Lisbon
I am posting this to break the endless monotony of colorful fall photos. And today I am taking you to the Monument To the Discoveries in Lisbon, Portugal. I think that's Prince Henry the Navigator taking the lead. Vasco da Gama is third in line. And, if you want to know more, check this out.
Lisbon is famous for its vintage trolleys and If you go, you have to ride them. They are especially useful for making your way up the fairly steep hills that guard the relatively narrow central part of Lisbon. The other good thing about riding local mass transit like this, is that you get to mix with locals, who don't view the trolly as a novelty but as a practical way to get around.
So I've gone back to Lisbon this week - at least I've gone back to the photo collection from Lisbon, Portugal. This photo was taken on the run under less than ideal circumstances. What drew me to the window was the beautiful purple tones of this fabric. But I also love the presentation, with all of the lines and curves. It has a bit of a seashell appearance to me. The window captured my attention and I captured it with my Canon 5DII. :-)
Inspired by an article on Lisbon, Portugal,in the Travel section of today's NYT, I went back and looked at things I had from our trip there a couple years ago. This photo was taken from the top of a monument to the Portuguese explorers, who boldly went where no European white men had gone before.I am captivated by aerial shots that show shadows and of course there are strong shadows in this photo, though I'm not all that impressed with what I got. Compositionally, I would like something different, though I can't tell what that would be. If I had spent 30 minutes more, in this location, I probably could have gotten the perfect placement of my unsuspecting subjects below.
More than once in the US when I have pointed my cameras at a child to get a candid photo, I've gotten dirty looks. For that reason, I don't take many photos of kids when I am wandering around.But in this case, I couldn't resist. Plus, I was in Lisbon, Portugal, and his parents smiled when they saw me taking his photo. It's a different culture, I guess. The location is the Jeronimos Monastery and what I like about this picture is the child's casual stance. I also like how he is looking at me in a way that isn't fearful or suspicious.
Deb and I were in Lisbon on the last day of our visit to Portugal when I noticed these two people pondering something off in the distance. I was immediately reminded of a famous work of art by Duane Hanson called "Tourists." And so I snapped the photo. I'll have to admit that my wife and I come closer to looking like Hanson's tourists than this Lisbon couple does, though I think my wife is much more stylish.You might be interested in knowing that Duane Hanson casts his fiberglass and resin figures from real people. Most of the people in my photos are real, too.
You may have noticed that I post more photos of things than I do of people. When traveling, I rarely ask permission to take photos of people who are aware of my camera. - generally prefer candid, un-posed photos.This is true of this photo, though it's not exactly candid. In this case we we strolling through a public square in Lisbon and the gentleman who is looking at me saw my camera and encouraged me with gestures to take the photo of his friends. The man in the red shirt has two aces in his hand but I don't know what game he is playing.
