Belly dancer...

I've talked before about the circumstances of chance in photography. Some photographers in the past have talked about the genius of being able to capture "the" moment.

Most noticeable of those photographers was arguably Cartier Bresson. He called it: "the decisive moment".

While I'll agree that Mr. Bresson's photos are different and that there is an intrinsic quality about them, I think it’s a huge leap to say that he was able to pick off this moment using some sort of technique, or savoir-faire (you know, him being french and all).

As with Shakespeare’s poems being reproducible by an army of a million monkeys with a million typewriters; I think that if you shoot enough everyday occurrences, you are bound to shoot something of interest. Especially with digital - where there are no relevant costs in shooting more frames - I believe this holds even more true.

I like to believe in a more introspective type of photography. I see photography as philosophy whereas video is physics. You try to capture, but then you are left to interpret it more than anything else.

By this, I don’t mean that I’ve eluded all possibilities of randomness, because you really can’t. There is really no way of knowing for sure what you got on tape (or on file, whatever).

I mean, let’s be real, where talking about thousandth of a second. We can’t really comprehend time in this scale, let alone capture it.

Joel Meyerowitz said that all cameras have clocks, and if you believe that you can tell what a 1000th of a second is, you start believing that you can capture it.

While I respect Mr Meyerowitz immensely, I think it’s more a question of faith than of technique or hand-eye coordination capability.

Am I wrong?... has been known to happen.

I was shooting the belly dancer in natural light (which I love - err, shooting in natural light, not necessarily belly dancers). At the precise moment I shot this, a flash from another camera, operated by another person, with whom I had no communication whatsoever, went off! How could I've predicted this?

This is the beauty of the random in photography. Its beauty is in direct relation with our inability to replicate.

This photo was taken with a DSLR in Dubai.

Mother...

This boy is playing in the yard of a restaurant. He seems totally absorbed by his playing and seems quite alone.

However, if you notice the shadow, it's his mom. So the shadow represents his mom, always looming, protective...

I've noticed this about moms. In the park, this past weekend, there were loads of moms with their infants. They are running and being the children they are and moms (err... being the moms they are, I guess) are right there.

I think this is stark contrast to what fathers do, which is to let them run around and allow them to bleed and get hurt severely and get stiches and broken bones. All the things that will turn them into real men!

This picture was taken with a DSLR in the Algarve (Portugal)

Point of View...

A photographer I respect immensely has taught me that the point of view is a great photographic tool. Everyday objects and situations can find new life in a different point of view.

I've been exercising this in new ways, of which this picture is a good example.

Although for some weird reason I love taking pictures of flags on poles, they don't seem to be particularly interesting to the general population (not a prison term, by the way - I just mean simple regular folks).

I like the fact that the semi-arc causes a diagonal theme that really imprints some movement and tension in the photo.

This picture was taken with a DSLR in Figueira da Foz (google it, it's in Portugal... google that as well).

Food...

Just tthe other day, a dear friend of mine has accused me (how dare he :) ) of not being able to take proper pictures of food.

All this just because I didn't have a proper picture of Konafa (that Egyptian dish I talked about some posts back).

Here's hoping he likes this one. I have more pictures of food like this, by the way... this was not a simple one-off! :))

This just goes to show i have to be careful about what I show here. Apparently, I have a reputation to defend!

Give this state of events, I'll try to maintain the quality output. :)

This picture was taken with a DSLR.

Lamp...

One of the great amazing capabilities of photography is the one to create moods. Every picture has a mood that very much like music can help lift you up, bring you down, and make you think.

The mood is portrayed by a photograph by the visual cues that it has. The exposure, the setting, the lighting, all these elements contribute to the mood of the picture.

This picture was taken indoors, at a restaurant in Cairo, called Taboula (Lebanese restaurant, great food).

I took several pictures in this restaurant, but this one conveys (without being explicit about it) the oriental mood of the place. It really takes me back.

This was shot in Cairo, in Taboula restaurant, with a DSLR.

Scraper...

