Fieldnotes

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.

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.

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.

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.

…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.

…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 Rumors

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.