Seems like I post just once a year . . .
One of Lisbon’s famous trams.
Photo by Carloszk on Freeimages.com
… when I’m getting ready to take another trip. And here were are. Getting ready to go to Portugal again, then hopping over to Southern France, ending up in Nice for a few days. REALLY looking forward to it.
We’ll be spending the first part of the trip (May23-27) in Lisbon which my traveling companion Leslie says we didn’t see enough of last year. And I pretty much agree with that. We went from Lisbon to Porto, and saw some other cities along the drive back south, but didn’t spend as much time in Lisbon as it probably deserved.
Villefranche-sur-mer, 2018.
© 2018 Dave Dufour
We’re then going to grab a flight to Toulouse, which I’ve seen billed as a mini-Paris. We’ll spend a day or so there, and then off to Carcassonne, and then driving east toward Avignon and Arles. That part of the trip isn’t as well thought out but it will be. Eventually we’ll be in my old stomping grounds (so to speak) of Nice and the Cote d’Azur. Hoping to capture more personal photography in all these locations, which is sort of hard to do if you’re in more tourist locations.
I’ll be taking my Canon EOS R camera with a couple lenses. I may or may not take a film camera. My trusty Rolleicord is in need of a repair, and it may not get one ever, considering parts are hard to come by. Breaks my heart, actually, but I will see what I can do. I don’t currently have a good traveling medium format camera, unless you count a Holga (I don’t, really), but I may pick something up between now an wheels up.
Heading for Portugal
In the last week of May, a friend and I will be heading to Portugal. I’ve never been there, and have virtually no language skills for that country. In France, which I’ve visited now numerous times, I am familiar with language and customs and get along fine. Perhaps Portugal will be the same. The plan is to fly into Lisbon, spend a few days, take the train to Porto, which is in the north and is in the country’s wine-growing region, then renting a car to com back south to Coimbra, and then into Lisbon again for the flight home. Should be fun. I haven’t rented a car in Europe since 2018, so I’m sure driving will be somewhat new to me again, but it shouldn’t be difficult. At least they drive on the right-hand side of the road in Europe.
As for camera equipment, I haven’t decided what I’ll take. Automatically, I have the trusty iPhone, which takes great pictures, and is actually quite good in low light, but it won’t be my “main” camera. That will be the Canon EOS R, which I purchased just before last year’s Paris trip. But should I take a film camera? I have taken the Rolleicord TLR to Europe several times, and not used it, so I think I’ll leave it behind. Regardless of what film cameras I bring, I usually don’t use them that much. I’d take the Olympus 35 sp rangefinder but it has an issue that I’m not sure I can fix before the trip, plus it needs at least a little testing, since I replaced the light seals recently.
If I can replace the light seals on the little Olympus PEN EE, a half frame camera I have, I might load that up with B&W film and see what happens. That might just be the best plan.
For the Canon EOS R, I will economize on lenses. Probably just the 50mm prime and the 28-105 zoom. I have a couple longer zoom lenses, but these are usually not so practical on vacation. I’m not doing wildlife photography, so I don’t need the longer length. The shorter zoom seems to do most of what I want. And the 50 is probably the best lens I have in terms of clarity and it’s perfect for street pix. So I may be traveling “photo-light” this time around.
If anyone has suggestions about travel photography or Portugal itself, leave them here. Thanks.
No Way to Treat a Lady (picture)
Don't open the door.
Brent Graber and Annette Kaczanowski in character for No Way to Treat A Lady. This is not a scene from the show, but it's an idea I had and couldn't resist giving it this surreal look. The show is a dark comedic musical based on the Rod Steiger movie. Opens March 2 at the Bristol Opera House.
Photo Weekend
This weekend I attended a workshop with the interesting, energetic street photographer Valerie Jardin. It was my first time meeting her, and she was just like she is on her terrific podcast, Hit the Streets with Valerie Jardin. The weather was not too cooperative with constant rain the first day, but Valerie had a number of dryer alternatives, including visits to the Guthrie Theatre, a farmers' market, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and arts district. No shortage of interesting backdrops or people.
Street photography is an interesting sub-genre of photography that has become more popular in recent years with the advent of smaller, quieter digital cameras that produce professional results. I was actually the Luddite of the bunch with my Canon DSLR, while most of the class were using one or another of the newer Fujifilm mirrorless cameras (Valerie is an official Fujifilm X photographer.) . But it didn't much matter when it came to results. I learned a lot and enjoyed the weekend. Will see Valerie again at the Out of Chicago conference in June in Chicago.
Here's a gallery of some of my better shots from this weekend.