Dubai is known for its skyscrapers and futuristic landscape. There are many examples of beautiful architecture in Dubai.

In this case, however, there are two natural elements (as in not man-made) that sell the picture.

The first is the sky. It's very dramatic and it's not that often that you see the sky like this in Dubai, so that's an event in itself.

The other is the reflection in the glass covered building section. It really brings out the blue hue on the side of the building and it really nails it.

Technically it's not perfect, compositionally is crap, but I like it, so that's that.

This was taken in Dubai with a DSLR.

Let there be light...

I discevered the beauty in colored fluorescent lighting. They are amazing subjects. Depending on the exposure, you can create beautiful effects around them. 

These particular lights were on a modern art show and I was taking some close up pictures when this girl came by.

I noticed how the lights were falling on her, but what struck me the most was that she, in some way, became the lighs themselves. It's almost like she became part of the show.

Light truly is an amazing thing. More and more I see myself as a sculpturer of light on top of being a photographer. 

This was taken in Lisbon, at an art show, with a digital SLR.

Piled rocks...

Photography has many dimensions. Even though it somehow describes reality, it also transcends it. When you press the shutter, there is decision in that moment. The person behind the lens has taken the conscious decision to capture that exact moment.

It may, or may not have, taken a lot of other decisions. Some technical, some artistic in nature, these decision do not affect the reality, but they affect our (the photographer’s) perception of that reality.

The surrealists are very fond of the concept of the “found object”. An everyday object that can somehow taken out of context (or into context, as you prefer) and be a part of an artistic piece.

Although I don’t perceive myself as a surrealist, I also like the concept of the “found object”. I like to include everyday objects in my photography. The reason behind it is that I force myself to discover some artistic aspect in objects that would not be that interesting from the onset.

This pushes my artistic boundaries and sometimes technical boundaries as well. It’s not an easy exercise to really discover beauty in these things. But then you find that it’s your own subjectivity that is being put into question. It’s quite introspective.

Ok, maybe sometimes you just take pictures of rocks and it’s only later that you find some kind of meaning to it. That’s ok as well. There is no plan, fine! Whatever works for you...

This particular pile of rocks was photographed in Cairo, with a Lomo Compact Automatic. A wonderful tool for artistic freedom, as the only thing you can (roughly) define is the focal distance. It’s really liberating as it forces you into the more artistic aspects of photography.

I encourage everyone to try different formats, as they all have their particular appeal.

Lisbon Bridge...

The Lisbon bridge (Ponte 25 de Abril, in Portuguese) looks a lot like the SF Golden Gate bridge, and it's no coincidence, seeing they were both built by the same company.

Usually, when it's sunny, the view is clear. In this case, this picture was taken around spring, but it was already warm - if I remember correctly.

It's a nice, low angle into the bridge although what sells it in this case is the fog around the bridge.

Contrary to popular belief - if there is a popular belief about these things, I don't know - it's not easy to include the right amount of fog in the picture. Too exposed, and it'll become a white-out mesh of cloudiness, if less exposed, the fog will simply disappear.

This was a success in that respect.

This was taken with a digital P&S and a good one at that.

The shadow...

Photography has some funny aspects to it. Although you seldom know the people in them (unless it's your holliday snapshots), you can't but wonder who are they? Where are they going?

I took this picture in Lisbon, in the very early hours in the morning. As you can imagine, this being one of the most bustling areas of Lisbon, there's nobody out and about at this hour. So, what is this person doing? Who is he, or she, what is he carrying?

Although we don't normally think of it, the point of view of the person taking the photograph (i.e. the photographer) is also relevant.

You can go either way, it could've been a studied and prepared shot or, as in this case, it could be a spur of the moment thing, and in which case it has a certain randomness we feel atracted to. Why this time, why this person, why this milisecond and not the next. You gotta love this unpredictable nature of photography. If there is a clock in the camera (and there is, you can see the shutter subdivisions) you can live inside this subdivision, you can literally stop time!

If there is enough light, then you can really stop the world and the people in it. It has an amazing power to deconstruct the real. Of course, there is nothing real about a shadow stopped in front of the coffee shop in Lisbon, but in this subdivision of time, you can believe it happened.

