Miguel M. Almeida

the unfinished house

miguelcma — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:11:27 +0000

♫ “Moro numa casa inacabada
Feita de terra molhada
Com o céu às cavalitas
Entra, mas desculpa a confusão;
Anda tudo pelo chão,
Não contava com visitas”

Hint: when you take the train from Braga to Oporto, choose a seat on the left side of the train, near the window. Wait until you hear the speakers announcing the Rio Tinto station. Then look for the window and pray for the sun to be shining ;)

Date: October 2010
Location: Rio Tinto, Porto
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Agfa Vista 100
Edit: Mariana Pulido

“costa nova”

miguelcma — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:22:15 +0000

In the last weekend I’ve finally visited Costa Nova (do Prado), with Mariana and my little brother Henrique. It is a place of fishermen in Aveiro and particularly known by its typical houses with vertical colorful stripes. Definitely a place to come again. Of course, I couldn’t lose another opportunity to draw with light. I’ve found this woman in a street like a market, with lots of shops, but I liked this one the most and she was so kind, talking about the weather and all that casual conversations. Mariana says I have some kind of mental disorder about photographing “old women with lots of stuff around”. Oh… probably she’s right 0:)

“sapataria coelho”

miguelcma — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:31:26 +0000

Well, I’m noticing a trend to photograph old stores at Algarve :) This time, a shoe’s shop at Loulé, called Sapataria Coelho. After talking a few minutes with the lady (shame on me, I don’t remember her name :$), I’ve found the shop is 60 years old and had always been on the family, just like this.

“chapéus há muitos”

miguelcma — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:19:18 +0000

This was one of that moments when you say “wait! I have to go back and photograph this moment!”. While walking on Faro without a destiny or objective - on a weekend mini-holidays, thanks to Ryanair Oporto-Faro 20€ flights! yeah! - I’ve found this beautiful shop, untouched for 85 years and called “Chapelaria Mestre”. I want to share it here =)

For the foreign ones, the meaning of the title: it is a quote from “A Canção de Lisboa” a portuguese movie of the 40’s, meaning “There’s lot of hats, you fool!”.

your secret

miguelcma — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:22:20 +0000

A few days ago I’ve found Jean-Sébastien Monzani and immediately felt in love by his work! Everything, but specially his short movies. It is the first time (and probably the last) I post a video on this blog, but I couldn’t resist. I’ve selected this one because it is the most beautiful short video I’ve recently seen.
–
“Your secret” is a movie about you.
(c) Jean-Sébastien Monzani - jsmonzani.com - all rights reserved

rehearsal

miguelcma — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:46:50 +0000

Theatre is such a wonderful way of expression! My first contact was at 17, during my high school (Alberto Sampaio) in a small group that we called “Oficina de Teatro e Expressão Escrita”, directed by Prof. José Miguel Braga - now just Zé Miguel =) Since that time, theatre became a part of my life. We used to meet all wednesdays at 17pm to think, dream, write and perform. ~feeling nostalgic~ It is so nice to see that this group grew up so much that dividing it in many was a must. Now, they (still “we” =D) are 4 groups, each focused on a different target age and a total of more than 100 students. They’re called TAC (Teatro A Começar), TJV (Teatro Já Vai), OTA (Oficina de Teatro A) and LATA (Laboratório de Acção Teatral).
This photo was taken at a rehearsal of TAC - the youngest group - for their last performance of “A Obra Optimista” at Theatro Circo, and they’re still directed by José Miguel Braga. He was teaching techniques of communication between them and how to control the timings. It is a pleasure to assist to this rehearsals =)

butterfly

miguelcma — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:16:08 +0000

Time for another lovely friend. One of these butterflies ♪ is Inês Pulido and she loves to paint! And to fly. Inês paints since… errr… I think she always painted :) and I love her work! It completely matches with her spirit: “always wearing a smile”! And the colors of her paintings can make me smile too - I just love everything and everyone who makes me smile =) life become so easier…
This photo was taken today, at her exhibition on Feira do Livro, in Braga and this is just one of more than 400 canvas she already painted! We’ve taken a lot of funny pictures today, but I’m sharing this one because it perfectly fits here (sorry for taking the colors away, but for the photo it was a must). Taken by me and post-processed by her cousin Mariana, who loves to draw but also coloring photos with her special touch. And she also loves to smile =)

p.s: don’t forget to listen to the music above, by my favorite musician ever! ;)

kings

miguelcma — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:21:22 +0000

Last saturday we (me and more 229) have done the funniest movie of the year :) A lip dub at Velha-a-Branca. All the people was spread around the house singing and dancing at the sound of three generations of music from Braga: António Variações, Mão Morta and Smix Smox Smux. It was a wonderful afternoon! You can see the full set of photos here, on Facebook.

