Wednesday 31 March 2010

[ Meditation ]



Only seven updates this month... I'm truly embarrassed... The rainy days haven't stopped yet, and besides March was a month of great change, turmoil, work and meditation...

This photo was taken yesterday, in 'Meditation Street' here in Porto, just before rushing to Lisbon to meet a friend. I'm so glad some quality graffitis have been popping up here and there, and I'm so glad I took the time to take a look at it.

Life moves pretty fast, and if you don't stop to look around from time to time, you can miss it. Some of the meditation I've been doing is just about that: projects, taking opportunities, the past, the future, and above all, fighting for your happiness. The battle for happiness is a tiresome thing, something no one can do for you, something that you have to do every day!... But then again, the ultimate prize is yours and yours alone, and trust me, what a sweet prize it is...

Tuesday 23 March 2010

[ Anatomy of a Sunset ]

My fascination for sunsets and sunrises is not new, not even on my blog... I mean, the last post I did is over one week old, and it was a sunset! Right after I did that post, Monday 15th, I got out and went to meet a friend for a coup of coffee, parked my car and saw this:


I'm starting to grow a bit of a relationship with the seagulls... Their sense of timing is just perfect, and they always seem to drop in when I need them to, turning just another sunset into a special one... But this sunset was far from over. I lingered there for a while, enjoying the noises of the ocean clashing against the shore, the seagulls greeting me with their chant, and those minutes spent there breathing in the calm and quietness allowed me to witness this sunset turning into something unique...


This was the precise moment when the Sun caught the clouds on fire, just when it touched the ocean on the horizon... This photo made my day. And when I thought this sunset couldn't get any better, the sun disappeared into the ocean, and turned this sunset into something completely different...


... the contrast between the bright sun and dark ocean dimmed, the breeze soothed, and everything stood still for a while... everything except my seagull friends that kept giving me a hand with this set... 55 photos taken from 6h32pm to 6h49pm... 17 minutes of shooting that led to a week preparing the Anatomy of a Sunset, and the first Light Persists desktop background...


Chose your screen resolution and download your copy from the following links. I made them in 1,6 proportion (for most Mac users), and 1,33 proportion (for most PC users), but if you need a custom resolution, please contact me at lightpersists@gmail.com, and I will be more than happy to provide you with a cool non distorted version of this background. This mail address was created for you, and it's available on the top of the right side menu. Use it wisely, write at your own risk, and remember, I will reply...

1,61,33
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Monday 15 March 2010

[ Staring at the sun ]



Taking this photo last friday before heading off to shoot the fashion event at 66 Avenida Brasil, I could almost hear my mother saying "don't stare at the sun! it's bad for your eyes!!"...

Sorry mom, I rather go blind.

Thursday 11 March 2010

[ Demons ]






Exactly one week ago I was talking about the way that night time was perfect for clear thinking while everyone else is busy battling their demons... but that doesn't mean I don't have demons of my own to fight.

Tonight was one of the darkest nights I remember. With the small number of hours I spend with them, when me and my demons decide it's time to settle some scores it tends to get ugly, and I admit that tonight they almost won... Something like these photos taken last May in Jamaica, only without the piña coladas with rum and missing "Three little birds" sounding in the background...

Tuesday 9 March 2010

[ Golden Heart II ]



Yesterday I was reading a post from a friends blog concerning graffitis where he mentions the "beautifully crafted grafitti (...) which used to populate the streets of Barcelona a few years ago (before the city hall apparently decided to wage war on them, pasteurizing the cityscape for tourists from tv-land)"... That is a war that luckily hasn't begun yet here in Porto, even though it is very hard to find gorgeous graffitis like the ones I found in Barcelona or Madrid back in the day...

This one I stumbled upon last Saturday while strolling on the busy and cosmopolite Miguel Bombarda street here in Porto. Could it be more perfect? Trusting the date, it's been untouched since April 2009. But then again, you really have to respect something as beautiful as this!... Relating to a previous post where I explained my profile picture, I can't help to grin when I see such a gorgeous illustration of how, even when immersed in darkness, a Golden Heart is always able to retain it's beauty, valor and power.

Friday 5 March 2010

[ Future ]



No one knows what the future holds, but some of us, a few selected ones, feel the present in a way that has never been seen. This blog has been about Light, that pure light that goes around our hearts, that warmth that comes from the Sun, that glow that comes from the Moon... but it has also been about darkness and the night, something I deeply respect...

History separates the skillful sailors from the unprepared ones, and the skillful ones look at a cloudy sky with the same respect they look at a bright blue one...

The skies are cloudy today, but over them, there's a bright sun, waiting to find a gap and break out, and a storm never grounded a seagull.

Thursday 4 March 2010

[ Insomnia ]





Insomnia
noum
habitual sleeplessness; inability to sleep.

I never thought I was insomniac. In fact, I never had a problem sleeping in my live... but maybe that's because I only sleep three or four hours a night. "How do you do it?", "it's impossible, no one can", "you should rest, save your strength" I've heard it all... Many years ago, in a night much like the one I took these photos in (these were taken last August, while having a blast with some friends in Guimarães), a very good friend of mine stated that sleeping was the most unproductive thing a person could do, and it should be cut down to the very minimum... Of course, he also thought he was like a shark, smothering if standing still, a thought that I admit I share...

The fact is that, since my early 20's, sleeping as been considered overrated for me. Nighttime is the perfect time for clear thinking. Most people are sleeping and fighting their own demons in dream land, leaving the Moon lit air free of thoughts, allowing you to expand your horizons, and take yourself where your mind wants to lead you...

This dawn marks the end of one of those nights. Work is done, writing is done, music is heard, the mind stretches unbound and roams across the horizon, flies all over the globe and back again, checking if your loved one is sleeping peacefully wrapped around the wings of an angel, checking if the ones that are closest to your heart, your closest friends, have smooth sailing ahead of them in dream land, checking if all that matters to you is secure and protected, making decisions, figuring where you're going, being the master of your fate, the Captain of your soul...

All is done, everyone is safe, my mind is set, it's been a good day, it's time... to go to sleep.