depois do último post, procuro por “portugal” na galeria. dois insólitos resultados: uma infantaria em estranhos preparos (mas tão portuguesa) e uma foto do rei d. manuel II.

o último rei de portugal. eis que (mesmo sem ser monárquica) ver um rei português assim, a preto e branco, me deixa quase sem palavras face ao realismo e à próximidade temporal.

nas pinturas a óleo ou nos painéis de azulejos que nos habituamos a associar à nossa monarquia, tudo ganha uma nuvem de misticismo, de tempos longínquos… numa foto não. um rei nosso a meio passo, visto assim sem poses, no flickr.

[english summary: the post is about the last king of portugal, which i found in a flickr photo from the library of commons - and how unusal it is for me to see a portuguese kind on a photo. portugal’s monarchy ended in 1910].

flickr has recently started “the commons” project, in colaboration with the US “Library of Congress”. Subtitled “your opportunity to contribute to describing the world’s public photo collections”, they ask users to help enrich the pictures with tags, descriptions and comments. the pictures were taken from the beginning of the century through the 40s and their themes spread accross several subjects, from ww2, to sports, railroads and aviation, women training, celebrities, political activities, world news, life in ny…

These beautiful, historic pictures from the Library represent materials for which the Library is not the intellectual property owner. Flickr is working with the Library of Congress to provide an appropriate statement for these materials. It’s called “no known copyright restrictions.”

Hopefully, this pilot can be used as a model that other cultural institutions would pick up, to share and redistribute the myriad collections held by cultural heritage institutions all over the world. (from the commons page)

now wouldn’t that be nice?

“Native Quarter, Shanghai” in the picture, also from the collection.

terrazo: views of mexico city is a photo exhibition by pablo lopez that was until recently on sasha wolf gallery, ny.

some samples of the photos are up on the exhibition website, and what a sight they are. the city seems to run immense through hills and valleys, evergrowing and yet strangely quiet and still, in the distance of these images.

via notcot, a long time ago.

the breakfast and shoes projects are two similar photographic essays. they both aim to capture the details of strangers by sharing their photo, along with what they have for breakfast, and what they wear on their feet.
the result is a colorful mesh of portraits and a precious insight into anonymous lifes, both well worth the visits.

you know love
causes such misery and pain
i guess i’ll never be the same
since i fell for you

oh i guess i’ll never see the light
i get the blues most everynight
since i felt for you

“I used to know this girl named Suzy Montelongo. And her brother’s name was Joe Montelongo. Joe always wanted to kill me. He sang in a band called the Rodbenders. Suzy Montelongo used to wear these angora sweaters. I’m crazy about angora sweaters. I guess it’s kind of a hang-up of mine. She had angora socks, and angora shoes. I believe she was originally *from* Angora. I don’t know where she is anymore, but every time I see an angora sweater, I think, maybe, *inside* will be Suzy Montelongo. Eh-he-he…”

mr. tom waits, in repeat mode.

mimo, directamente da holanda, na forma de mini-stroopwaffles. perfeitas para o dia cinzento de hoje. obrigado cláudia, chegaram inteiras! :)

* bonuses: design*sponge guide to online shopping, made by bloggers: part 1 and part 2. filled with link goodness and lots of interesting suggestions for different kinds of gifts (artwork, lightning, ceramics, vintage, hidden gems, etc). worth a check.

it’s been almost 2 years since our trip to schiermonnikoog, a dutch island on the northern sea.

a mix of laziness, lack of budget or decent photography shops made me lose interest in developing the film i shot in the island back then. i was curious to see the pictures, but while i still had the memory of the events i shot, and all the people with me… there was no real need to “see” them again… (i guess i’ll never understand the people that peek at the pictures when they’ve just taken them, on the backscreen of digital cameras). so i let the film stay in the shelf.

i have quite a few of these “forgotten” films. they have travelled all the way to the netherlands and back, to the states and back, and now here they are in china. they’re stored in identical canisters, with no reference to what’s in each one of them. little pandora boxes, with with unknown age or stories.

to me, photography is not about rules, big lenses and trendy bags, keeping negatives in the fridge and looking out for x-rays on the airport. it’s about fun and framing. i shoot when i feel inspired, when friends are around, when i feel like being a tourist, when there are not many cameras in the area. i develop when i have the time, the patience, or whenever i itch to discover what forgotten secrets are hiding in one of those black canisters. what about you? do you develop your films right away, or not so much? do you peek on the back screen of your digital camera? :)

more, on flickr.

* bonus: two weeks with garry winogrand, by mason resnic. garry winogrand was a prolific photographer who died on 1984, leaving a total of 12000 rolls of film that he never looked at. peculiar philosophy.