This was taken in Lisbon with a DSLR.

Man Carrying...

There is a well known section of Cairo, called Khan el Khalili, or simply "The Khan". By night is a bustling area, with loads of tourists and extraordinarily talented sales people that can speak any language you want.... I mean, anything!

This was taken in a day where I visited the Khan by day, for the very first time. I was surprised to find that it's an altogether different beast. There are still salesmen and tourists around, but not that much. It's also less dauting and less intimidating in the daytime. Of course, not as much fun as at night.

People work hard in the Khan. This man's here is the proof. Carrying a hefty load of merchandise to sell later.

I took this picture in Cairo, with a DSLR.

Lonely at dusk...

It's quite common to see sweethearts by the Nile. Egypt is a quite conservative country, so walks by the Nile is an acceptable behaviour.

What is less common is to see women by themselves. Specially at dusk and at night. This girl seems to be waiting for something. Who knows, maybe her fiancé.

I love this aspect of photographs. While they describe the physicality of the scene, it describes nothing real. It's nothing other than organized lying.

But at the same time, that's what draws us into the picture. What is she thinking? What are her dreams, her hopes? The fact that she acts as a cutout to the Nile gives her an almost ghost-like quality. Like she's not even really there...

This picture was taken in Cairo, with a DSLR.

Street Art...

I dislike graffitti as much as the next guy. However, I must admit that sometimes, it really gets to me.

If given enough quality, street art can be great. In this case, it was really making a non-descript wall in Cairo, seem a little more human. 

This was taken in Cairo, with a DSLR

Nina...

This is the first time I've posted personal pictures. I don't find that bad though, 'cause you'll most likely won't ever get to meet Carlota Joaquina (that's her full name, by the way). We call her Nina, for short.

This picture, I believe, encompasses everything I love about cats. They are a misundertood bunch, for the most part.

Cats are very much like patiente and trees, very deep roots, but sweet fruits. If you get to know them and really appreciate them, you'll find there's nothing quite like it...

You don't get to see it, but Nina is just paying attention to something my wife is doing, and giving her its full attention. You can't get this sort of focus from humans!

This picture was taken with a DSLR at my house.  

Protection....

Much as the images of saints in Europe, in Egypt people use similar things (but no images though), in order to ask for protection.

We indeed live in a dangerous world and we need all the help we can get! This object is hanging from the rear view mirror and in the background you got the horrendous Cairo traffic. You gotta' have protection for that!!

This picture was taken with a DSLR, in Cairo.

Mosque at dusk...

By now it's no secret that I love photographing in the dusk. I have the firm belief that you can't go wrong with this approach.

I think I really captured the mood of a late afternoon in Cairo with this shot. Granted, the mosque is not fully exposed, but the contrast with that amazing sky would make any silhouette work.

This shot was taken in Cairo, at dusk with a DSLR. (Against my better judgement, this shot was taken from the car! Anything can work! ;-) )

Konafa...

Ramadan is almost up in Egypt and other muslim countries. This is a time for celebration and in Cairo, Konafa is a treat not to be missed.

It's some form of sugary thread, stuffed with nuts, such as pistachios. It's greatness only surpassed by Om Ali, another desert not to be missed and my personal favourite.

I love photographing food, as food makes for a good model.

It's patient, it will sustain almost any kind of abuse and light seems to like it as well. It has texture, it has personality, it stands still for unlimited amounts of time... as I said: perfect.

This photo was taken using a digital SLR.

Suits...

I like the idea of taking simple pictures. I believe it adds to the strength of the message, if there are just two or three elements in a picture.

This picture is one of those cases, even though I'm not sure what it means, it still delivers a message.

Is it "legal" to assign a message to a picture, after the fact? Maybe. In this case, I think that it portrais the wait. These suits are waiting in the store, for a pick-up by a customer that may even not happen, ever. 

The way they seem to stack up at the left hand side means that the last person that went through them scanned for left to right, maybe.

