Blue Blue Chaddi Flew Two.
Walking along the Tagus river, I spotted this brave man getting ready to go for a swim. Not really am ideal swimming spot but he definitely seemed like he knew what he was doing. Wish I could've stayed around for a bit longer to see where he went, but I'm glad I got to capture his moment of contemplation before he jumped into the deep blue.
Canon A1 // Kodak Ektar 100
Fisherman before his Canto.
A few weeks ago during the final stages of prep, we were rehearsing and blocking at this beautiful little village called Cova do Vapor, just outside Lisbon. The village is a tiny community of lovely fisherfolk living in very modest housing. On Sundays, the breakwater right in front is full of guys kitted out with their gear and it's really a treat to watch them fish at sunset. That day was particularly stormy and helped to give some drama to the photo :)
Canon A1 // Kodak Ektar 100
Reflect.
My experiments with reflections continue with this throwback to the end of autumn when Lisbon was wet and miserable, but I guess you have to find time to stop and appreciate the little things that just hang out in plain sight. Really Njoying some of the colours and tones that this 800 stock has been giving me.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 800
Arrival.
Still playing around with reflections and this one just after Denny V's new film came out, so that inspiration was probably lingering while I was taking the ferry back to Lisbon after another long scouting day. Still trying out the new 800 ISO stock and trying to see how it deals with different conditions. Quite please with the colours and contrast in this one, but was struggling with grain in a few others.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 800
Just keep Swimming.
This is actually a reverse angle of the previous image. Taken on the same day, just a few hours earlier. We had taken a small break during our recce and suddenly out of nowhere this old man with his bicycle emerges and starts to walk up the road. We had been complaining all day how that road was terrible and how tough it would be to transport gear and a film crew to the location, bit seeing this guy go about it so effortlessly just made it all so trivial.
Canon A1 // Kodak Ektar 100
Jizz on the Horizon.
On one of the last recces before the shoot, just as we were leaving our location to go home, the universe put on the most surreal display of colours that I have experienced. This image probably has only captured 15% of what we saw that evening but it's still gorgeous. I fell in love with those subtle pink tones as they reflected off a rarely calm Atlantic.
Canon A1 // Kodak Ektar 100
To Infinity and beyond.
During the last week of December, we did a lot of driving down the coast to find some locations for our upcoming film. One such morning, we had some lovely fog on the Vasco de Gamma bridge as we left the city and I managed to sneak a shot through the front glass.
This was also the first time I was trying out the Portra 800, so still in very early experiment stages :)
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 800
I had the opportunity to shoot a beautiful documentary with @shijumaru The film revolves around his encounters with people that he meets along the way as he drives through the country in this beautiful camper van named, Burrito. So our shoot/journey was a 6 day adventure in this amazing vehicle and we ended up meeting some great humans in the process. Day 2 however saw us in a bit of a tight spot in a remote corner of Alentejo. The locals though made sure we got out and back on the road in record time!
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 160 + Yashica Mat 124G // Kodak Portra 400
Chaos Machine.
Another one from our trip down south. Here we have @de_antagonist being a sexy beast at sunset with the Atlantic going crazy in the background. Love the way the evening light allows us to look way into his eyes and give us a glimpse into the man behind the chaos.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 160
The Deep Blue.
Last weekend we went for a small camping trip to the south of Portugal and managed to discover some absolutely beautiful beaches and miradouros. This one particular spot was overlooking the mighty Atlantic Ocean in all its glory and Mady (@madlensie ) couldn't help but watch in complete awe of this magnificent coastline.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 160
Embracing the Blue.
More experimentation with the Minolta Weathermatic. This time, I had some Fuji colour film inside on our trip to the Algarve. We found this perfect isolated beach somewhere along the west coast and absolutely loved it. The locals call these unguarded beaches, "selvagem" which means wild. With open shores to the mighty Atlantic, the beach definitely lived up to the expectations :)
Waiting to get into this amazing restaurant in Evora, spotted this old lady in the middle of a heated discussion with this gentleman here. It was great to catch this glimpse of life and energy in the otherwise lonely streets of this little town. The image above it is also representative of the quiet by-lanes that are abundant in the town. I love the way that yellow in the walls pops out to give the streets this characteristic warmth.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
Routine.
This one is taken from my window in Lisbon. Every morning, as the sun goes over the buildings across, I get a chance to see my street wake up and come to life. This was a little later in the morning when everyone had left for work and I managed to catch a few stragglers rushing to catch the bus.
Sokol 2 // Ilford Pan 100
The Original G.
