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Aug
25
The Festas do Povo de Campo Maior photo album is filling up nicely, which means it’s time to set it free. It’s too large to show as a slide show within this post, so I point you to the album in Flickr to see the rest, and yesterday’s post for some video clips.
The paper artistry extends beyond flowers: there was a street decorated like a farm with paper pigs and cows, a wine-themed street with paper grapevines and barrels, paper swans and bullfighters, wishing wells and paper tapestries. Someone even decided to build a cardboard tank in front of the castle!
The Alentejo Region is hot and dry, perfect for an event built around paper, but I did wonder what would happen if and when rain entered the forecast. The event is over eight days, there’s some likelihood for precipitation. Do they have an emergency plan to uninstall within a few hours and then reinstall when the threat of rain passes? The committee has been working on this event since January, I’m assuming they have a rain plan. Let’s hope they don’t have to implement it.
It was an 1,100km round trip for us to attend this event, but Festas do Povo de Campo Maior only takes place every four years, or whenever the townsfolk decide they’ve recovered sufficiently from the last one and are ready to tackle it once again. Considering there are around 20 kilometres of paper decorations, you can see why! We arrived before 10 o’clock in the morning, left around six o’clock in the afternoon, and we still didn’t get to see everything. The level of detail and painstaking work behind these displays isn’t for money (the entrance fee is only €4), it’s truly a labour of love by the people of Campo Maior.
Long live the arts in every corner of Portugal!
Event info (August 22-30, 2015): http://festasdopovo.pt/
August 23, 2015
Album: Festas do Povo de Campo Maior [August 2015]
Aug
20
Officially, there is one month left in summer but I can already feeling it winding down a little bit as September looms. August is when the Portuguese take their holidays, typically the whole month. Family-run restaurants are shuttered, tourists swarm the cities while the natives have escaped, and villages swell as emigrants return for their festas which celebrate saint holidays. It’s a very different atmosphere in August.
I shot all these Porto-branded photos at the F1H2O weekend; the weather was extremely favourable during each of the event days. In fact, the whole summer has been consistently hot and sunny with very few cloudy days (we had a run of four overcast days in a row recently, which stood out as unusual) and hardly any rain at all. Good for most except the bombeiros (firefighters), who have been battling a greater number of fires this year, especially in the north and centre of the country.
This being my second summer in Portugal, I’ve got a better handle on where to go and what to do. It’s par for the course, but also good timing for the friends I’ve hosted since May, all first-time visitors to Porto. There were six in May, one in June, a group of six in July, and this month brought a new challenge: a pair of tweens.
Achievement Unlocked!
Today we had to drag everyone to the airport at 4:30 in the morning to get them to their boarding gate on time, and two flights later they made it to Germany. Once I got the update, I breathed a sigh of relief that our week of hosting two 12-year olds in a foreign country without their parents was a success (read: without incidents). This has been in the calendar since March, and at some points since I racked my brain to recall what age 12 was like, but it was simply too long ago — more than 30 years! It was my last year in Winnipeg, I was in Grade 7, I read a lot of books, and the summer I turned 13 we went to the Philippines. That’s about it. If you can remember that age clearly, I applaud you!
Needless to say, hosting kids is very different from hosting adults: there are no port wine tours or tastings, not the same sort of sightseeing, and I brought them everywhere and back home versus sending them to places on their own. There was even a requested trip or two to a shopping mall (and you know how I feel about those), where Paulo and I saw a movie and called it a date while the girls power-shopped.
I’ve known one of the tweens all her life and the other was her classmate, who I didn’t know. If there was such a thing as a Life CV, I would put “tweensitting” near the top! Because it must be said: the prepubescent brain is a mystery, with a No Adults Allowed sign at the entrance. But at least I can say we survived the week, which I call a reality check for parenthood.
What’s Next?
I’m hoping now that our hosting calendar is all crossed off for the year, we can get in at least a couple more road trips before the summer ends in a month. I’m working on a couple of big projects and have a family shoot coming up, too.
There’s a week and a half left in August, I hope you’re enjoying it!
July 31-August 2, 2015
Album: F1H2O Grand Prix of Portugal 2015
Jul
12
We spent all day in Tomar to attend a festival that only takes place every four years. Now that I’ve witnessed it (including watching the parade go by twice) and attempted to photograph the spectacle of handmade displays, I understand why Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) only happens every four years. Everything you see in the festival is handmade by the people of Tomar!
