Lagos, Portugal, 1968, a photo from Algarve, South

Photographer's Note

The harbour at Lagos, Algarve, back in 1968, when there was a thriving fishing fleet.

This is for Kasia, who wants to see old photographs, Gert, who shows the way in posting oldies, and Ana, who happens to be Portugese!

This was originally a colour transparency, but the colours didn't survive the scanning process very successfully, with blocked up shadows being the main problem. The answer seemed to be to abandon the colour altogether, and go with monochrome, which in any case seems to suit the subject pretty well.

Shot on an old Yashica "J" rangefinder camera. I find it hard to believe that on a two-week holiday, I shot just one roll of film back then.

Click here for the larger Beta TrekEarth version.

ikeharel, williewhistler, tyro, adores, macjake, Royaldevon, tatadalou oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

williewhistler (16606) 2015-12-19 7:12

Hello Will,
an interesting and pretty timeless shot with much the same characters and activity that you would expect to see today,although the lorry might be a giveaway.
The conversion works well with a decent range of tones and good detail.
Regards Les.

BennyV (32570) 2015-12-19 7:21

Hello Will

Yes, it's always great to see old shots here, and the scan quality here is remarkable too. It looks like a scene from last century...wait a minute...it IS from last century, of course. Time flies.

Benny

Silvio1953 (205890) 2015-12-19 8:35

Ciao Will, beautiful B&W, lovely comoosition, excellent clarity and splendid light, very well done, my friend, have a great week end, ciao Silvio

Nicou (193806) 2015-12-19 8:35

Hello

Quelle compo nostalgique ce port de Porto ŕ l'époque avec ces anciens bateaux ces personnes le chargement superbe scčne et vue.
Bravo et belle soirée
Nicou

holmertz (92938) 2015-12-19 9:10

Hello Will,
Thanks for the early Christmas gift. Since I've never been to Lagos, Portugal, only to Lagos, Nigeria, I wouldn't know who much has changed here since 1968, but my instincts tell me some things are different now. Once you got rid of the colours you were left with a very nice greyscale and a totally acceptable sharpness for a scanned photo from 47 years ago. This is not the oldest photo on TE but it should be among the least recent. I remember 1968 as clearly as almost yesterday. Incredible how time flies.
Best wishes,
Gert

GyurMaster (21397) 2015-12-19 10:36

Dear Will,

One considered the composition better, isn't he? I took a walk in the Miskolc Christmas Fair today and I shot approx 90 photos (3 rolls that is to say) and I will select only 3 or 4 photos good enough to show here. I guess your rate was better back then. :)

Good photo, thanks for sharing!
Best Regards,
Gy.

tyro (30513) 2015-12-19 12:29

Hello Will,

This is an excellent scan of a colour slide, albeit in black and white, and of a scene taken almost fifty years ago. Actually, I can beat you with two pictures I have here from Portugal - this and this, both scanned from Kodachrome slides taken in 1965 on my little Voitlander Vito B which I still have and which still works.

But your image here is a far more interesting one than either of those, of fishing boats in an active harbour, parts of which I can recognise from my last trip to Lagos a couple of years ago. The light, contrasts, tones and textures are delightful and very well done considering the age of the original image. And it's jolly clear and sharp too.

Excellent!

Kind Regards,

John.

adores (46979) 2015-12-19 14:53

Thank you Bill:)!
This one was taken just a few months after I was born:)! I still remember the harbours like this when I was a little child, when tourists were far less and the resorts and yachts also. Everything changed since then. It's a very good oldie and you did a great work with the scanner, the quality is really good.

PiotrF (52330) 2015-12-19 15:42

Hello Will,
Great view of the port in Lagos. Good monochrome photo.Perfect exposure, fine composition and exquisite details and sharpness.Thank you for notes.
Goood work
Regards
Piotr

emka (152388) 2015-12-20 0:23

Hi Will, And why not for me? I also want to see the old picture, admire such composition in black and white. How different from the usual picture from Lagos.
Haha, Yes it is strange that we made so few pictures then. Now we (or me anyway) make more in one evening than in the whole trip earlier. But when the films were expensive, we had to be more careful.
Yesterday I had a photo session with Kasia in Warsaw Lazienki. It was great to see her at work.

WArm regard s Malgo

abmdsudi (88621) 2015-12-20 22:18

Hi Will
Back to Film...
The monochrome does indeed work well in this and a good bit of vintage film work quite different to how digital looks. An interesting busy looking harbour, well composed image with good depth, detail, great light and tonal range. This has a great look to the shot and it's perfect subject matter for it along with super scanned quality. Congrats.
Best regards

mjw364 (1466) 2015-12-21 3:39

Hello Will

Black and white and sailing vessels - a theme emerges, lacking only in alcoholic content!

Well composed.

Yes - necks - having a nerve conductivity test today. Deep joy.

Have a good one.

Mike

macjake (96157) 2015-12-21 4:07

Hi Will
I have to agree, the monochrome does work quite well here. The coloured version would also be interesting though.

This shot is almost 50 years old, I wonder if shots taken today will have the same feel as they do in 2065! :)

that large boat in the center has to be the focal point in my opinion. and i like the activity going on with the men on the dock.

great shot
cheers
craig

Royaldevon (75584) 2015-12-22 2:22

Hello Will,

I was here in the 80's but my memory of it is pretty hazy.

B&W doesn't spoil it in any way and very much suits your personal style.
I like how the boats are the guides, leading so naturally from one to the next, decreasing quite noticeably in size until we reach the rowing boat.
I like how we can see the busy activities of the fishermen and then, one person stands out, quite different from the rest, a lady carrying bags! No wonder some on the quayside are staring!! It's a mysterious scenario!!

A very good scan!

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

kasianowak (15848) 2015-12-22 7:12

Hi Will
Thank you for the dedication! I feel very honoured and I really like this image. It is a proof that it's good to include people in travel photos. Without them it would just be a photo taken any time with retro feel. Good idea to present it in black and white rather than discard it because of the quality of scanned colours.
One roll of film in two weeks, wow. On my first "proper" photography trip (when, for the first time, I meant to take photos in order to sell them later) I used 18 rolls. But only 60 shots (less than two rolls' worth) where any good.
Merry Christmas to you too!
Kasia

bostankorkulugu (42832) 2015-12-27 1:37

a lovely timeless shot this is, beautiful b&w too, love it a lot man... wish you a happy 2016...

cheers

krkt

tatadalou (7459) 2016-01-24 22:22

Hello Will,
B&W conversion was a good solution to save the mood of the scene. It's always a surprise to discover some oldies on TE ! Nice framing, well balanced between the boats and the dock.
Best regards,
Delphine