Room with a view

Looking out or looking in? A look outside, or is it a peak inside? Sharing a moment with an imaginative or a real person? I took this picture at a friend's place while I was in Brussels, and kind of forgot about it, until I was selecting pictures for the Plaisirs Partagés collective exhibition. As we fence ourselves inside our city homes, less and less of our lives is known to the ones on the other side of the street, or the other side of the wall, but curiosity remains. Most of us have the urge to peak into the lives of others if we get the chance. Would you have looked in if you happened to live in the house on the other side of the street? I know I would have. Would we have shared an awkward moment, being caught, or a pleasure, sharing the unspoken truth about our curiosity?

Ken

This week I made a selection of photographs made in Belgium for a collective exhibition in March, based on the theme "shared pleasures" and I came across this old favorite of mine. I shot this a couple of years ago at my youngest sister's wedding. My then still future brother in law was enjoying a cigarette outside, before going to city hall for the civil cerimony itself, and since I'd recently quit smoking I couldn't share with him the pleasure of a smoke. Instead, we shared this intimate moment, of which I'm also a part, as you can clearly see my hand on the camera in the upper right, reflected in the window of their home. I think the look on his face is great, and the slightly blurred effect shooting through the window only emphasizes this.

Ferry

 This is the ferry boat across the Tagus river. It takes thousands of people into Lisbon every morning and back out again in the evening to Almada, or as we jokingly say amongst friends: Morocco. The weekend edition, as seen here, is less cramped, and there's a couple of very nice restaurants on the other side of the river, where they serve small fried squid.