The celebrations have been modernized to some extent but the main elements (the carrying of the trays in the final procession, decorating the streets) have continued since medieval times — when Portugal became a country. It is nothing short of impressive.
For an overview of the festival, read Sandra Silva’s article in Pocket Cultures.
Paulo shot four video clips of the main procession and looked after Ice the Dog while I moved around with the camera — as much as I could move in an estimated crowd of 400,000 people. It was a crush, but that is to be expected for an event of this size that only comes around periodically. I’ve got hundreds of images to wade through, as you can imagine. In the meantime, some video:
In the street:
The main square:
The main procession:
July 12, 2015
Album: Festa dos Tabuleiros 2015
Jul
04
This weekend is the First Edition of Open House Porto, an architectural initiative that is part of Open House Worldwide (Doors Open in Toronto is similar). 42 spaces around Porto, Vila Nova da Gaia, and Matosinhos are open to the public at specific times and the event offers guided tours either led by volunteers, architects or specialists.
We visited four sites today, the first of which was Piscina das Marés in Leça da Palmeira (Matosinhos). I first saw these pools in some random aerial footage shot by a drone (similar to this; see also this) and I searched on a satellite map of Porto to find and photograph them. But it was my first winter, and Paulo informed me the pools are only open in the summer. Then before I knew it, Summer #1 came and went and I had to wait for Summer #2 to get around to it. Open House Porto made it easy — and free — for me to tick this one off the list, finally.
The Piscina das Marés has two pools with filtered sea water, the larger one for adults and the smaller one for young children. Each one is built into the natural rock formations at a lower level from the road and only pedestrians notice part of the pools if they know where to look. Renowned Matosinhos-born architect Álvaro Siza Vieira designed it this way to preserve the view to the ocean. The Piscina is one of his earliest projects (1961-1966) along with nearby Boa Nova Restaurant (formerly Tea House), and in 2006 both were declared National Monuments.
http://alvarosizavieira.com/1966-leca-swimming-pools
I found a documentary video on Vimeo (6mins) that delves into the architectural philosophy behind the construction:
We attended the first guided tour with a specialist at 9am as they were opening, so the bathers were just beginning to arrive. It’s a popular spot, but if you’re an earlybird you will get the worm in Portugal because the Portuguese are not morning people — the parking lots along Avenida da Liberdade were still mostly empty at 9 o’clock. I predict we’ll be back here before the summer’s out, but with swimsuits and without the cameras.
Piscina Das Marés
Avenida da Liberdade
4450-716 Leça da Palmeira
Website: http://www.matosinhosport.com/gca/?id=440
Tel: 22 995 2610
Email: geral@matosinhosport.com
HOURS: June-September, every day 09:00-19:00
Coordinates:
Lat: 41 ° 11’34.40 “N
Long: 8 ° 42’27.58 “W
July 4, 2015
Album: Portugal [Summer 2015]
Jun
30
We really enjoyed ourselves in Malta, thanks to many people I need to thank — so many, in fact, that I must do it in stages. On our second day in Malta, we were driven around in the evening by a local academic named Robert. We’d made contact with him via the Couchsurfing website, and he’d already planned to bring us to a folk festival in Floriana (next to Valletta) called Għanafest.
Excerpts from the Visit Malta website:
Għanafest is a three-day manifestation of Maltese folk singing (known as Għana in Maltese) which takes place every year in June…. a unique opportunity to experience the different styles of għana. Besides Maltese folk music, the festival presents a programme of local musicians and ensembles.
Maltese folk singing has various genres e.g.‘Għana tal-Fatt’, whereby the singer recounts a story in verses that relate to a tragic past event. Another genre is ‘Għana spirtu pront’: two singers hit out at each other with sharp and witty retorts as one sings out and the other responds with spontaneously thought out lyrics; and ‘Għana fl-għoli’ wherein the stanzas are sung in an extremely high note /pitch remotely similar to a flamenco folk song – this singing is also known as ala Bormliħa.
A variety of foreign folk singers and musicians hailing from various countries in the Mediterranean also participate in this festival. Throughout the three days of the festival, there will also be a series of crafts demonstrations on various stands.
We spent the evening at the folk festival, where I shot a large volume of photos of the performers, mostly of the flamenco dancers who are part of a local dance group. On our way out, Robert introduced us to the organizer of the folk festival, who explained that the dancers brought the idea to him, since flamenco isn’t native to Malta but it could be performed to Maltese folk music. (There are a few short video clips of it at the bottom).
