weekly update 013 - 2017-01-18 - Strolling through the streets of Lisbon

January 19, 2017

Ethereal sunset at the Alges Maritime Traffic Control Tower, Lisbon, Portugal

Deciding this week's first photo of the post was very complicated for me because I have three images that are really strong. Usually I would only show one per week, but this is to be the last post dedicated to Lisbon for a while. So I ended up just sorting them out by the way I could make the text flow around them.

So I start with another two images of the Maritime Traffic Control Tower in Algés, taken on Christmas Eve 2016. This site is very popular with photographers, for obvious reasons, and is usually very busy at the end of the day. Being the 24th of December, I was the only photographer there with only a few more people for company at the beach. That meant I was able to move around quite freely and make the most of the fading sunlight from a few vantage points.

This first image using a Lee Big Stopper and a Lee Hard ND Grad filter to bring the exposure down and blur the water for that ethereal look. And on the second image going for a more subtle blur effect but using that bring more impact to the wet sand and pebbles on the foreground. I will be printing this one on metallic paper and putting it on some wall around the house, should look great.

Sunset at the Alges Maritime Traffic Control Tower, Lisbon, Portugal

The last photo I wanted to highlight comes from my second visit to the site of the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology more commonly known as MAAT. I won't go into the usual details about the building, since I did that last week. I wanted to go back to this place, since realising I hadn't captured what I wanted first time around. As a plus of visiting on a regular night, I was also able to see how many people are using this area to exercise or just walk around at the end of the day. That is great to see since this used to be really underused part of town. So I decided to go for a very slow shutter speed to capture the movement of all the people walking by.

As I do every year I get a few hours of free time in Lisbon, I like to wander around the Chiado area of the city. Still remember the time when my grandmother used to take there for the afternoon for some shopping and coffee, milk for me at that time. The area used to be dominated by the great department stores of Armazéns do Chiado and Armazéns Grandella, which sadly burnt down when a great fire destroyed most of this area in 1988. After many years, both buildings were rebuilt but the two stores never came back. At least it was revitalised with the creation of a small shopping center and a couple of big stores which draw lots of people on a daily basis. On that area you can also find Bertrand, the World's Oldest Bookstore. Established in 1732, on a different site but moved to it's current location after the 1755 earthquake that completely destroyed most of Lisbon. And of course a stroll around Chiado is never without a visit to the Fernando Pessoa statue, that will always greet you at the front of his favourite cafe, A Brasileira, which you should visit as it is one of the most beautiful coffee houses in Lisbon.

And I'll leave this week with the final edit of the bridge photo I showed earlier on Instagram. You can't really tell the difference on Instagram, but that image was done from a single frame, and had a few issues with noise and lack of details on the highlights. This final version is a manual blend of 6 exposures, to be able to capture the detail of the Christ Tower on the South side of the river, the few visible stars in the sky and also all the reflections of the lights on the river. This was actually taken from the top of the MAAT building, which gives an interesting vantage point when shooting the 25th of April bridge of the Tejo river.
Next week I'll start showcasing photos from last years visit to the beautiful city of Vienna in Austria, hope you enjoy it. Hope to also get new galleries up on the main website in between blog posts.
Until then,
APN

Night falls over the Tejo, Lisbon, Portugal

Sunset panorama of the Maritime Traffic Control Tower at Alges, Lisbon, Portugal

weekly update 012 - 2017-01-11 - New year, new post, still in Lisbon

January 10, 2017

Happy new year to everyone, hope that the holiday season was kind to you. For my part, it was another week of great food and better company with family and friends in my hometown of Lisbon. I decided to start off the year with a fresh batch of photos I took during Christmas week on the few hours that I was able to set apart to shoot.
There were a couple of places that I had planned to shoot this time around. First was the Algés Maritime Traffic Control Tower, pictured above. This is one of the most innovative buildings of the type, and it stands out in the area that so far was dominated by old industrial architecture. Designed by Architect Gonçalo Byrne, it was inaugurated in 2001 with the most advanced maritime technologies. Since then I had mean to go and photograph it, but until this year other places had taken my time. Going there on Christmas eve for the sunset was a great choice, as the beach was all but deserted, and a glorious sunset and dusk awaited me. I have another shot from that place that I will show next week.

The second place I wanted to shoot was the newly inaugurated MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology), inserted on the prime location by the Tejo riverside. This extraordinary building will be the subject of many photographs by everyone that visits it, or just passes by. Architect Amanda Levete has achieved the complicated task of creating a building that is modern and amazing, but at the same time melts into the background. It also encompasses the old Tejo Power Station, that was also used as a Museum before, and which is a great example of 19th century industrial architecture, although it was built in 1909.

I'll leave you with a couple more photos taken on Boxing Day, which we don't celebrate in Portugal, but is a great day to walk around town if the weather is good. I was fortunate to spot this man basking in the Winter sunshine, that was a constant this year oddly. Better yet he was leaning on the sculpture that bears the name of the town visible on the other side of the river, Almada where I've spent many great nights at concerts and more commonly eating and drinking with friends.
Below is a shot from Praia Grande, one of the beach villages around Sintra. The sea there is usually cold, and with many waves. But I recommend it for the food mainly, you can get a great seafood meal with a wonderful sea vista.

Next week I'll share my last images from that week in Portugal, and I'm also preparing an overhaul of the galleries on the website. I'll also reveal the travel plans for this year, which should give me plenty more photos to share with you.
Hope you all have a great 2017,
APN

Lisbon Oceanarium at Parque das Nações, Lisbon, Portugal

weekly update 011 - 2016-12-26 - Portugal for Christmas

December 27, 2016

Back in Portugal for the holidays, a week of eating and visiting with friends and family, and so I decided to share a few photos from my beautiful city of Lisbon. Above is a view of the Oceanarium located on the Parque das Nações area of Lisbon taken just after sunset on a Winter day. This whole area of town used to be dominated by industry, until it repurposed to be the site of the 1998 World Exhibit, known as Expo'98. Thankfully for Lisbon, after the exhibit was over, the area became one of the most sought after neighbourhoods of the city, home of great modern architecture, green spaces and expansive river views. As part of the industrial background of the area, you can still see one of the refineries tower. And from the Expo'98 legacy you can still find some working water volcanoes that gathered so much praise on the hot summer days of the exhibit.

Just over an hours drive south from Lisbon you can find the old fishing village of Sesimbra, where I used to spend all of my summer holidays at the beach

That is it for this year, I'll leave you with my favourite image of the Belem Tower, from where the Portuguese set forth on the 14th century to 'give the world new worlds'. Next week I'll start a new year with a new city in Europe.
See you soon/Até breve,
APN