A third image dump of pictures I took while wandering around Funchal.
I think the first, third and fourth images are my favourites from this set, although I do like the final shot – something about the colours of the buildings do it for me.
Still some more colour shots to come though, then a roll of B&W…
Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired in 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
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
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
A second image dump of pictures I took while wandering around Funchal.
I think the first, third, and sixth image would be my favourites from this set.
The first is of another of the town’s forts, this time Forte de São Tiago, which sits right beside the sea. The final shot is of the same location, but taken a few days later.
The third image is a view out to the Atlantic from a bridge that crossed a deep ravine not far from out hotel. The building at upper right is Reid’s Palace Hotel which supposedly does very nice afternoon tea (although we didn’t try it for ourselves). It’s a pretty view and I shot it more than once during our trip.
And, finally, the sixth image is the most mundane of my faves, but I liked this view towards the harbour with the buses in view. We used those buses a lot!
Just another three rolls of film to go through…
Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired in 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
Following the pictures I shared from my walk to Pico Fort a couple of days ago (the picture sharing, not the walk), here are random bunch of pictures I took on my walk back down the hill and into Funchal centre.
Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired in 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
One morning during our holiday in Funchal I decided to take a walk to one of the old forts that are dotted around the city, namely São João Batista Fort, also known as ‘Pico Fort’. I chose this one based on an online recommendation as it has panoramic views across the city.
While not far from out hotel as the crow flies, Funchal is a hilly place and the route was far from a straight line. Nor was it flat – requiring the ascension and descent of a couple of ridges on the way – the final stretch in particular was pretty steep.
While I didn’t set out to document the trip, the photos included here today were shot on the way. The first shows a view of the fort as I began my descent from the first ridge. While it looks like I could walk straight towards it, the twisting route instead took me to the right – effectively where the neck of the bottle on the advertising hoarding points.
The next two pictures are a couple of buildings that just caught my eye. I like the layering of the first shot.
After paying the entrance fee, I gained entrance to the base of the fort before climbing to the main gate, which provided a nicely framed picture of the ocean beyond.
The views over the town were nice, both down towards the Atlantic, and also looking north to the cloud covered mountains, their foothills blanketed by homes.
The final shot is of a tree that stood in the courtyard within the fortress walls and which I photographed with both film and digital. The digital shots were nice, but I think this film shot looks pretty good too.
The fort is quite big but, sadly, much of it is closed to public access with only a single chamber accessible, containing pictures and descriptions of the fort through its history. I spoke to a member of staff about the rest of the building but he only said that it would be accessible “in future”. Nonetheless it was still worth the walk and I enjoyed the hike and views.
I took more pictures on the way back down, but I’ll save those for another day.
Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Portra 160 / [shots 4 & 5] Fujifilm Superia 100 (expired in 2008). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
I’ve been wondering how to present the pictures I took in Madeira. There are quite a lot of them, but they’re mostly just of stuff that caught my eye (as is most of my photography, I think) and most of them perhaps don’t stand alone as subjects for individual posts.
So I think I’ll drop them in batches, with the odd few separated out where I have more to say about them, or because they’re distinctive enough to fly solo.
So here’s the first batch…
Nikon F70, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Portra 160. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
