A perfect mirror

A story behind: As usual at the end of the evening we stopped at the Foz beach to drink a cup of coffee with just a drop of milk or "pingo" as they call it here in Northern Portugal. The weather was fine. Almost no wind, 17º temperature, nice sky. Simple and tranquil life.
When the sun went down I put my gear and shot some photos. Some ships could be seen on the distant horizon.


Location: Foz beach , Porto, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20mm, tripod, remote control, Tiffen 0.9 hard

Post-processing: RAW to Tiff, white balance, sharp, saved as jpg.

Aperture: f/8

Focal Length: 11,5 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 17th, 2010, 20:20


Maciek.

Volcano island

A story behind: A morning view from the Pico do Carvão to the East of the island dotted with many small volcanoes. This is the youngest part of the São Miguel Island in Azores dated back to 300 000 years.


Location: São Miguel island, Azores archipelago, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Tamron. F/9.0, ISO 200, Fl/44 mm.

Post-processing: Raw to Jpg, white balance, sharp, crop.


Date, Place Taken: April 23rd, 2010. 08.15. A view from Pico do Carvão to the East.

Maciek.

Old Porto arquitecture

Old city of Porto called Ribeira at the bank od Douro river. Hard mid-day light giving picture with sharp edges and lot of contrasts.

April 2010.

Maciek.

My city

A story behind: As you already might have known I dislike modern art. Unfortunately 99% of the "modern art" is garbage. But this huge red net located 100 meters from the Porto beach is alive ! With every ocean breeze it waves, flows, twists and curves. I do like it !

Location: Porto, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, polarizing philter.

Aperture: f/10

Focal Length: 19 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 15th, 2010, 10:19


Maciek.

Another night, another place, another boat.

A story behind: Traditional Portuguese “Moliceiros” boats that have high prows and usually are brightly painted parked for the night at the blue lagoon of Aveiro.

Location: Pardelhas village, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20 mm ( f 4.0-5.6 ), tripod, remote control, NDG 0.6 hard, NDG 0.9 soft Tiffen.

Aperture: f/18

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Focal Length: 10 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 12th, 2010, 19:22


Maciek.

Wisteria sinensis. Glicinia time.

Wisteria sinensis or glicinia tree is blooming in our garden with big violet flowers cascading down.


Date Taken: April 17th, 2010.


Maciek.

Friday night at Ria ( black & white version )

A story behind: Mourning in silence the victims of a recent plane crash in Smolensk. Especially my Polish president Lech Kaczynski death. He was the best president Poland has ever had. Farewell to Anna Walentynowicz who always opposed post-communists that have been ruling Poland since 1989 ( with the exception of 2006-2008 ).

Friday night. I alone with a surrounding silence.


Location: Murtosa village, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20 mm ( f 4.0-5.6 ), tripod, remote control, NDG 0.6 hard, NDG 0.3 soft Tiffen.

Post-processing: RAW to Tiff, white balance, sharp, dodge, ClairfEnhance Script for B&W transformation, saved in jpg.

Aperture: f/10

Shutter speed: 3 sec

Focal Length: 10 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 9th, 2010, 20:11


Maciek.

Friday night at Ria

A story behind: Friday night. I alone with a surrounding silence.


Location: Murtosa village, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20 mm ( f 4.0-5.6 ), tripod, remote control, rubber boots, NDG 0.6 hard, NDG 0.3 soft Tiffen.

Post-processing: RAW to Tiff, white balance, sharp, dodge, saved in jpg.

Aperture: f/10

Shutter speed: 3 sec

Focal Length: 10 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 9th, 2010, 20:11


Maciek.

Early April garden perfume smell

Early April 2010.

One month later than usual Jasmine flowers strong perfume smell can be felt in every corner of our garden.


Maciek.

I declare a Strawberry Season officially opened

A story behind: They arrived later this year. Now they are sold on every corner. The taste of this year´s local strawberries is terrific.
Photographed at the center of old Porto town.

Gear: Nokia 5730.

Date Taken: April 7th, 2010, 15:30

Maciek.

Stone stairs into the sea

A story behind: This was one of these spring storms that in the late afternoon approached from the sea giving sudden but short splash of rain and then proceeded eastwards leaving a tail of heavy dark clouds behind.

My son Lucas and I went that afternoon to Granja beach. We both set a gear and Lucas took some photos of the storm, me and the stairs ( above ).

This might have been one of the last moments to take photos with interesting light and clouds before the 6 month-long period of summer clear skies comes to Porto.

Location: Granja beach, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Sigma 10-20 mm, tripod, remote control, camera protection case, NDG 0.6 hard Tiffen.

Aperture: f/16

Focal Length: 15 mm

ISO: 200

Post-processing: RAW to Tiff, white balance, sharp, channel mixer.

Date Taken: April 6th, 2010, 16:50

Maciek.

Spring vegetable garden

Our vegetable garden in the spring:
Minutina herb flowering, young green peeper and fast growing green lettuce.

Date: April 5th, 2010.


Maciek

Bridge in the mist

A story behind:
In the early morning hot air enters the Douro river corridor. What happens is that heavy vaporization process delivers a dense mist that sometimes can completely cover the river bed.
A view from my window over the Arrabida bridge.

Location: Porto, Portugal

Gear: Nikon D80, Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm

Post-processing: Jpg, white balance.

Aperture: f/9

Focal Length: 90 mm

ISO: 100

Date Taken: April 4th, 2010, 07:10


Maciek.

Early April flowers

Azalia tree flowers blooming in our garden.

April 02nd, 2010.





Maciek