I wanted to devote an entire post to the ladies of the flamenco group, because they danced with such passion through several outfits and numbers. I love shooting dance, because performers become lost in the music and the movement of their bodies. It makes the photography much more about timing than anything else (I never use the burst mode), and freezing moments of movement which show how fully engaged the dancers are. It’s the expressions of rapture I aim for every time.
June 14, 2015
Album: Malta 2015
Jun
28
This is a pictorial continuation of yesterday’s post of video clips from Porto, Granito e Sonho, a series of theatre performances between São Bento Railway Station and balconies above Rua das Flores depicting the history of Porto and brought to life by Locomotiva, a six-month arts project by the City of Porto. It was a production on a rather grand scale, with five directors and around 400 theatre performers (professionals and students) from ACE Escola de Artes / Teatro do Bolhão and other performing groups such as Alunos da ESAP, Coral Amigos da Música de Espinho, Coral de Letras da UP, UATIP, and more. Although the video clips do a better job of showing theatre than photography, these performances yesterday were very physical and musical — you wouldn’t need to know Portuguese to enjoy them.
Locomotiva’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/portolocomotiva
What I also find interesting is how well Rua das Flores is set up for this kind of theatre, with balconies on most floors. It made me wonder how easy it was to arrange access to the balconies, since the street is now flourishing with businesses and some of them are short-term rental apartments. It’s mostly a pedestrian street, and the crowd watching the performances from below weren’t given notice where the performers would be next, it only later became apparent that the action flowed from the train station down the street towards the river.
Rua das Flores has seen tremendous growth over the past few years, with extensive renovations turning the street into a hive of commercial activity. When I first arrived, Rua das Flores was fairly empty, but now it’s one of the busiest streets in the city, buzzing with tourists and trade. I hope no matter how busy the street gets, that it keeps the balconies open for street theatre.
I have always made a point to focus on the arts in this web space wherever I’ve lived, but I do so especially here in Portugal. Why? Because there is this tendency for governments to cut arts funding in time of economic hardship and Canada is guilty of this, but that is not the case here in Portugal, a country where you’d expect the governments to cut all funding indefinitely. Instead, there are cultural events happening all the time, and the municipalities and regions in Portugal continue to promote the arts to a degree I’ve never seen in Canada, where event producers must turn to the private sector and beg corporations for sponsorship. Of course, arts stories like this don’t ever make it to the news, so readers outside of Portugal who rely on news never get the full story of what it’s truly like to be here. Little blogs like mine exist, in part, to fill in the gaps.
June 27, 2015
Album: Portugal [Summer 2015]
Jun
27
My errands in Porto today led us to a street theatre event in the city centre called “Porto, Granito e Sonho”, performed around São Bento Railway Station and Rua das Flores. Afterwards, we also bumped into a friend while we were having dinner in Miragaia and stayed late, which means I have just one photo for this post and the rest are video clips taken by my phone until I have time to upload the pictures. (Because I’m older now and everything seems to take forever.)
(There are four video clips below, which you may not be able to see if you view this in an RSS reader.)
June 27, 2015
Album: Portugal [Summer 2015]
May
24
Our Seattle visitors arrived today and their first cultural experience in the north of Portugal was immediately after: Festival da Primavera (Festival of Spring) in Moreira da Maia. I have plenty of images as usual, but here’s just a few for now plus a video clip while we continue our touring.
In this video I’m far away because standing close to the speakers distorts the music and singing. More photos to come, to better show the traditional clothing.
XXV Festival da Primavera, dia 24 de Maio em Moreira da Maia
May 24, 2015
Album: Portugal [Spring 2015]
Apr
10
Even after living in Porto for a year and a half, I still couldn’t say I knew Casa da Música all that well. I’d visited a few times and the most I’d seen was a symphony rehearsal, not even an actual concert.
But today that all changed. Now I know it probably better than most people in Porto!
Casa da Música is having an Open House for the next few days to celebrate its 10th anniversary, and through a chance retweet, I discovered that they were offering free technical tours of the building during their anniversary program. I’ll explain more in the post how it came to be, but I ended up on not one but two tours of CDM today, one this morning of the public spaces (in French) and another in the afternoon of the personnel-only spaces (in Portuguese). As a result, I spent a total of about three hours actively touring the entire building: the nooks and crannies, control rooms, storage rooms, filtration systems, rehearsal spaces, racks of costumes, rooms of instruments, sheet music, and banks of computers keeping track of lighting and sound and air temperature and humidity. I’m a production geek and love to see behind the curtains.
