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8 Exposures: Portugal

You were wondering if I’d abandoned the 8 Exposures series weren’t you? Well, OK, you weren’t but it’s back.

In fact on my holiday to Portugal at the end of May, I took a whole 64 exposures, 8 packs of Impossible Project PX70 Color Protection film. I’d decided that I wanted to capture this trip and this place in a different way, one that reflected its slower pace.

I was nervous about taking the film through airport security but the folks at Impossible had told me that it was OK to send the film through the x-ray machines in your carry on. I did ask the security officer at Heathrow to hand check my film to which she replied, “No.” My further questioning still led to a “No” so, in total, the film went through an x-ray machine three times. And thankfully, it still worked just fine. Well done Impossible.

At times, the elements were against me when shooting with the SX-70. On one particular occasion the wind was blowing so briskly that it blew away the dark slide and nearly my film as the camera ejected it. The dark slide I’d been using to shield the film was even blowing up backwards and into the viewfinder. And I’ve learned a lot about shooting in super bright sunshine on really warm days. Definitely required some adjustments from my normal shooting technique in dreary old England.

But overall, I am so pleased with how these images turned out. I’ve only just finished scanning (the worst part!) them in so now it’s time to start sharing them. And what better week to start doing that than Roid Week, a week during which instant film enthusiasts from all over the world share and celebrate this art form.

This series was from the first pack of film I shot on the trip.

The fortress at Peniche.

The view of the cliffs and the sea from inside Peniche fortress.

The laundry, hanging to dry at a house in Peniche.

Peeling paint on a building in Peniche a reminder of the weathering effects of the sun and the sea.

A walk along the old city wall of Óbidos revealed this window to a windmill in the countryside.

The church in the main square of Óbidos.

Vegetation covering the side of a house in Óbidos, it’s branches about to reach through the window.

July 17, 2013

Travels

10 on 10: A Trip to the Dorset Coast

We take a long walk along the coastal path. It’s warm but the sky is gray. The fields are lush and green, carpets of corn covering the countryside.

The little people are in tow, stopping every few yards to clear out the rocks from their shoes. Or to dig up sticks. Or to just sit. The walk takes an hour one way as we stop and start, little people asking to be carried. But we soldier on to the pub we’ve been told is at the end of the journey. We find it, it’s closed. The downhill journey home is much quicker, a mere twenty minutes as we race to beat the rain.

In the morning, the sun shines and we rejoice at the possibilities of outdoor adventures further along the south coast, to Durdle Door, a place I’ve long wanted to visit. It’s beauty is stunning, the water deep clear blue, the cliffs steep and rocky. We climb down the steep steps to the rocky beach where we soak in the sun, dip our toes in the water, and throw stones.

We’re ready for more adventures, there are more sights to see, so we climb back to the top of the cliffs, stopping one last time at the top to take in the view of the sea and the horizon. Ice cream awaits.

We venture to Weymouth, where a wide stretch of sandy beach beckons us. I’m regretting the choice I made to wear jeans, the sun has worked its magic throughout the day. The tide is out and the water is shallow, perfect for little people to run and splash in. He makes the biggest most genuine smiles.

We make amends for leaving the buckets and spades at the hotel by treating them to a turn on the trampoline. They jump and laugh, faces full of smiles. This is what being a kid is all about.

And then the perfect day, the beach day with weather so brilliant it was as if I’d ordered it off a menu. I’ve made the right wardrobe choice today, shorts. We’ve remembered the buckets and spades. I’ve forgotten my book but it doesn’t matter. The view is more than enough to keep me happy.

Please continue to the lovely Crystal to see what 10 images she has to share this month.

July 10, 2013

Travels

10 on 10

This month I’m excited to be joining up with another group of fellow photographers for a regular monthly series “10 on 10.” On the 10th of each month we post 10 of our favorite images from the previous month. It will be good to have such an open-ended topic, I can share shots I love but that might otherwise just languish on my hard drive. And, because I’ve recently returned from holiday, this month I’m sharing a selection of favorites from my trip.

One thing I thoroughly enjoyed about shooting on this trip was actually giving my iPhone a little more love. I really hadn’t been shooting much with it lately but I found that as a travel camera, the iPhone is brilliant. Because it’s small and lightweight, I felt free to just enjoy my surroundings and the people I was with, all while still documenting the details of the trip. I didn’t have a big camera in front of my face all the time or feel like a sherpa carrying loads of gear. In fact, I felt that my images benefited by using the iPhone, I focused on really capturing the subject and less on the technicalities of shooting.

Travel and architecture photography is definitely out of my comfort zone, or at least I’m well out of practice. I’ve been in portrait, people, family, lifestyle shooting mode of late. This was a great opportunity to get out of my usual routine (or rut!) and focus on subject matter that I don’t regularly shoot. And it served as a great reminder that I need to take the time to step out of my photography comfort zone. Not only are there so many interesting sights to capture in the world around us, but it’s also how I’ll continue to grow as a photographer.

In Barcelona, the first stop on our trip, I found a muse in Antoni Gaudi. His genius is evident throughout Barcelona and I found the geometry in his work captivating, how he took inspiration from the natural world and tried to recreate those forms in his designs. Sea shells, turtles, trees, waves, bones, you can see these in the lines and shapes of his buildings.

Enjoy a few of my favorites from La Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Casa Batlló, and Parc Güell.

Please continue around our 10 on 10 circle this month and check out the talented Jessica Panozzo.

June 10, 2013

Travels

It’s Poppy Time In England Again

The poppies are in the bloom again (lush!), and unlike last year, this time I came prepared. Jeans, wellie boots, long sleeves. And I can now easily identify a stinging nettle. I was even brave enough to put my child in the middle of them, his football kit totally in keeping with the color scheme.

July 12, 2012

Travels

Visiting the Minpin Forest

“Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

– Roald Dahl

One of the books we’ve been reading lately is The Minpins by Roald Dahl. A delightful story about a little boy demonstrating great bravery as he finds adventure and magic in the forest. And, I didn’t realize until our recent visit to the Roald Dahl Story Museum, that this was the last book he wrote.

We’d been reading the book the other morning and then took a trip to Badbury Clump to catch the bluebells in bloom and get out of the house for some fresh air. And I couldn’t help but think in the darkness of the wood, is this the kind of place that Dahl imagined? It wasn’t quite full of the giant trees that Dahl describes but they did blot out the gloomy sky allowing only a brief moment of sunlight to break through their canopy. This was certainly a place where magic might be hidden.

The Minpins fresh in our mind from the morning, we even knocked on a few trees to see if any of the tiny magical creatures were at home. We knocked on several but unfortunately the Minpins must have been out for the day. Or maybe it was just the grown ups scaring them away.

April 24, 2012

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