Lisbon In Motion

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 4 photos

These series of photographs I took whilst travelling around Portugal. Coming from a country that lacks efficient public transport (South Africa) what caught my eye in Lisbon was the myriad forms of transport, jetting up and down the capital’s narrow—in most cases cobbled—streets and underground networks.

I like the idea of how solitary someone can look and feel in amidst vast crowds of people waiting for or using public transport—it’s (commuting) done with a degree of selfishness, and it’s this feeling I wanted to capture in the photos I’m submitting.

What’s more I had been experimenting a great deal with motion in photography and after plenty failed attempts, I finally got what I think are four images that capture what I had in mind before I took the shots.

The photo of the lively fire dancer in the foreground contrasts with the still and lonesome figure of a commuter in-waiting.

The girl standing by the underground is the only person staring back at the camera. Her arms folded, she makes for the perfect image of being alone in a sea of people.

My snapshot of a cable car coming down the hill from the climbs of St. George’s Castle (Castelo de São Jorge) wraps around a corner where a girl is waiting all by herself.

Along the same cable car line, I captured an eerie photo of the cable car descending Castelo de São Jorge’s hillside in the night.

I’m fanatical about photography and thrive on the feeling when a photograph comes close—maybe mimics—one’s own imagination. I’ve still got a lot to learn in photography (flash techniques) and I hope to soak up as much as possible from the Bhutan experience.

I’m an avid subscriber to National Geographic Magazine, and I am always in awe of the images that litter its inside pages—I aspire to reach such heights.