A Sunday Stroll Through Braga
I should get this out early - it is such a pleasure to be strolling through town without any real agenda other than to see what you can see, and no destination whatsoever. Wandering at a very leisurely pace, choosing the narrower, less trodden path whenever it’s possible, and not sweating it when you can’t, is something we so rarely do. Enjoying those moments that are visually interesting, and appreciating the mental break when you realize that nothing is really going on so all there is to do is to keep on strolling. The one thing I didn’t do was stop to have coffee. My excuse is I’d gotten a latter start than I’d expected and it was already getting a bit warm. I guess I’ll just have to get out again soon and do it right the next time
It took me a few blocks of strolling and looking before I came across a narrow alley that I’d never been down. A few steps into it and I pulled out my camera.
This wasn’t the first of the images I made in the alley, but I learned a good lesson. The Q2MR may have a fantastic dynamic range, but contrast is contrast and bright sun and deep shadows rarely do a subject justice.
So I found a way to work with the light that played in the narrow alley and as I walked down it, there were photographs to be had.
And since I am still well into the experimenting stage, I had to see how well the Q2MR does with some of the normal images I tend to make.
I’d also gone out with the intention in the back of my mind to test out certain aspects of the camera. The Q2MR has a fixed focal length 28mm f/1.7 Summilux lens. The question in my mind was how much can you throw the background out of focus with the f/1.7, given that every image (despite the digital crop) will have the depth of field typical of a 28mm lens (all of that is a bunch of photo technical stuff that you probably don’t care about, but I do so . . . ). Well, given I didn’t stop for coffee so I could take a photograph of the coffee on the table and something in the background, I decided to use a carved bannister and a building facade to check it out. The answer is, yes, you can do it, but you have to be awfully darned close to your subject.
I also made a few photographs of what I would call my normal subject matter - landscapes. This one was perhaps the most successful (read: perhaps the only one of the bunch that was not unsuccessful [there’s that double negative again]). I think with the right light (it’s always about the light), this could make for a lovely landscape photography camera.
And so that’s what I did, wandered around town. I came across this door when I inadvertently walked down a dead-end alley, The light falling on the door was elegant, but what the texture of the window did to it was amazing!
There are two interesting things about turning down the less traveled path. First of all, you encounter a lot fewer people, which means you can take your time to compose images. Second, you come across some really interesting spaces where different paths seem to converge, behind all the buildings most people are walking by.
And then sometimes an alley opens into a larger courtyard. I really enjoyed the geometric patterns of the building elements as well as the shadows being cast by them.
And also the interesting spaces it created.
I wandered down a couple of the main pedestrian pathways, but turned down this umbrella-lined alley to explore a bit.
By the time I was done, a large group of German tourists had stopped as well and half a dozen or so guys were photographing the umbrellas as well as I was walking away.
Which of course left me wondering whether they stopped because someone had a camera and was making photographs, or would they have stopped anyway. From our numerous experiences in US national parks, my suspicion is the former
I kept an attentive eye on shop windows given how photographically interesting they were in Munich. Unfortunately, the shop windows in Braga can’t compete with Munich (and I suspect a place like NY). However, my periodic examinations did lead me to make this one image of a very creative glasses shop.
And so it went, me turning down every narrow alley I could, only to reappear on a larger path, to turn at the next opportunity. Much of the time I can’t explain why something catches my eye, but when it does I’ve learned to listen and to pick up the camera.
All too often when I don’t, I regret it later.
I do know why I made the next image. I’d seen this “VÔ?” tag on several walls as I wandered through town and had no idea what it meant. In Portuguese “vô” means grandmother. I still have no idea what it means. One was written on this lovely mustard colored wall that, well, didn’t work in black and white, and I told myself, “I wish this had some light on it.” Well, a few blocks later I came across this wall, and once I saw the SC Braga uniform sticker in the window, I decided I had to make the image.
What does it mean? Who knows? Grandma supports SC Braga.
As I was calling it a day and heading back to the car, I decided to make one last image. Again, more of a test image than anything else. Earlier I’d put on a yellow filter to darken the sky a bit whenever it might have appeared in the photograph. Here, I had another “normal” scene that could tell me how the camera might perform in a more typical situation. Again, no complaints.
It also didn’t hurt that the image plays well with what is becoming an interest in signs - traffic, advertising and otherwise. Face it, I’m not quite up to photographing people on the street, so why not try to play with signs while taking a leisurely stroll through town?