But after all that I could really use some sleep. Tomorrow I’m going on a Porto Food Tour because I won a giveaway on Nelson Carvalheiro’s blog, which means I’ll have some new food spots to share with you afterwards. This photo above is my latest discovery after exploring Casa da Música: they have a roof terrace with an incredible view! (Here’s what it looks like from above.) I loved it so much I returned there four times through the course of the day. I’ve never heard anyone mention this spot before, but now that I know about it, I will be back!
April 10, 2015
Album: Portugal [Spring 2015]
Feb
19
Each year the Carnaval de Ovar judges all parade entries in three categories by points: Carnival, Passerelle (catwalk?), and Samba School. The 1st place winner in the Carnival category was the group Vampiros (Vampires), who took on a steampunk-inspired railroad theme with requisite costumes and mega-props, including mobile railroad signals, tracks, and a gigantic train engine with moving arms. It was theatrical and the music was perfect: a dubstep cover of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”.
I was too busy shooting to get my phone out to make a video, so here’s a one-minute clip from Rádio AVfm of the end of their performance segment. There will probably be more videos of the parade appearing on YouTube over the next little while, but at least you can see the train’s arms in motion (there is a point where it gets very animated, but it isn’t in this clip).
The parade was more than four hours long, so as you can imagine I’m still editing. I’ll have a commentary post up soon along with another batch of photos, but until then you can find more photos in the album: Carnaval de Ovar 2015
Carnaval de Ovar website: http://www.carnaval.ovar.net/
Carnaval de Ovar on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carnavaldeovar
See also: Carnaval de Ovar 2015: A Video Preview
February 17, 2015
Album: Carnaval de Ovar 2015
Nov
29
DaVinci Gallery, Porto
Exposição/ Leilão de arte, com vista à angariação de fundos para a Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro-NRN
Exposition / Art Auction fundraiser for Portuguese Cancer League
www.ligacontracancro.pt
DaVinci Art Gallery, Porto
November 29, 2014
This is my second year to shoot Aduntorium Non Constant; last year’s event was spread over the entire weekend (Friday to Sunday):
Exposição: Aduntorium Non Constant (2013)
Aduntorium Non Constant: Leilão/Auction (2013)
This year the event format was modified to accommodate the expanded volume of artwork available for auction (nearly triple the number of pieces), shortened to two days, and the location moved from Matosinhos to downtown Porto. The exhibit and auction took place today, and tomorrow is the second day of the exhibit with a silent auction for the remaining works of art. All pieces were donated by the artists, as was the venue and the base materials given to the artists. Two representatives from the Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro were on hand to introduce the event and encourage bidders to donate generously.
There are a LOT of pictures still to edit and upload, but I’ve got a list of the sold pieces and will give upload priority to photos of pieces which aren’t sold yet. Eventually the photos of all the artwork will be added to the album, so check back for additions:
Album: Aduntorium Non Constant 2
The full album is best viewed as a full-screen slideshow:
Oct
11
street art in Porto
I gave up on a more descriptive title for this post because today was such a mixed bag of activity that it defied a title. Our main plan was to check out the Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto (International Puppet Festival of Porto), but we wound up seeing a puppet show only at the end of the day and spent the rest of the time walking around and visiting the Centro Português de Fotografia (Portuguese Centre for Photography). There is always so much going on in Porto — all year — that I find it’s often easier just to show up around the centre and stumble upon events spontaneously than to try and fit them all in through rigorous planning.
These photos are just a smattering of what we saw (and ate) today, including street art, exhibits, churches, and Galician food. The rest you’ll find in the Autumn 2014 album.
heritage tram at Clérigos
Tram 22 on Rua de Santa Catarina
Rua de Santa Catarina
Rua 31 de Janeiro
Praça da Batalha
capoeira in front of Sáo Bento Station
Porto has no shortage of street art
pimento padron (Galician specialty) in Largo São Domingos
street cats and street art
Clérigos and heritage tram
Igreja de São José das Taipas
Igreja de São José das Taipas
The rest of the photos are from Centro Português de Fotografia, where we happened upon the launch of two exhibits: TOET, The Other European Travellers, and a tapestry rug, which you’ll see further below (I’m still searching for info about this rug!).
