I waited months for this day.
I bought my tickets in August waiting for the best concert of my life. It wasn't the best but it was close.
(the best was still the one NIN gave at the Brixton Academy).
I could only take my compact camera that is better than most compacts *but* on high ISO makes so much digital noise that photos look like they're made out of popcorn.
Here are the only 4 I could edit.
Sofia, as fotos são para ti.
My study room at home is a bit messy and needs some work done.
It's far from being nice and comfortable. As I'm not wealthy enough to get a interior designer to do the stuff for me, I try to do it myself with the tools I can reach.
We're two people living here, we need two desks. At the moment, there's one desk and one PC stand/desk/cabinet with no space for anything else but an old monitor and a keyboard.
And then I thought of ikea. Of course. Where else could I go to buy cheap furniture? Moviflor? No way.
This is when the geeky side of me begins to function... I could just look at their catalog, measure up the space... *or* I could draw the room along with everything else to see if the desks fit.
First of all, I'm sleepy so don't expect much of this post.
I recently shot two gigs.
One was of Mundo Cão. What a great band!
I went to see them in Leiria performing for the Fade In festival.
We stayed with them for the evening and had a great time.
this year I could only take a week off.
I first went to Porto to watch the bf playing. I had a hell of a time.
After the concert I went to a club and danced until nearly 7am.
I hadn't done this for years and years and my neck did hurt a lot for the following days.
I've got no photos from the club but there are some from the concert here.
A couple that I like a lot:
After Porto we headed to the Algarve (or as they like to call it now "Allgarve" - damn brits!).
All I can say is that I had a wonderful time.
I played tennis (tried to), swam a lot, and didn't do much more.
11pm.
23:03
And I'm still at the office.
Yesterday, I worked until 10.45pm. Let's not forget i start at 10am most times.
That's what I get by working in a magazine. And the most amazing thing is that I like it.
:D
1 year has passed
On August 5th 2008, I packed my things and put myself on a plane to Lisbon.
Leaving my friends behind was very painful because I knew that I wouldn't see them again so soon .
I wanted to go back in six months and it didn't happen and now I don't know when will I be able to pay them a visit. One thing I know for sure. I 'll go straight to Ealing as soon as I can.
On the other hand I've been *very* happy since I'm back at home. Close to my boyfriend, family, friends, pets, working, it's sumer (35 ºC today!!!)... just the way I like it.
The only thing that's really missing in my life is in fact everything London has to offer, my dear Londoner friends, my salary back then and Marks and Spencer.
OK, Topshop as well.
Prayer
I'm no religious person but I must say a prayer. I have to.
here it goes.
Dear God,
Please keep Dave Gahan out of trouble.
I've got a ticket to see Depeche Mode in November.
Please don't let them cancel their tour dates again.
This is a once in a lifetime concert and I bought the ticket before everyone else.
Thanks,
(end of prayer)
Migraines...
Last week had to go to the doctor.
I was having such strong migraines as I never had had before.
So strong that my ears hurt, my eyes were red and even my tonsils were sore.
every little noise I heard would be a torture.
And this lasted for 8 days!!
Now I've got lots of exams to do, I must find out where the migraines come from.
The good thing is I'll be doing a full check up..
another prayer
ps.
God, can you end my migraines?
thanks!
I owe you one!
I've been working long hours and didn't have the time yet to post a few things I want to tell.
(it's 08:20pm and I'm still sitting here at the office).
I'm keeping a list on 'google tasks' (says the geek in me) so I don't forget a thing.
One of the things, and that I must not forget to write about, is that i'm celebrating today a year of pure happiness!...
:D
i'm a bit tired. the day was exhausting today.
i'm working long hours everyday but I shouldn't complain because I like to work 'till late.
On my daily commute I've been reading this AMAZING book I bought more than a year ago in London. I'm addicted to it. it's magical. I find myself reading it in the escalators, walking on the street, whenever I can.
In order to fully understand the book you must know Londoners, hindu indians and muslims.
You should also be aware that some mythological characters exist is more that one religion.
There's a lot to learn from this book and if you don't understand bits of it, just google to find the answers.
I've heard about this book since it was written I guess. And I was always curious to know why there was a fatwah against it's author and publishers. I learned from wikipedia that people have already been killed for translating this book so I'm only posting links here. No names. We never know what kind of fundamentalist wackos are surfing on the web, do we?
You can buy it from amazon for a fiver and it's totally worth it.
You won't regret it.
I promise.
just because everyone is posting about MJ, let me just say that I don't believe he's dead.
that's right, I think he moved to some retirement home for pop gods and he's hangin' around with elvis and marilyn.