This was taken at a clothes shop (ya think?) with a digital SLR. 

This is the third instalment of the series about the competition. I actually took this picture because my wife suggested it to me (thanks honey).

The purpose was about "phantom tenants". I think that was the title of the theme. At first I disregarded the chosen picture, because at first, I didn't like it. However, it was the one that fit the most in the general aesthetics of the seven pictures, so it got chosen.

I also like the way the broken section of the glass kinda'a reminds me of a dog.

This was taken with a digital SLR camera.

The Pole

I cannot get tired of the amount of detail you can get from a medium format camera. The negative is just so big, you get detail for ever...

In the future, I'll get a medium format camera that is digital and this will really open up my photo possibilities. Until then, I'll keep shooting film.

Today, I was talking with my friend from the camera store where I develop the film. He uses an expression for my shooting film, whic is: "luxury of shooting film". Which is really what it is, exactly.

Film is so expensive to shoot and develop, it's really a luxury to do it. As I left about 15 or 16 rolls of film, I should really be in trouble!

I'll be traveling in the next weeks, so I'll have other opportunities to shoot more film.

This picture was taken with a medium format TLR camera.

Is it just me, or am I crazy?

Continuing the series about the marathon, this picture was submited for the theme "is this really it, or is it just me that is crazy?". Quite a chalenging picture to take, in abstract. In reality, anything could be justified for this picture.

I took this picture (don't really remember why, I think I was testing some feature in my tripod) upside down (the camera at least). As one could not change the pictures in any way, the picture was submited just as it was taken. Upside down.

The feet you see belong to a good friend, which was also enjoying his time in the marathon.

This picture was taken using a digital SLR.

The competition

First of all, I'd like to ask my viewers to forgive me for not updating anything for some time. Vacations and some complicated situations at work have done that.

In the last post, I mentioned a competition that I entered recently. It was a photographic marathon. 24 hours, seven themes, one picture per theme.

I've entered seven photos, one for each of the themes. I'll be posting the photos for the next seven days (or something like that):

The first theme was "direct connection". I thought that this picture I took (one of the first ones, actually) represented just that. As portuguese people are mad about coffee, this seemed appropriate.

It represents the connection between the coffee beans and the finished product (duh).

It was taken with a digital SLR.

Let there be light...

There are some places that have the incredible ability to cast great light.

As I’ve said before, light is the best tool available for the photographer. Under good light, it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture.

The same happens with color. Of course, color is only visible due to light, but we could call it some other things: reflection; color cast; whatever… in some places it seems almost impossible to take a bad picture.

Troia is such a place. I just love the beach there, but also the fact that it’s just beautiful to photograph there. Although this picture is not the case, pictures taken just before night fall are especially beautiful.

Also, I’m finding that film just brings out the blues in the most amazing way. This is probably due to my inadequacy in properly balancing the colors with filters (not having any filters, this could prove difficult). I don’t care, in this case.

This picture was taken in Troia, using my trusted Leica film camera.

PS: This past weekend, myself, my wife and some friends, participated in a photographic marathon. Although it's been quite grueling, I'm happy about the end results. Stay tuned to this spot, as I'll be taking you through the several categories and the relevant pictures chosen by me to submit to the competition. Let's keep our collective fingers crossed.

The Photographers...

Photographers will go to great lengths to get the shots they want. In this case, not so much, but I liked the fact that they, as myself, were looking for photo ops in the beach.

It's almost like a mise en scène, only I'm not really in the frame, I'm a hint in the frame.

Also, I never get tired of sillouetes. They're just great as a photographic tool.

This picture was taken at the beach (duh), with an old russian film rangefinder. The film, I'm guessing it's HP4 by Ilford. Not that great, unless you like your pictures with loads of grain...

Mother and child reunion...

I contact with the people and culture of several different countries daily. It's true that there are some differences. Some use pieces of clothing that we're not used to; some go to church, some to the mosque; some speak some language that you can barely understand.

However, there are a lot more things in common, than the ones that make us appart. Even so, we are always making excuses to spread hatred and ignorance around.

