Câmara de Lobos

August 21, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The photos in today’s post are from a trip I took to the fishing village of Câmara de Lobos near Funchal. I took the bus which dropped me off about a quarter of a mile from the village, leaving a walk past a power station and then along a scenic coastal path overloking the Atlantic, and then views of the village and the coastline to the west.

The large sea cliff you can see in this first shot is Cabo Girão, the highest promontory in Europe at 580 metres. Where it peaks in the middle of the frame is a glass bottomed viewing platform should you feel the need for excitement.

Before reaching the village proper there are a few rocky areas that can be accessed, including thsi one containing a swimming pool. There was a lifeguard present, but no-one was swimming at this point.

The harbour was filled with small colourful boats. I also noticed a wooden frame on the rocky shore with things hanging from it, which I thought might be clothes.

There was a festival due to take place in the village and the whole place was decorated with colourful bunting and displays. Upon closer inspection it became apparent that most of these were made of recycled materials such as plastic bottles and plastic sheeting. It looked very nice.

Looking out into the habour from the village, I could just make out a banner strung across reading “Festas de Sao Pedro”. I’m sure this looked far more impressive after dark.

The harbour wall was also home to a small lighthouse.

The village also had a number of colourful narrow streets which were good to explore and photograph.

One of the streets was decorated by suspended umbrellas, providing both colour and shade.

I photographed a couple of cars too. One of the island’s distinctive yellow taxis, and a Beetle. I always seem to photograph VW Beetle’s when I see them.

Past the harbour and the lighthouse a road led to a beach with the looming cliffs beyond. The beach was not sandy however, instead being composed of large grey pebbles which didn’t look like they would be comfortable to lay on (although some people were!).

After a pleasant morning wandering around the place, I set off back for the bus. Before leaving the village I had to satisfy my curiosity about the wooden frame I’d seen earlier. It seems it was also part of the decorations for the festival, with jackets of recycled plastic hung from it.

The swimming pool also now had visitors…

Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro

Taken 27 June 2026.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Abstract entrance

August 20, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I took this shot in the fishing village of Câmara de Lobos, a few miles to the west of Funchal. I liked the subtle colours, plus the shapes made by the structure, the light, and the angled shadows.

I have a bunch more pictures from the same location which I’ll post soon.

Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro

Taken 27 June 2026.

Digital · Photography

Still hot

July 10, 2026 fishyfisharcade5 Comments

It’s a whole degree cooler than yesterday’s 33.9°C in my home office today. That’s still over ten degrees hotter than I’d like it to be.

My expensive new fan arrived this morning, and is doing a decent job of taking the edge off the heat, but it’s not an air conditioner and there’s only so much that moving air flow can achieve, so it still feels oppressive and it’s been pretty hard to get motivated while working today.

Thankfully the temperatures are forecast to begin dropping over the weekend to a much more manageable mid-20s range (and, more importantly, overnight temps below 20°C, so there’s a chance to open the windows and flush out the hot air).

The sub-tropical climate of Madeira felt more manageable than this, mostly due to infrastructure designed to deal with it – air-con, tiled floors, window-shutters and the like, most of which go against the standard UK building methods that are designed to keep heat inside. If the summer temperatures in the UK continue to rise in future, then there is going to be a real need for change to prevent severe disruption.

But anyway, this is meant to be a photography blog, not an essay on climate change, so here’s another shot from the holiday. It’s another digital picture (although I have received four sheets of film negs back in the post today, so plenty of those to share too when I get around to it).

Being a Portugese territory, you’d expect to see plenty of Portugese flags in Madeira, but there were probably more than usual due to the World Cup tournament taking place while we were there (Madeira also being the birthplace of their famed striker, Christiano Ronaldo – there’s even a museum in Funchal dedicated to him). At this stage Portugal had not yet been knocked out…

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 27 June 2026

Digital · Photography

Tinny woodpecker

July 9, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

It’s currently 33.9°C where I sit in my home office, so this will be a quick one.

Here’s a picture of a woodpecker. A woodpecker made entirely from flattened Pepsi and energy drink cans.

Ricoh GRIII

Taken on 27 June 2026

Digital · Photography

Coastal puzzle

July 8, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I like the way that these concrete coastal defences have been painted. Looking down on them from above (they’re maybe 5 feet long on each side) reminded me of some sort of puzzle videogame.

If you click through on the image to the larger Flickr version, you can see where footprints have set into the surface of a few of them before they hardened.