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.

Mural

I spotted this mural last month while I was in Água de Madeiros. In the middle of the rubble of a construction site (probably adding yet another extension to an existing building). It's a sign of questionable taste you see very often around the countryside. Not that it's something exclusive to Portugal. I guess that every country has its own form of tacky decoration in and around buildings. We usually find our own kind tacky and that of other countries amusing. For me, this is tacky, but very amusing at the same time.

Rotselaar

I was recently in Belgium on short notice for a job, and took a week to visit my family and some friends. One of the people I surprised was my mother, who lives in Rotselaar, where I spent a big part of my youth. On my way from the train station to her place, I walked past this typical example of autumn/winter. A trampoline is still standing on the lawn, left over from summer, when children were probably jumping up and down until dark. Now it's just standing there, next to this indescript style of house from the middle of the XXth century, waiting for spring and summer, if it survives winter.

José Clemente

They sat me next to José Clemente on the bus last weekend, on a day out with Sunday school. At first he kept pretty quiet, but after a while he started telling me his life's story, working in restaurants and hotels as manager of the wine section and as general manager. Great how almost everyone you get to talk to has something interesting to say, or maybe I just get lucky with the people who decide to talk to me. Anyway, here's a picture of him at the Baptist camp site in Água de Madeiros. 

Karina

I met Karina Silva in Luanda in June, where I interviewed her for a piece I did on Angolan women. A couple of days ago, I got a call from an agency asking me if I was available to shoot some photos of a model at the Moda Lisboa fashion event here in Lisbon. It was a big surprise to see the model was Karina. This photo is an impromptu shot of her in the VIP bar when the show after the one she was in was on its way, leaving the bar empty.