One look at this picture and we have only to see that people are people, and beneath all the BS, we all want to be happy in the company of our friends and family and go on with our lives.

This picture was taken at a mosque, with a digital SLR.

Aladin...

Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted some Aladin-like slippers. I like the odd-shape and how they curl in the front.

I've never given it much thought of what the use of the curl could be. I'm still not sure, but I believe this design has merit. The reason is that, if you can imagine walking in these, they are not that sturdy. So, if you'd kick something hard by accident, you'd propably damage them.

This way, with their curly point, they just fold safely. This must make them more durable that the regular (our regular, at least) ones that don't curl up.

This photo was taken in Dubai, with a digital SLR.

Reflection

I love to photograph reflections. And they relate to photography immensely. In photography, many things aren’t but reflections. In most cameras, what you see through the viewfinder is nothing but a reflected view of the world.

So, reflections play a big part on photography. It’s sort of like Plato and the cave. It’s nothing but shadows, fixed shadows.

However common, I don’t find it easy to include reflections in photography. Not in a way that it’s interesting to see.

In this picture, I think it works fine. As the reflection is on water, and it’s blackened by the fountain’s tiles, it makes it interesting to watch. It gives it a surreal quality of a reflected, upside down, world.

This photo was taken in Amsterdam, in the airport, with a digital SLR camera.

Wheelchair

As you may know, I travel quite a lot. Therefore, I spend too much time on airports. My camera is an essential companion in these trips. I spend a lot of time taking pictures between trips.

Sometimes I get some funny pictures. In this case, the motion blur was purposeful. I was learning on how to reduce the shutter speed in order to get this effect. You have to put your camera on shutter priority and follow the target. In this case, it was the wheelchair.

The effect is quite funny. It seems that the wheelchair is going super fast. It also serves the purpose of focusing on the object.

To do it in the camera (without photoshop or similar) the object has to be moving.

This picture also makes me wonder the number of moving objects in an airport. How many miles have these things gone through? How many people they carried? By how many people? The numbers involving airports are mindbogling.

As I said... I spend way too much time on airports...

This photo was taken with a digital SLR.

I don't see myself as a landscape photographer. Aside from the "I've been here" kind of photo, it's rare that I get myself to take a landscape shot.

Whenever I decide to do it, however, it's mostly to do some panorama picture, which is the closest you can get to actually being there.

In this case, it was neither. It was a shot of the Nile (not at a particularly good time, in the morning) done with a medium format TLR camera that I own.

What I love the most about medium format is the detail that you get in the negative. It never ceases to amaze me how much detail you can get. This is a good thing when you're doing landscape, but I like it as well for portraits.

Due a decision to never get portraits of people I know in this blog, I can't really show you what I mean, but the detail is amazing.

This photo was taken in Cairo, in the morning, with a old, beaten, russian medium format TLR.

Sunset in Cairo...

Most people will tell you that photography's primary tool is the camera. But, is it, really? Can a blind person take pictures?

In theory, one can press the shutter and "take" the actual picture, but I wouldn't really call it "taking" the shot. Or, as some people call it, "making the shot".

You don't really "take" photographs, as much as you "make" photographs. You decide a lot of things, when you're taking the shot. Depth of field, shutter speed, white balance (if you're shooting digital), composition... it goes on and on. So, how can one really say he's just "taking a picture"?

Light is - in my opinion - the main tool of the photographer. You wouldn't be thinking of freezing the moments in snapshots, if you didn't have light. You wouldn't see aything to photograph to begin with!

I've come to love light. I've come to see it in a different way. I really come to believe that you can't take a bad picture if the light is perfect.

Not unless you forgot to take the lens cap off... that is.

This was taken with a digital SLR, in Cairo.

Blood on the Streets...

First off, it's not really blood, so relax... it's just paint on the streets. It just seems like blood. This is part of the organized lying I was talking about some time ago.

This is not what this post is about, though. Today, I was talking with some friends over lunch. The talk wasmostly about photography. We talked a lot, about film, about digital and we came up with the beaten down maxim: "it's just a tool, it doesn't really matter what you shoot with".

