Lens-Artists Challenge #324: In the Details

Lens-Artists Challenge #324: In the Details

Note: This is the entry for the Challenge that I had intended to make last week, before life got in the way. I had the text all worked out, pretty much, so I've left that as it is. I adapted the text for last week's post, so there may be some overlapping. I hope that you don't mind. 

Something a little different for the Lens-Artists Challenge this week. Instead of a specific theme, Patti of pilotfishblog has announced an 'In The Details' challenge (https://pilotfishblog.com/2024/11/09/lens-artists-challenge-324-in-the-details/). Quite simply,  Patti asked us to choose a subject, any subject, and take a series of photos, getting closer and closer each time and focusing on detail. 'Vary your shots' of the subject, she says, and 'change your perspective' each time. Then 'post three photos of [each] subject'.

The day didn't quite go according to plan, but the weather was lovely and I made the best of it. The camera I chose for this project is the Pentax X70, a 12MP camera from 2009. It's what they used to call a 'bridge' camera — it looks like an SLR but the lens is fixed and it has features closer to those of a compact camera. What appealed to me for this project is the well publicised (at the time) 24x 'superzoom'. This means the lens has a range of 26mm at its widest to a whopping 624mm. 

 One thing that the Pentax X70 doesn't have is a thread on the lens, so if I want to use it with a neutral density filter for some Intentional Camera Movement I'm going to have to hold the filter in front of the camera while I'm waving it around. In fact, I had a little practise with this camera the day before and discovered that the camera's response with the neutral density filter is not that good. I'm really not sure why but a lot of the images came out really dark, even at the neutral density filter's lowest setting. 

Anyhow, it was a lovely sunny day and we headed out to the nearby seaside town of Barra. I already had my subject in mind, and as usual it's a bit of a cheat on the theme, 'In the Details'. My first image is a broad ICM view of the beach, which includes my intended target, I hope that you can see it? Because the variable ND filter is a little dodgy with this camera, the slowest shutter speed that I could achieve was about 1/50s, but a good fast sideways sweep seemed to do the trick.

Then we moved towards my 'subject', which is situated on a long pier which forms the entry to the port of Aveiro. The pier is about 1,5km long and it's a lovely walk, especially on a pleasant sunny day. There are always people jogging the length of the pier, and this day there were many fishermen (actually, exclusively men) lining the 'port side' of the pier, where the water is much calmer compared to the sea-facing side.

About mid-way along the pier is a tall bright orange structure. I'm really not sure what this is for and it was only added about 10 years ago. However, it does feature a door for access, so certainly something goes on in there. And here we find my first detail. Some aspiring street artist has drawn this lovely ghost-like figure, which perfectly fills the door. It's been there for a few years now, and as you can see other visitors have put stickers on the door, and generally messed with the image.

In fact there's another 'ghost' in Barra, near a set of steps in a residential part of the town at the top end of the beach. I'm hoping that the artist created a series of these around the town, and I'm always on the lookout for more.

However,  this was not the detail that I came to Barra for, so we headed further along the pier. At the end of the pier is a small automated lighthouse, which I imagine is there to stop boats running into it at night. There's actually another little lighthouse on the pier at the other side of the entrance, but that is always battered by heavy waves and I'm not sure if access is even allowed. This pier is getting closer to my subject, and if you look closely you can actually see my 'In The Details' subject. 

Just beyond the lighthouse, forming the end if the pier, is a pile of concrete shapes that support the entrance to the Port of Aveiro. These fit really well together and form a secure barrier around which the pier was built. You can actually climb over these rocks, and people do (I have done this myself. Not recommended) either to get a view of the ships coming into port, or for the fishing (which is a big thing on this pier). And there, on these concrete shapes, are the details that we have come to see: smiley, happy faces. I'm not sure when these were added, but I've been here in Portugal for 20-odd years and they've always been there. 

I did have another subject in mind, a half-built and abandoned house near the water behind Barra. I spotted this from the car as we passed over the bridge approaching Barra, but when I reached the house it wasn't as wonderful as I had imagined. Nevertheless,  I thought that you might like to see the photographs that I took of this. In the first image, the lamp post is not distorted by the wide angle of the Pentax X70, it's actually been pushed over.

Later this week I hope to prepare a post on this week's theme, 'Gratitude', but we shall see. It's not proving to be easy. 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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