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.