Now, my personal belief is that photography is not really like other arts. "Sometimes, to get the results the pros get, you need to buy the stuff the pros buy" (quote by a personal favorite, Scott Kelby - seems like a great guy, really love his books. If you're starting into photography, buy his stuff, it's GREAT).

By this, I don't mean to say that you can give the best camera in the market to a guy that knows nothing about photography, and just by holding this thousand Euro camera, every shot will be perfect. Quite the contrary, actually. "Pro" cameras are more difficult to use properly than point and shoot cameras.

But, it the opposite true? Can you give a phone camera to a good photographer and he will take the best picture ever?

I took this photograph with and iPhone (and I'm NOT by any stretch of the imagination saying I'm a good photographer) and I really like it. It's dark, its color is off, technically it's a mess. However, you can take pretty nice pictures with which you can impress your friends.

I really am a snob, I really like to shoot with great equipment, but sometimes, it's more about the shot itself, than the equipment. Try this: focus on the shot, instead of on the equipment. Get the lamest camera you have and shoot with it. Shoot anything, let go... I'll do the same.

This shot was taken in Lisbon at night, with an iPhone camera. No sidewalks were harmed in taking this picture...

Tomato Salad

I think that food is a wonderful subject to shoot. For one, you can arrange it as you see fit. And secondly, it doesn’t get bored while you rearrange it for 100th time.

One photographer said something like: “shooting is 5% pressing the shutter and 95% rearranging furniture”.

I don’t shoot things that involve furniture that much, but I understand what he means. I also understand why it’s easier to shoot professional models than say, your friends or family. They get paid to do it, so they’d better do it properly. That is, if they want to get paid again.

Light is also very important for food photography, I’m a profound believer that you cannot take a bad picture, if the light is excellent. I remind myself constantly of that, when I’m shooting. I pay more and more attention in order to have the best light possible.

It has happened, on occasion, to take my camera out and just give up after two or three shots due to the light being so bad.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR in a restaurant in Egypt (I think), and it’s a sort of fancy tomato salad.

Spice Bags

I like spices. Not only in food, but also in markets. They provide a huge range of colors and smells and really elevate the experience of going through the market.

This photo was taken at the market in Cairo. Spices are really cheap there and they provide yet another opportunity to argue the prices with the people selling them.

I love the way the short depth of fields puts some focus on the first two bags. It really adds some dimension and the sensation of "neverendingness" (sorry ´bout that) to the spice bags.

This was taken with a digital SLR.

The Fallen King

This picture reminds me of a fallen king in a game of chess. It's just a salt shaker.

I liked the way the available light enhanced these two objects. This photo was taken in available light with a very fast lens (50mm F1.4).

These lenses are mandatory for any photographer (my opinion). There are two main reasons for that.

The first reason has to do with the fact that 50mm is how we (as humans) perceive the world. So, photos taken with 50mm lenses are very close to our own view of how things "look".

The second reason is that it's a very fast lens. So you can take picture in situations that would otherwise be unphotographable. You can take pictures in dinner parties or bars, with little available light and without flash.

I also love the shalow depth of field that comes with having a big aperture. I take most of my photos wide open, as I love this effect that much.

This photo was taken with a digital SLR.

The traveler

As a testament that I spend too much time on airports, I have a great collection of photos that are taken in and around the "airport life".

A lot of the travels are done during the night, or in the wee hours of the morning. This was taken at Schiphol airport, as the sun was rising in the horizon. I love the faceless people against the sunny background.

Airports have always held a great deal of fascination for me. I love the fact that people from all over the world gather in these relatively small spots on the map. Such an opportunity for great stories!

This was taken with a Canon digital SLR.

Cat in pain

I love animals, so I take a lot of pictures. Contrary to what one might think, cats in Egypt are not that common. Of course you have cats (probably a gazzilion of them, more or less).

This one was pretty battered. I took this picture in Khan el Khalili with a digital camera.

