Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, hillside, historic, house, hovel, Porto, Portugal on April 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Historic Hovels” : Porto, 10th September 2011
OK, perhaps I’m being a little mean in calling these house ‘hovels’, but they do look a little run-down.
Despite this, though, they retain a high level of charm due to their unusual deployment and their warm shades.
Who knows, maybe inside they’re all minimalist hi-tech pads of grand luxury. Maybe.
Have a look at a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged abstract, box, letterbox, pattern, Portugal, postbox, rectangle, stone on April 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Portuguese Postboxes” : Porto, 10th September 2011
Stone postboxes – how you ever seen the like?
See a larger version of this photo here. I bet you won’t, though. Shame on you.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, column, curly, Porto, Portugal, sculpture, statue, stone, wreath on March 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Curly Column” : Porto, 10th September 2011
There are various types of architectural columns, but I’m sure you’ve never seen anything like this: a small section of a much longer wiggly artefact that was holding up some monument or other in the centre of Porto’s historic old town. Notice the wreath which seems to be causing, implausibly, this bizarre warping of the stone.
An artisan bent on being different, or just a stonecutter’s joke? We’ll probably never know…
See a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, evening, panorama, Porto, Portugal, skyline, sunset, urban on March 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Porto Afternoon” : Porto, 10th September 2011
The clouds and rain having withdrawn, I was granted a couple of hours in the late afternoon to get out and record the last parts of Porto I hadn’t yet photographed.
Here, with my back to the river, I could survey the entire town between the two large church spires on the horizon.
Right at my feet were a charming row of tiled Portuguese houses, a little worn at the edges, and home to some colourful characters, with the dying sunlight striking the most attractive building…
Not a perfect composition by any means, and none too revolutionary, but I’m very pleased with how it turned out.
You can see a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged abandoned, architecture, building, decay, empty, Porto, Portugal, recession, ruin, tiles, urban on March 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Dead House” : Porto, 10th September 2011
Sad to say, but from what I saw, there are many abandoned buildings like this one all over the urban areas of Portugal. Some, as we have seen, have been transformed into interesting and cheerful street art, but this forlorn shell in the centre of Porto has had no such treatment.
Despite this, however, the building retains a certain proud grandeur and is resplendent in its gorgeous facade of green tiles (it is a feature of traditional Portuguese architecture to have a tiled frontage, though more often than not this is blue or patterned rather than green).
I hope the money can be found to rescue this once grand residence before it crumbles into dust…
You can see a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged bridge, city, clouds, panorama, Porto, Portugal, river, sky on March 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Porto Panorama” : 9th September 2011
OK, it’s a fairly touristy view I know, but hey, it had to be done.
Porto has a very changeable climate : in the few days I was there, it went from cold and rainy to sweltering heat and blue skies, sometimes both on the same day.
I had to act fast to shoot everything in decent light. Look carefully at the top of the picture, where the river meets the sea. You’ll notice a bank of ominous low cloud that rapidly swept up the valley shortly after this photo was taken, making everything hazy and grey…
See a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, Europe, evening, glow, hill, landscape, Porto, Portugal, warmth on March 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Evening Glow” : Porto, 9th September 2011
Proof that the ‘golden hour’ for photographers is the time just before the sun goes down. Or did I fake it all in post-production? You’ll never know…
Check out a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged abstract, architecture, Porto, Portugal, red, roof, slate, tile, warehouse on March 16, 2012 | 2 Comments »
“Warehouse Jumble” : Porto, 9th September 2011
Excluding backgrounds always changes the sense of a picture completely.
Here I just homed in on the gorgeous red roofs of Porto’s port wine warehouses, and their slightly odd angular alignment, resulting in a kind of homogenous magically beauty.
See a larger version of this picture here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, buildings, higgledy-piggledy, monochrome, perspective, Porto, Portugal, slope on March 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Higgledy-Piggledy Houses” : Porto, 9th September 2011
I love the expression ‘higgledy-piggledy’ – very funny, and I haven’t heard it used in a while, but it seemed appropriate for this picture.
Here, the steep slopes leading up from the river have been populated by all manner of dwellings, seemingly stacked up on top of each other.
Architectural aesthetics were obviously ditched for expediency in this neck of the woods…
Check out a larger version of this photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged cityscape, Europe, landscape, panorama, Porto, Portugal, river, roof, warehouse on March 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Porto, 9th September 2011
There you go, a straight, touristy shot of Porto looking out over the warehouses of a Port wine producer towards the Douro river and the medieval city centre on the hillside beyond.
It’s a nice place : go there…
Click here for a larger version of this photo.
