"Quinta do Cabrinha" neighborhood in Lisbon

Some photographs from "Quinta do Cabrinha" neighborhood in Lisbon, the photos were taken in July last year but I had them waiting in my archive to be revised and published. I often want to take off to another country in the search of stories in neighborhoods and going today trough my archive I realize that Portugal also have this places to go and search for stories. This particular one is not one of the most problematic and it is very colorful.
I will for sure during this year visit some of the problematic neighborhoods and search for photojournalism stories.

©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes

Archive

During these days I have been going through all my archive of 2007, organizing, cleaning and recovering some photographs and in July last year during a meeting of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union in Guimaraes, there was a major protest, that gather more than ten thousand protesters from all over the country, against the politic decisions on implementing the Flexi-Security working system in Portugal.
I was shooting the meeting and I was not schedule to shoot this event but because I didn’t have anything to shoot until late, I went outside of the facilities and took my camera and voice recorder.
I remember that it was one of the hottest days of this summer, people were making a lot of noise but with order, the police mount a security perimeter around the facilities and no disorders were register. I melt in to the crowd and start shooting and at the same time recording the sounds with my voice recorder hanged on my neck.
I mount this sound slides at that time but I didn’t know how to put it online, so it was waiting in my archive “collecting some dust”. I just learn it last week!!!
I know it is not an hot or fresh news but I want to show it. Enjoy it HERE

©Miguel A.Lopes

Photographic Fever.

Ten years ago I worked in a hotel, back in those times not many people had cell phones and even less people had pocket cameras, except for all the tourists coming from Asia that in those days we looked at them thinking "What are those strangers taking photos of? and, Why are they always taking photos?"
Ten years later and now everyone as got cell phones some times more than one and digital pocket cameras ready to make snap shoots.
This week when I was taking photos to ministers of environment in a very touristic place I recall those times when I saw a group of Asiatic tourists also visiting this place and every single one of them were caring cameras and taking photos.

©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes

Not much of News....But still working....

Well its summer and there is not much things happening in Lisbon and I'm not having that much assignments, normally doing just one service a day and nothing really hot as news, only the temperatures in Lisbon. This gives me time to go back to my archive and organize it and look again to old photos.
One of the folders of photos I've been organizing and editing is the one with photos from New York. I went there last December to attend a four days Photography Workshop of Raw Workflow by D65.
I stayed for two weeks and during that time I always carried my camera with me doing thousands of photographs.
In New York streets there is so much diversity of people and cultures, you can find people from all over the world, and I don't mean tourists but people that live there and consider them selfs "locals". I personally think it it one of the most amazing cities in terms of stories and moods. The streets of New York have a unique atmosphere that I tried to capture and transmit in my photographs.
Because I think that these little moments I capture with my camera are history, and of course will never repeat again, I prefer the black and white format.
Here are just a few photos from this period in New York.

©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes
©Miguel A. Lopes

Old photos from Hurricane Wilma

In 2005 I was living in Playa del Carmen Mexico. Playa del Carmen is one of the most nicest places to live, with the amazing Caribbean beaches and great dives and also with the contagious night life.
On October 2005 the Hurricane Wilma pass over the Caribbean coast. It was the most intense hurricane that has ever been recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma reached the category 5 of danger with winds of 295 km but was displacing at a speed of four kilometers per hour. Government officials declared a red alert on the evening of Wednesday, October 19. Classes were suspended in the state's northern municipalities and residents of coastal areas were advised to take refuge further inland, tourists in the resort city of Cancún and its adjacent islands were told to return to their places of origin or head inland while those unable to were relocated to designated hurricane shelters throughout the city. In neighboring Yucatán, classes were also suspended in 18 coastal municipalities. In the stores and in home people put tape and wood to protect from the winds. Fortunately it didn't made almost any victims but the damage was enormous.
In the following days I made some photos of the destruction in the town and in the beach, in some of them the winds blown away all the sand send boats to the streets and the ocean bought tons of coral to the beach where people came to collect them as souvenir. In town some shops were completely emptied by theft.
In the resort I was working a brand new pier was destroyed and all the palm trees were almost down.
In other area the red cross came to help with food and supplies the people who were most affected by the massive winds and destruction.
It was a very emotional and intense experience to live witch I do not expect to repeat.

© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes
© Miguel A Lopes

TGV

In my recent trip to France I took some photos of the fast French trains TGV. They cross France in speeds that can reach 300km per hour with comfort and safety.
I did some post treatment to the photos to create a different look and create also a different atmosphere. Enjoy it.

© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes
© Miguel A. Lopes