A nice detail about how I developed this film: these days are so so hot that I needed to cool the quemicals instead of warming! And I couldn’t get the target of 20ºC, so it was the first time I developed at 21ºC (with less a minute of exposure). How I love hot sunny days =)

This was the final result xD

and the winner is…

miguelcma — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:25:52 +0000

…João Araújo! The prize of the best musician of the year goes to him. My choice =) Since I’ve met him I knew we shared the same passion about music.. playing and listening. But he never said me he also used to compose! I’ve found his (hidden) facet this week and I liked =) take a look at João’s MySpace. Do you believe that he does all of this wonderful music alone, only with his MacBook and GarageBand? Even the microphone is the internal from the laptop. I think this gives a special touch to his music. So, João: you should keep doing it, just like this :)
My favorite song is “Antes fazer?”. I’m just curious to know if those who don’t understand portuguese also likes it :)

My conlcusion: this world is amazing! We have an entire orchestra, infinite canvas and ink, a full photographic laboratory and a full cinema studio inside our houses. This is available to everyone. So, no one have an excuse not to create art xD

indiferença

miguelcma — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:54:05 +0000

♫ Indiferença, from the album Alice of Bernardo Sassetti

This is definitely a moment for Sassetti’s music. A portuguese jazz musician I always loved since the first time I listened - live - here in Braga, a few years ago. Since there, he became one my favorite pianists. Many people doesn’t like to call him a jazz guy. But he is! For sure! It is a different kind of Jazz, his own.
He is a very nice person and is always encouraging people to play more music. Many times I remember what he said to me that time “até breve… e sempre a tocar” - “see you next time… always playing”. And you know what? He’s right. Life becomes different =)

(view big on black and listen to the music is mandatory!)

the ‘a’ train

miguelcma — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:26:00 +0000

take it with the company of Duke Ellington ♪

B-side:

Date: 9 April 2010
Location: Estação de Caminhos de Ferro, Braga
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 pushed to 800

pulido

miguelcma — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:26:39 +0000

He’s João Pulido, a friend I admire very very much. Working with him is always funny and productive at the same time. He’s so full of ideas! Fortunately, he can put them in practice most of the time :) I really needed to have a photo of him on my blog. We share the same passion about photography and manually developing the films!
About the photo it was a pity cutting his cane, on the left.

Date: 11 April 2010
Location: Velha-a-Branca, Braga
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 pushed to 800

la marche de l’empereur

miguelcma — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:41:44 +0000

♪ the frozen world, by Emilie Simon

Location: Aeroporto Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Porto
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Ilford Delta 3200 pulled to 1600

les porn groove

miguelcma — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:29:00 +0000

As the previous roll was "pull developed" , the next one needed to be "push developed". The result was obviously a lot grainy. They were doing a check sound for a concert at night and I liked the composition. I don’t know anything about this band from my hometown - Coimbra - but I’ll try to search for their work.

Date: 3 April 2010
Location: Fnac, Braga
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 pushed to 800

lane

miguelcma — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:35:00 +0000

This was my first experience with "pulling developing"… to be honnest, it was an accident :$ Developing an Ilford Delta 3200 on Ilford ID-11 takes 10m30s, but I read the incorrect time and used 9m30s, so it was developed as a 1600 ASA. In the photo the problem is not noticed, but with low light they’re really bad :( and I needed to use another ones to a contest, so it is a pitty. But ok, it was a good lesson.

Oh, and I tried another lab to scan my negative but the result was (obviously) bad agan! It have stains and I just HATE the way they crop the photos -.- They always do it incorrectly, grrrr. This is a serious problem to me because I love the black margin. So, I’m learning another thing: I need to invest on my own scanner! It is the *only way* to get a good work.

Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8
Film: Ilford Delta 3200 self developed at 1600