"you should come here on a better day, today the weather is not good enough for pictures"... - I'm thinking about the amount of times I've heard this, as the flooding in the center region of Portugal prevents me from getting to the place I wanted to explore...

I'm tired after a strange night with a little too much alcohol and less sleep than advised... The blue sky and the warm color of sunset are almost contradictory with the vision of a road disappearing under the water... I recall Antonio saying that there's some kind of light that drives photographers crazy and makes them wander around until they get something that can be matched with it... And here it was, but this time the strength was not there...

I could have driven my car through one meter deep waters in order to pursue some piece of destiny, but respect and some kind of fear kept me back...

Still I drove around, looking for something else to shoot, but... Too many thoughts blinded me: What am I doing here... Those clouds are amazing... Ups... Stay on the road... I can't help admiring those who depart with nothing in mind and just a glimpse of love in the heart...

"was Portugal a cake, this would be my favorite slice..." - Antonio starts the initial briefing of his photo workshop in Montesinho Natural Park, one of the most remote locations in inner Portugal...

Tree days of intense rain and shooting went through faster than my ability to absorb all that there was to experience in this place under the weather's endearing influence...

It's a fact: Photography changes our perception of the world. Comfort or the absence of it gains a completely new meaning, rain and cold are no more than opportunities for the creation of images and strange enough they are usually the best when it comes to color details... Being wet is part of the process just as letting our equipment through the same "level of abuse"...

In the end I drive back home for eight hours in the rain... The loneliness of an empty car under heavy rains looks like the ideal environment for meditation... "Coming back to real life is becoming harder each time"…

"you migth be able to get there through the river, but it will take a long time..." - I had stoped in a grocery store in the Alvão Natural Park area in northern Portugal and the store keeper is telling me about how to get near one of the parks waterfalls...

Comparing the Portuguese natural park system with those of the US and Canada is like comparing an old Ford Model T with the most recent Mercedes S... Forget the cabin in the entrance of the park where rangers welcome you and give you all the information you need in order to find whatever place you're looking for...

In Portugal you are left with the joy of discovery, sometimes you find the places you’re looking for, sometimes you find something else, often that not you meet interesting people that are glad to help you find what you’re looking for… This approach although romantic and closer to someone that is looking for the subtleties of places off the beaten track is only ruined by the lack of care the Portuguese government shows towards the conservation of natural areas...

Anyway, after walking some kilometers I got near the place I was looking for, but the vantage point from where I wanted to shoot the falls was too difficult to get to without risking falling some hundred meters into a frightening gorge… Where I in the US, I’d have a walking path to get me just there and a guide that would tell me the right time of day and where to place my tripod for the best shot…

“heck I’ll have to come back with more time, friends and climbing equipment!!!...” – The last rays from the sun where striking the earth as the full moon rose above the horizon and I still had some hundred kilometers to drive to my next destination…

“after the cities we’ve crossed during the trip I don’t know if I want to visit New York” – We where on our last day before coming back home, looking down from Seattle’s Space Needle when Patricia drew some conclusions regarding North American cities…


There’s a big difference between European and North American cities. In Europe, we are assured that every city builds it’s identity from the course of thousands of years and all the buildings and stories they left behind. In North America, time still did not play its role in defining each city’s identity. I can associate different ideas to each city, but they are more influenced by people and the way they live in each place…

More and more, cities look pretty much the same everywhere I go… They exist near the airports I fly to… But almost disappear from memories when I get immersed into the wilds...

“he usually spends nine months a year traveling all over the world and stays at home for tree months mostly to test pick up new equipment”… The attendant at the Art Wolfe gallery in Seattle had just answered my question on the amount of time Art usually spends traveling around...

Art is an extreme case of someone that does what I’d like to do with the added bonus of being successful and well payed. I left his gallery wondering about what would be right sequence of steps to get there… I know I might have the image creating potential, but all the rest and mainly the question on how to be a photographer along with being able to pay the bills and having the power to decide on whatever images I want to create turn a single step into an unbeatable barrier…

On the other side is Nuno, the Portuguese biker traveling along the Pan American Highway (check his website here), doing his destiny just out of the will to be free…

Although in extreme positions Art and Nuno are similar in the sense of disturbing my peace of mind. “What am I doing here?” is a common question as three weeks after coming back from the Rockies reality really hurts my temporary sense of freedom…