Lens-Artists Challenge #316 – Destination: Fun

Lens-Artists Challenge #316 – Destination: Fun

This last Saturday, Egídio from 'Capturing My World Through Brazilian Eyes' posted the latest Lens-Artists Challenge: 'Destination: Fun'.

Each week a member of the Lens-Artists group is asked to host the Challenge and suggest a theme. This week it was Egídio from 'Capturing My World Through Brazilian Eyes' and the theme is 'Destination: Fun' (https://throughbrazilianeyes.com/lens-artists-challenge-316-destination-fun/). I came up with an idea for a mini project for my entry, but any opportunities to get started were swiftly curtailed by events in Portugal, especially in the north, where we are.

Starting this past Sunday, a series of wildfires have raged across the country. At one point there were over 150 active fires across the North of the country and by yesterday more than 5,000 firefighters were employed in combating the blaze, including firefighters and air support from Spain and France. So far, seven people have lost their lives, including five firefighters, and the sky has been covered with a constant smoky haze.

https://youtu.be/DDVhCIP746M?si=o-wDbYQ3AlXDTDW6

Where we are has been spared most of the fires, although a food store at a nearby restaurant was burned down the other day. The suspicion is that this was deliberate, and in fact several of the wildfires were started deliberately. Investigators have been seeking to discover the cause of the fires, and in one instance empty petrol containers were found at the site of one fire. So far four people have been arrested in connection with starting fires. 

So instead of heading to Aveiro for my mini project for Destination: Fun we've been sheltering at home, hiding indoors from the ash and smoke that has covered the area. But I'm still keen to submit something for the Lens-Artists Challenge this week, so instead I thought I would present you with a few images from the archives of things I used to do for fun.

I'm retired now, so what I consider fun now is different to what I used to do forty, thirty, or even twenty years ago. I've never really been a 'sporty' person, although I've always enjoyed watching and photographing sporting events, and several years ago you would often find me on the beach photographing the surfers. 

Nearby our house, the Kartódromo de Oiã would regularly host race events, and I would be there photographing the karts as they sped around the course. Kartódromo would also host 'drift nights' where souped up cars (think, 'The Fast and The Furious') would tear around the track.

I became quite friendly with the management of the Kartódromo, and they would let me get onto the track to photograph the Karts, so I could literally get amongst the action and you would find me sheltering behind the piles of tyres lining the racetrack photographing drivers as they sped by.

Sadly, the Kartódromo is closed now, the racetrack partially dug up and the buildings abandoned. Mind you, this didn't stop me clambering over the wall a couple of years ago to photograph the abandoned track in infrared. These were actually taken with my smartphone and an infrared filter and you can see the horrible 'hot spot' in the centre of the frame. One day, before it's all demolished, I hope to return again.

So that was my idea of fun a few years ago. It wasn't quite the project I had imagined,  but I hope that you found it enjoyable. Most of the fires are out now, and the skies have clouded over and there was a little rain last night. Hopefully, the subject I was going to use for Egídio's Lens-Artists Challenge I can use on another occasion. 

Usually themes for the Lens-Artists Challenge are posted each Saturday at 12:00 noon EST (which is 4pm, GMT) and anyone who wants to take part can post their images during the week. If you want to know more about the Challenge, details can be found here (https://photobyjohnbo.com/about-lens-artists/), and entries can be found on the WordPress reader using the tag 'Lens-Artists'.

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#DestinationFun, #LensArtists, Lens-Artists, #KartódromoDeOiã, #Karting, #Racing, #Urbex, #DriftNight, #Kartódromo, #Tuning,