When I got to work the day before yesterday(?) and my colleague asked me if I knew that MJ was dead, i replied "MJ dies?? can he do THAT??"... I still don't believe it but I never believed that he REALLY existed anyway. I'm an atheist, that's the problem!
Ok, I'm a bit tired and feeling sleepy but there are a few things i want to post here.
First of all, I'm working for/at revista Proteste.
It's a magazine that campaigns to protect the consumers rights. Something like "Which?" in the UK and a lot of others in Europe, Brazil, USA and Australia.
Second, Dave was here for a few days. He wants to buy Sintra and revamp Ginjal in Cacilhas. He also loves the weather here (who doesn't) and the sardines! Grumpy Dave did like a lot of things around here after all!
Third, the dance season is over, we had the final show this last saturday.
Dave was there do take a few pics.
The first ones I'm posting here are Sofia Tonicher's, she borrowed my camera and took a few shots during the rehearsals. The others are the ones Dave took during the show.
I've got to say that someday I'll be remembered as the one with a very mean face.
Nevertheless I must thank them very much for taking the photos. I never get to be shot and this time I was. :D:D
Tonicha's pics:
Dave's pics:
I was just invited to be on a tv show via webcam/skype. This one.
They said they were interested in me because I'm a portuguese photographer living and working in London.
Come on guys, you can do better than that! How about doing some homework? How about:
"Hmmm I hear that this girl is a portuguese photographer living in London, let me GOOGLE her name!
What?? she no longer lives there? How about that! I'm glad her life is spread all over the internet, otherwise I would've made a fool of my self! and by 'myself' I mean the production team!"
JEEZ!!!
Anyway, It could've been my 4 minutes of fame via skype.
In rare occasions, I'm photographed while shooting. The last time it happened in a concert, Dave caught me doing my mean face #1. (I look like out of a horror movie when I'm concentrated) .
This time, my cousin was there and took the pics.
They are blurred and far from sharp but I like them a lot.
I really do! :D You can see that I'm happy doing what I like most (I smiled for my cousin)!
So, thank you Inês for being there. For me, these pics are perfect the way they are!
I just found this photo in my old archives.
I took it 7 years ago when I practically knew nothing about photography.
By then, digital photography was still a distant dream for amateur photographers and I used several 35mm cameras. I enjoyed developing my photos so much that I made plans to have a black and white laboratory at home. I wanted to make my own fine art prints.
It's amazing how things have changed in 7 years.
Before, we had to think properly prior to shooting because the roll wasn't eternal like a memory card can be. If a couple of photos were good in 36exp. roll, I would be happy. And then I would look into the next roll.
Another thing that made the difference was the film it self. We had to know all sorts of things about that specific negative film because there were a whole lot of different types. Some grainier than others, some sharper, high contrast, low contrast, etc.
And after thinking about the film we had to make plans for the future, i. e. think of the paper we were going to use to make the prints, what kind of developer (for the film *and* for the paper), if we were using other chemicals like selenium, it was nearly endless, it took time and expertise to get good results.
But a photo was a project.
I miss the stench of the chemicals. I miss being alone in the dark trying to put the film in the spirals. It was a great deal! Really it was! It was exciting to know that we couldn't fail any step or our beloved photos would be ruined, bland, dirty. Even washing the film was difficult because of lime-scale deposits.
And then I bought a digital camera, and I never developed my photos again.
The lab was turned into a closet and the enlarger is in the box.
Digital photography is much safer than analog. You take the pic, put in your computer and with a bunch of preset actions your photo can be ready. You don't need to sit in the dark anymore and you depend on high quality computers with super graphic cards in it. You need a good screen, good computer skills, and you need to know a lot of new words like colorspace and white-balance.
No more old-school dodging and burning. No more cardboard masks and thin wires to hold them. No more wet photos, no more contact sheets, no more analog. Photography stayed almost the same for 100 years and then changed in less than 10. Some people still do it the old way. I wish I still could just for the fun it used to be.
Hope you like the photo anyway.
I still do. In fact I just had it printed and will frame it et all.
Some time ago Lua posted this.
I confess that ever since she said it was "pim pam pum easy" that I wanted to give it a try.
here's the result.
This weekend Cristo Rei celebrated it's 50's anniversary. Catholics came from all over the country to celebrate this with processions and huge masses and what not.
As I went to Pedro+Pat's for dinner and the candle-procession (following the image of the Virgin -our lady of Fátima) passed by their doorstep, I took a few pics from the window, not much to see except lots of people holding candles. 