Woman and dog holding each other

Although it's an issue that raises some controversy, many people regard their pets as family. I know I do - and I have a substantial amount of pets by some standards - as does my wife. 

This woman was holding her dog and demonstrating that she really loves him. This is something that the animals (especially dogs) will always do better than people.

In the picture the dog doesn't even seem to care, but they do. It's just because the dog could stay like that, held by its companion, forever. 

I think only a dog can really express what unconditional love really is.

I like the fact that the chains and the links in the chains represent some metaphor for the connection between the woman and the dog.

This picture was taken with a Canon digital SLR. 

XI Sky

If it was not for the fact that it would be boring, after some time, I'd shoot the sky a lot more than I do now.

i can't really explain how much I love the sky. Just the blue, and the coulds. It's really something special. 

I feel sorry for my friends that live in countries were the sky is never (or seldom) this blue.

This picture was shot in a park in Lisbon. Actually, it could've been taken anywhere, for that matter, that's another great thing about the sky. 

I just love it that airplanes, going to their destinations, have left some marks in the sky. These marks make up the roman numeral for 11 ("XI"). 

This picture was taken with a Canon digital SLR. 

The crying man

Someone once said that photography is nothing more than "organized lying". 

I find that to be true, the more pictures I take. 

You see, at first, one believes that photography documents. It simply picks up whatever it is that is in front of the lens. 

This is true, to some extent, however this changes in time. The more pictures you take, the less you "document" and the more you "convey". You no longer capture what's in front of your lens. You organize what you see into a picture that you first conceived in your mind.

Granted, no picture is ever what you designed, not exactly. There are always surprises. The less time you have to organize the picture, the more surprised you'll be. 

The next step is to manipulate. Not the environment, but what you see. You can conceive of such a strategy as to make it easier for the picture you want, to happen.

For example, the tittle of this photo does not represent what was happening. The man is not crying. Not really. He is actually laughing with a woman (presumably his wife) but she's not in the picture. 

I chose to hide the woman and only show the man. The couple in the back stands as an akward witness to what's going on. 

This is what the camera captured, yes, but only after I've decided what to show of the situation plus the time I waited for the right thing to happen. 

This was taken with a Leica camera and the film is Ilford, HP 400 I believe. Really didn't care for it that much. I'd rather shoot Delta, which is the only film I shoot from Ilford. 

Lovers watch the Nile

There is still imense social pressure in Egypt. Even beyond the obvious differences, there are underlying social agreements that have to be observed in every day life.

Lovers, for instance, have to maintaing a high degree of respect for each other, physically at least. One does not see lovers kissing in public in Cairo. Therefore, in order to build on the respect needed for the foundation of a great life-long relationship, lovers tend to go out and do long strolls along the Nile.

This is such a big part of Cairo landscape, that you can't help but to be confronted with this obvious opportunity to do some photographs.

This couple is sitting along the Nile, gazing into the landscape and maybe dreaming of things to be. Maybe a day in which they can share their love freely and not have to make excuses for a light touch or a kiss.

This picture was taken at dusk (my favourite time to shoot) with a medium-format LTR camera. Old and beaten, but still very good camera.

(Sorry, I just realized this was taken with the Canon digital SLR. It was the square format that I sometimes crop my pictures into that threw me off. My russian LTR takes some godd pictures, but I doubt it that it could've come up with something like this. Again, sorry for the mistake.)

Stranded boat...

This picture was taken in Alcochete, a small village near Lisboa. When the tide flows, the small fishing boats are stranded on the shore. This boat is tied to the pier. Looks overkill when you see it stranded.

This was taken with a Leica M6 and film.

The link to the "Missing Link"...

A few days back, I posted an image of some school kids in Cairo. This picture was taken in the citadel.

(You can check it here) http://mrcrossphotographyt.blogspot.com/2009/03/missing-link.html

Luck has it that my dear friend David (whom I turned to the dark arts of wasting money away on photography) took a picture of me and the situation. The really fun part is that he took the shot in the *exact same moment* I was taking the "Missing Link" picture!