Centro Português de Fotografia’s courtyard doubles as a football pitch
map of Europe, in photos (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
The TOET exhibit — The Other European Travellers — is a project of contemporary stories of mostly southern Europeans who left their homelands for countries further north in Europe to work. The travelling exhibition is a compilation of personal archives, from family albums and collections:
THE OTHER EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS is a photographic project developed by a selection of european photographers with the support of a group of experts and reknown artists.
This initiative – supported by EU Cultural Programme – aims to explore through a map of contemporary stories, the experiences of european citizens and their families who, for economic reasons, left their countries of birth to starting a new life in new lands.
TOET focuses on migrations between 1950 and 1980, mainly from south (Spain, Portugal, Greece and southern Italy) to central and northern Europe (France, Germany, UK and Belgium).
TOET aims to recover the memory and the collective imagination of these citizens, key figures in the construction of modern Europe, and also intending to offer an artistic and archival legacy for future generations, using the image as a vehicle for transmitting experiences.
TOET has been conducted by 1 coordinator, 3 co-organisers and a network of european cultural institutions.
As an expat and migrant several times over, this exhibit was very interesting to me. My favourite part was the one below, by Alberto Rojas Maza, of Spain:
postcard magnets (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
Paint, Paint, Paint!
In 1958, and after finishing his studies of medicine, my uncle Enrique (1932-2009) left to Mannheim in Germany, where he started to do odd jobs until he could exercise his profession as a doctor in a hospital. He stayed there ’til 1965. Throughout this period, and in a permanent manner, he sent a series of postcards to his brother, Antonio (1930-1994), an artist who lived in Seville. The majority of the postcards depicted paintings from the museums he visited in his free time. Antonio “deposited” those postcards among the pages of an Art encyclopaedia, which I received years later through my father.
magnetized postcards written by the artist’s uncle to his brother in Spain (Exhibit: TOET – The Other European Travellers)
The building that houses the centre used to be a jail back in the day… can you tell?
artist’s opening
artist’s opening
taking in the views
spy cameras
Centro Português de Fotografia has a modern jailbird (hand by Paulo)
October 11, 2014
Album: Portugal [Autumn 2014]
Sep
27
Last night we saw the high-energy comic theatre troupe Sobre Rodas (‘On Wheels’) from Galicia, the opening act for Festival Internacional de Teatro Cómico da Maia tonight. It was 70 minutes of very physical comedy!
Sobre Rodas’ show turned out to be perfect for me because it wasn’t heavy on dialogue. In fact, they didn’t speak Portuguese, or any sort of intelligible language, it was a sort of hybrid pseudo-German with the occasional Spanish word — I heard chorizo! chorizo! — or maybe some Galician.
I took a LOT of photos of their show, but I’m only posting some of my favourite images here. Check out the album for the videoclips of their performance.
September 26, 2014
Album: Sobre Rodas @ Festival Internacional de Teatro Cómico da Maia
Aug
21
Last month we were at Serra do Pilar in Vila Nova de Gaia to see fado singer Gisela João perform on the first night for Cais de Fado. By day, Serra do Pilar is a facility of the Portuguese Army and closed to the public, but on occasion it opens up to serve as an event venue. If the name Serra do Pilar sounds familiar, it’s also next to a monastery which has a terrace with the best view of Porto over the Luís I Bridge. I only started shooting from that viewpoint last month, and since then I’ve been back at every opportunity for more.
I carried two cameras with me the night I took these photos, switching between the two depending on the lighting conditions, using the FX body for the performance and the DX body for the wide angles. Night shooting is a real challenge, and the only time I’ll bump up the ISO from its lowest position. If the ISO is above 400, I’ll typically run the photos through a noise reduction program. Event night shooting is especially tricky: mixed lighting throws off the white balance, motion blur has to be controlled, lights and shadows are constantly moving around. I shoot manually 100% of the time, and it’s tough to get the settings right every time, in-camera. Yet, I get such a kick out of it, because when it works it is really gratifying. (I sound like such a masochist!)
Enough tech talk, back to the photos. You’ll find more in the growing Cais de Fado album.
July 24, 2014
Album: Cais de Fado 2014
Aug
14
18th annual Medieval Fair / Viagem Medieval
Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal
July 31-August 10, 2014
Official site: www.viagemmedieval.com
All photos and videos shot August 3, 2014.
It’s a holiday in Portugal tomorrow, and we’re heading off to the family’s home village in Penela da Beira for the festivities. I wanted to post the album before we leave, because we will be unplugged over the weekend and I know I will have another boatload of photos when we return.
