Tuesday, March 27, 2012

I was there first


Last week the New York Times had an article on the art scene in Lisbon, illustrated with several luscious photos of the older sections of town.

New York Times photo, Nacho Alegre

When I saw this photo I thought it looked pleasantly familiar -- in a very brief visit to Lisbon in 2007, an afternoon ashore from a cruise ship, we had strolled through a seedy (no, I mean picturesque) old part of town with very similar buildings.

Then I happened to be looking through my pictures from that trip and what did I find....

photo by Kathleen Loomis

Sure, his picture is better. He probably waited around all afternoon for the cars to leave -- or maybe he paid them to clear out.  And he crouched down a bit so the lamp ended up higher.

But what fun to see that nobody has bothered to paint the building in the last five years!  And to realize that I was there first.


5 comments:

  1. were you there with linblad by any chance? i did a tour of the mediterranean a while back that started in lisbon... really lovely tour.

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  2. This is pretty cool. While I agree that his photo is better in several ways, I like the colors in yours better. That green curtain in the building in the back adds a great splash of color in your photo and in his it is drawn to the side and not as interesting.

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  3. Photoshop. I expect that if there were cars and/or people that they were removed with Photoshop. Although the temporary fencing and crime-scene tape (including a length seemingly stretching from the hydrant to . . . somewhere) suggest maybe people and vehicles were banned or discouraged.

    But I think Photoshop. The picture is too crisp

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  4. Reminds me of Old San Juan, PR. Another seedy/picturesque place to wander and take pix.

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  5. not with Lindblad (although I did Antarctica with them; first-rate!) -- but with MSC Cruises, an Italian line.

    Linda -- we were in Old San Juan last year and did take a lot of nice seedy/picturesque photos! you're right, a lot of the same vibes

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