There's another cool aspect of it, which is that David also features in the original picture as he is taking my picture. This is some sort of weird "picture-in-picture meets mise-en-scéne" situation.

It's also my first "behind the shoot", kinda' thing.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR (that I convinced David to buy... sorry David!)

Dry plant on the beach...

I really like the feel of film. Even though digital is getting better and better, film still has the upper hand in some aspects. The most relevant is dynamic range.

Film will beat digital in range, hands down.

This picture was taken on the beach, where I go to walk my dog, along with my wife. I really like the beach, but after a while, there's really not that much to photograph. At least, not that you haven't photographed before.

I really like how this pictured turned out, really sharp and crisp. This was taken with a beaten and old Russian rangefinder camera. Black and white film, probably Fuji or Ilford, I'm not sure.

Fireworks...

I was in Dubai when the biggest fireworks display ever for the inauguration of the "Atlantis" hotel happened.

They filled the Palm island with fireworks. It was quite amazing, although I have to admit, that being there and seeing it on television - filmed from a helicopter - was not quite the same.

I chose this one picture because I like the color and the fact that you have the silhouette of the construction equipment, an ever-present item in the Dubai landscape.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR.

Power cables...

I have this strange connection to power cables. I don't really consider myself to be a documentary photographer, but I do love to take pictures of power cables. Go figure...

This picture was taken in Dubai and sunset. I was in a middle of a cab ride from hell, that took almost two hours. I used a digital SLR and a fast lens, a 50mm f1.4.

The cook...

I like photographing people without them noticing. It's what we look like, when we think nobody's watching.

This gentleman cook was sitting in Cairo airport. He looked bored out of his mind. I always wonder what people are thinking.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR.

Endless...

This picture was taken at Frankfurt airport. There is a big connecting tunnel that seems neverending. Very much like some trips I sometimes have to take.

I sometimes imagine that one day, tunnels such as these will take us directly into our destinations. No planes involved.

This was taken with a digital SLR from the very begining of this tunnel. It was later treated digitally into BW.

The missing link...

This picture was taken in Cairo's citadel. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I started waiving at a group of kids as they were passing by me. As they passed, I took some photos.

This one was the shot I liked the most. I took me some time to notice that the kid in the forefront is missing half a finger. Anyway, this doesn't seem like enough to affect him, or his happiness. He certainly is quite keen on showing it to the camera.

This made me think that sometimes we feel miserable for stupid reasons, and surely - even though it's not the worst handycap one can have - a missing finger would be on a top priority list for self-comiseration.

No animal I've ever known has ever felt sorry for himself. Or thought that not having legs, eyes, whatever, was reason enough to stop living. Sometimes, I feel we could be more like them.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR, a Canon 400D.

Taking you back...

Seeing I've been taking pictures for some time now, it was not easy selecting the first picture.

As this is my version of dedicating my creative efforts to photography, I've decided upon a photograph - albeit not being my favourite, or best photo - that represents a photo that makes me feel.

This picture was taken in Cairo, with a very old camera. I took this with my Lomo Lubitel medium format camera. It is not what can be described as "tack sharp", however it does have strong connection to what taking pictures is about.

It represents a bus stop, where someone is waiting for transportation (or maybe just resting). In the back you see some arabic writing (no idea what it says). I like the silhuette, perfectly still, against the bustling traffic of Cairo.

I have five or six cameras, of various formats (35mm, medium 120, digital) and I love the immediacy and quality of digital, don't get me wrong. But film... film takes me back to a place where developing the pictures and seeing them for the first time in your hand (maybe weeks of months after they were taken), was remembering what you were doing, where you were.

That piece of paper in your hand, it takes you back.

I also like the analog feel of film. You never really know what you're going to get. Not exactly, at least. And you gotta love that!

I feel that digital makes you feel impatient. The immediate feedback is something that puts you in a place where you want to take perfect pictures, releganting to the second place the picture you saw in your mind and making you focus completely on whether it's perfect.

Forget perfect, forget technique, put the picture first.

Enjoy, comment, whatever...