This album is BIG, so I’m posting a cross section and I invite you to check out the rest of the album via Flickr:
[thumbnails]
[view as a full-screen slideshow] – includes videoclips
Viagem Medieval 2014: Food & Drink
Viagem Medieval 2014: Videoclips
Bom Fim de Semana!
August 3, 2014
Album: Viagem Medieval 2014
Jul
30
Filed under: “Only In Portugal”
Last night I had to top up my phone’s SIM card but had to go to a Multibanco (bank machine) to do it because I forgot my login code for online banking. And strangely, I also had a craving for a fartura, the Portuguese version of a doughnut.
Paulo was sceptical, since farturas are found at food trucks at festas (fairs), not from restaurants. We went to the beach looking for a food truck (none), then I spotted a light display in a roundabout that looked like one from a fair. The closest place was Leça da Palmeira, and there we found not only a farturas truck, but a Multibanco located conveniently across the street, and — what turned out to be the best part — ranchos (folk performers) on stage for Festas de Sant´Ana e XIV Festarte!
Success x3!
Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, because my phone’s videocam is very low on detail and you can’t see the outfits properly. But at least you can see some dancing! I uploaded the longest videoclip (4 mins) to YouTube (above), and the rest are shorter (1-2 mins) and uploaded to Flickr (below). In some of the videos you can see very young children dancing — a few boys between 2-4 and a girl of about 5 — and they were absolutely adorable.
But man, I don’t know how they can dance and wear all those clothes! The daytime temperatures have been over 30C and while recording these videos I was roasting just sitting on the sidelines with my beer in one hand and the phone in the other!
Jul
25
Helena Sarmento at Palco 1 Cais de Gaia
The preview posts continue for Day 2 of Cais de Fado 2014, only because we’re road-tripping early tomorrow and there’s no time to edit today’s captures after the trip prep. So I leave you with a few images and all the videoclips I managed to shoot this evening (I had to scoot home before the big show at Serra do Pilar). Full post next week.
Helena Sarmento at Palco 1 Cais de Gaia
Alexandra Guimarães at Praça Sandeman
Micaela Vaz at Praça Sandeman
Rui Oliveira at Praça Sandeman
July 25, 2014
Album: Cais de Fado 2014
Jul
24
Gisela João at Serra do Pilar
Fado has a new fan… me! Cais de Fado 2014, Day 1: I saw fadistas Patrícia Costa and Gisela João perform and they were sensational!
But I now have a huge batch of photos that need processing; here’s a preview in the meantime, and a backgrounder on fado.
Patrícia Costa at Taylor’s Port Wine Cellars
Serra do Pilar
Portugal does it right: mobile sangria!
I didn’t take any video of Patrícia Costa, only photos. Paulo took some videos of Gisela João’s show at Serra do Pilar. The first one it’s a bit shaky because he’s dancing, and partway through you can hear him singing along:
July 24, 2014
Album: Cais de Fado 2014
May
24
A very brief preview of our Friday night at Imaginarius, Portugual’s international street theatre festival at Santa Maria Da Feira. We arrived home around 2:30 in the morning, totally beat.
With all that nightshooting comes major editing, so the rest of the pics and commentary are coming slowly. I shot everything with the 50mm f/1.4 on the Nikon D700 to make editing easier, but working a prime lens in crowds was a challenge. Focusing, angles, distance — it’s all much harder without a zoom. But it’s worth it for the extra f-stops!
May 23, 2014
Album: Imaginarius 2014
Mar
25
Cottas Club Jazz Band are musicians based in Oeste, Portugal, playing Dixieland-style jazz during the Festival Internacional de Chocolate de Óbidos, which continues every weekend from March 14-April 6. If you’re not familiar with Dixieland music, it’s an early form of jazz style fronted with brass instruments often supported by improvisational instruments like the washboard and spoons. Dixieland jazz originated in the American South and was popularized in New Orleans in the ’20s and ’30s. It’s a happy, upbeat style of music well-suited to street festivals, where performers mingle directly with the festival-goers.
Official website: http://www.cottasclub.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cottasjazz
Paulo shot some video of them, but I only have photos. Here’s a short clip of them at the Chocolate Festival:
Originally I’d just planned to send the band their pictures which I did this morning, but then I thought, eh, I should post them here, too. If there’s one thing the internet needs more of, it’s happy music! You can find more performances by the Cottas Club Jazz Band on their YouTube channel.
March 15, 2014
Album: Portugal’s Central Coast
