunshine. Days are getting smaller, light is getting prettier in this part of the world #lisbon #sunset #androidonly #vscocam

Sobre deixar o Snapchat, para já…Há não muito tempo estava curioso com o Snapchat, mais do que partilhar monentos do dia-a-dia estava entusiasmado como fotógrafos como John Stanmeyer ou David Alan Harvey o usavam para dar uma outra perspectiva para os seus projectos fotográficos (sendo que uma boa parte dessa perspectiva são pormenores do dia-a-dia). Isso não mudou, o que mudou foi o lançamento do Instagram Stories.    Admito que inicialmente não fiquei nada entusiasmado, achei confuso e apenas uma cópia do Snapchat. É-o, na verdade, mas funciona bem melhor para mim, desde que ficou disponível na minha conta muito pouco tenho usado o Snapchat. E por isso, por agora, todas as minhas pequenas actualizações vão continuar na minha conta de Instagram.  

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…)

t3mujinpack está aí!Há quase um mês anunciei que a primeira versão dos meus presets de emulação de filme estavam mesmo aí, partilhei algumas imagens aqui e na minha conta de instagram. E agora aí está!A primeira versão dos meus presets de emulação de filme está disponível no meu site, façam download, testem, partilhem as reacções, partilhem-no com o mundo!!

t3mujinpack is out!I’ve announced a few weeks ago the first release of my film emulation presets were just around the corner, I teased with some previews here and in my instagram account. And now here it is!The first release of my film emulation presets is ready on my web site, download it, test it, share your feedback, share it the word!!

I love the faint light that comes from the skylight of many old buildings in Lisbon, maybe because I grew in one. #architecture #lisbon #fujixe2 #snapseed #snapshot

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.