Meet Gonçalo, the man behind our Masters program. Always on the move and always getting shit done. Here I managed to catch him during a brief moment of rest during one of our initial location scouts for our recently completed short.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
Castanhas in the Rain.
One of the most beautiful harbingers of autumn in Lisbon is the arrival of these tiny carts from the countryside loaded with chestnuts. They setup shop all over the city, tucked away in little corners with nothing but an antique roasting mechanism and portable lights. It's always an amazing site to watch these plumes of smoke rising into the cold, gloomy evening sky as loads of city folk crowd around for a delicious little bag of castanhas assados :)
Sokol 2 // Lucky Super 100 (expired)
A few weeks ago, I got a chance to work on an indie Portuguese feature in Lisbon. During the course of the schedule, I managed to meet some lovely people. Meet Vasco, he is one of the most experienced guys you can have on your camera crew. He's shot documentaries all over the world and has been a part of the Portuguese film industry for many years. On this project he was first AC and this is a shot of him just after we wrapped up the last schedule. Really genuine guy and great to learn from someone with such experience.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
Mornings with Little Ms. Cutes.
Throwback to a beautiful weekend a few months ago. Waking up next to this big round face is definitely one of the best ways to start your day. Especially when there's that smile attached to it :) Added bonus ofcourse is the flare that creeps in!
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
Skyfall.
Last week I finally had a day off and managed to go to the beach for a couple of hours. As sunset started to happen, the sky transformed into this magical spectacle and I spotted this couple fishing at the far end of the pier. This was taken with another expired roll from @crazi_woman's goodie bag. Love the way it renders the tones of the blues and oranges and everything in between.
Minolta Weathermatic // Something Primera (Expired)
End of the Road.
Another one from yet another scouting trip. This time we ended up venturing pretty down south, deep into the Algarve. We came across the picturesque little seaside town that had the most amazing harbour with a few fishing boats. I managed to sneak across the break water to get a shot of the edge set against the lovely Algarve geography.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 800
Cova do Vapor is the charming little fishing village just across the river from Lisbon. It's packed with small houses, narrow lanes and the loudest dogs you've ever heard. For our shoot, we needed access to some of these homes and that initiated this long process of having to go door to door asking for permission. Surprisingly though, the warmth and hospitality that we received was amazing. This lady for example, insisted on taking us for a full tour of her multi-storeyed labyrinthian home and was very excited to let us film there. Eventually it didn't work for us, but it was great to meet humans like these and get a small glimpse into their lives.
Canon A1 // Kodak Ektar 100
Post.
Lisbon is packed with the most amazing colours, especially doors in the old part of the city. On one walk through the tiny streets of Mouraria, I found one with these great tones of blue, yellow and red. Love the way the fuji stock rendered them as well.
Canon A1 // Fuji Superia 400
Chacha I.
Another one from my medium format experiments while on the road in Portugal. We had to spend a couple of days in this tiny village in Alentejo while the van got fixed. This allowed me to witness a new pace of existence. Everyday we would observe how the entire community's day would revolve around the local cafe. It was where the old, retired men hung out for their morning coffee and newspaper time and in the evenings it turned into the watering hole for the younger men who worked all day. What really amazed me was how time as we know ceased to exist for some of these gentleman.
Yashica Mat 124G // Kodak Portra 400
Chacha II.
One more from the recently concluded documentary road trip. Our continuous love affair with small cafes in forgotten towns allowed me to really grasp a taste of a new pace of life. Coming from a hectic cluster-fuck that is Bombay, to spending an afternoon watching a small town go about it's day was really humbling. Definitely gave me a better insight into why them Portuguese are so damn chilled all the time and have this amazing ability of not rushing through life.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 160
Chacha III.
Meet Antonio, the most energetic 75 year-old man I've met. We stumbled across him when we took a wrong turn and ended up on a dead end in the middle of a tangerine farm. The wrong turn allowed us to meet Antonio who promptly took us on a tour of his own farm. The tour included eating some of the freshest, juiciest peaches in the world and drink the best homemade 'Fire Water' or Madronio
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 160
Baap ka Rasta.
I wish, haha. But a pretty spectacular one though. We arrived at this beautiful stretch of road in the middle of the night and camped right off it. That morning was cloudy and threatening to rain, but with it came this view and we couldn't complain :) Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
Another great find on a recent location scout was this abandoned, multi-storeyed restaurant at the edge of the city. If you manage to get through the rubble and climb upto the top, you get to see this phenomenal view of Lisbon, the river and beyond. Definitely worth a shot on a clear day.
Canon A1 // Kodak Portra 400
