Dreaming...

... is he dreaming of having is own horse? Perhaps...

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

All the beautiful people, all the beautiful horses...

Dressage horses are always so shiny, powerful, beautiful. And when they move...

Today is Dressage day, tomorrow will be Horseball day!

These photos were taken at "Feira do Cavalo" in Ponte de Lima, a small and beautiful village in Northern Portugal. The conditions were amazing: 2 very large paddocks for competitions and training, subdivided in dressage carrières that were later removed for the Horseball games.

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal) 

A goofy moment

I just couldn't resist... This is the goofy image that photographers, either professional or amateurs, often make of themselves. :-)

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

Dressage, dance and harmony

It was a pleasure to enjoy the performance of our Olympic rider, Miguel Ralão Duarte, with Oxális da Meia Lua, in the Final of the Portuguese Dressage Cup, in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, even though the weather was very very hot (around 36ºC or 97ºF) and the light was very harsh, every photographer's nightmare. 

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

A furry look

(Lousada, Portugal)

Connections and disconnections...

Two colts playing in the hot sun, never getting tired. Who can get tired of looking at them, anyway?

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man. ~Winston Churchill

Or a woman.

(Lousada, Portugal)

Man's touch

"In riding a horse, you borrow freedom."~Helen Thomson

(Lousada, Portugal)

Tree of life, tree of dreams.

I think that yes, all our lives can be mirrored in horses. And it doesn't even take that much of an imagination effort...

(Lousada, Portugal)

Care to dance?

And so we danced, and danced and danced and danced...

(Lousada, Portugal)

Confessions of my first time...

... photographing show jumping :-)

Although I started my equestrian path as a jumper, the immensity of equestrian images featuring jumping out there was just too much for me to "risk" the boredom of... you know, doing what everyone does. As it turned out, I was wrong!

Maybe the resulting images are just too... out of the ordinary for most people, but photographing show jumping can be thrilling, especially if you can approach the obstacles almost freely... (while photographing horse racing, I had the suicide tendency of laying on the ground and doing some exciting photography, some of which is in my portfolio now).

So when Nuno (he who tries to correct my bad riding habits) asked me to go and photograph a show I replied "errr, but, oh, I never photographed jumping". My only "jumping pic" is the one that has been posted in this blog, long ago, and it was a rare inspirational moment.

But... ok... I have to admit it now... absolutely thrilling moments to photograph:

Possibilities for original and out of the box images are almost endless...





... obstacles are colorful:

... there are relaxed moments...


... and if you're not careful you might end up getting accidental images that you actually like :-)

Porto, Part I

"Caves Taylor"
Vila Nova de Gaia, with Porto on the background. There are some that say (actually, most) that the best thing about Gaia is the view :-)

The famous Port wine :-)
Vila Nova de Gaia again, with bridge D. Luís and Porto in the background...

Views of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - Part I

They say the answer is in the question... MIT is a place where you question yourself, everyday. Or, as they say, try to take a drink from a fire hose.

Walking around Stata Center.

Well, this is a very geeky joke, but what would the world be without 'em?

E-waste and the environment... We're cutting on paper (?), but e-junk spreads like an epidemic. It's amazing what you can find by surprise in every corner of the Stata Center. There's something new every day!

Academic tradition in Portugal

It has been a while since I finished undergrad, but I can still remember the sense of union that our academic traditions give us. Some of these traditions, present in most Universities in Portugal, started in Coimbra and have its origins in the 17th century. Back then, everyone used the same academic outfit - it was meant to be humble and warm, so that there were no visible differences among the student's social conditions. Things evolved so that eventually there was a distinction in the clothing - and the way of behaving - among different majors, years in school, etc. Nowadays, most of the tradition is still respected: university students still wear this uniform, called "traje académico", freshmen have to respect their elders and join in the praxe, and there are several academic groups. When their main activities are traditional folklore, "fado" and dances, they are called "tunas". These photos are from a performance of the "Tuna Feminina da Faculdade de Engenharia do Porto", in the ITW'08 conference, at the Palácio da Bolsa, in Porto.

(Porto, Portugal)