Goodrich castle: take two
Earlier in the year we attempted to visit Goodrich castle on our way to our holiday cottage in Wales however we were met with wind, rain and general unpleasant weather which meant we only had a quick walk to look at the castle and we went on our way. We decided to head back to the castle to explore the place properly.
Sometimes nature will take advantage of any space available.
In the background here is one of the castles famous features,’ the only surviving Civil War mortar, Roaring Meg.
There weren’t too many people visiting the castle at the time so we more or less had the place to ourselves – great for exploring the different levels, towers and rooms. There were some great views of the surrounding area, although it was quite a misty day so I didn’t end up taking many landscape shots. 
Kenilworth walks
On our last visit to Kenilworth castle we noticed that there was a nice route to walk that led around the castle, and so with a nice clear day one weekend we decided to go and try it out.
We can start to see the colours of Autumn beginning to appear. 
The fields around the castle are used for grazing, and on our way back we were met with a herd of cows in the process of changing fields. 
Landmarks of the beach, on Espinho
Espinho, in the Portuguese Green Coast. The place I called home for most of my life.
I was never one for the beach, but I always miss the view. And the smell of the sea.
Fresh fish
A common view (for now) back in Espinho, the Portuguese city where I come from: traditional fishwives selling locally-caught, fresh fish.
Back in the days you’d often see these women (and they’re all women) balancing wicker baskets on their heads and crying out how fresh and local the fish was. These two ladies look like they’re moving on from that – they have a little cart and I suspect the temperature-controlled bags and styro on the floor are part of their kit too.
When light hurts (not!)
We’ve had a proper rainy, dark day here in Coventry today. Ironically I am going through my photos from last month, when we visited Porto. Not quite the same
Quite a bit of work went into the RAW processing of that photo: adjust shadows down and keep the highlights relatively high to give that strong contrast look worked, but I found the whites very harsh. I ended up changing the white balance a little to mellow the tones. It works for me.
What do you think?
Transport in Porto
Getting around in Porto. You can run….
Or ride the historic tram, as part of the tram city tour. 
Nature’s urban takeover
In cities you often see derelict buildings, and while they are sad to see it’s also fascinating to see how nature takes over when it has the chance – seen in here in a couple of buildings just outside the centre of Porto.
Exploring Portugal
While in Portugal we went to stay for a night in one of the National Parks, Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, a beautiful area of the country with plenty of dramatic landscapes, as well as being home to wolves and golden eagles.
We stayed in a hostel for the night near Vilarinho das Furnas, and this was the view from my window – I wish my evening view was like this more often. 
There are a lot of dams in Portugal – which explains there high level of renewable energy used in the country. 
And behind the dam, a reservoir which covers a former village which was flooded as part of the construction of the dam back in the 1970s.
Riverside in Porto
While in Porto we took a walk along the Douro river. On a bright morning like this, while a little hazy, it’s easy to see why this area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If you look around the area you’ll notice all the different Port Wine brand names (Calem in the photo below) as most of the port wine cellars and companies are located in this area, many over the other side of the river in Vila Nova de Gaia.
Perfect place for a cafe!
Looking over the river here you can see one of traditional style boats for the area, which these days take tourists up and down the Douro. You can’t see too clearly on this photo but the boats often have Port brand names on the side, and this one has the Ferreira brand. So this boat literally has my name on it! 
In memoriam: Ricardo Porto
Ricardo Porto, Portuguese street photographer known for the porto street shooting blog, has recently passed away.
There is probably nobody on the Internet street photography fraternity who hasn’t come across Ricardo’s work. And whenever you had the privilege of talking to him, he was always generous and positive. A real gentleman.
Having never met Ricardo, I cannot lift the veil about the man behind the viewfinder. But there is one thing I can do: to share photos from the city of Porto. Featuring some of the same streets and the same light which for years graced our screens – Ricardo, these are for you.
Rest in peace.
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Oblique Exposure by Carlos Ferreira and Jennifer Watts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. - if(typeof(networkedblogs)=="undefined"){networkedblogs={};networkedblogs.blogId=1423839;networkedblogs.shortName="oblique-exposure";}
Oblique Exposure 
