I deliberately go to places with no foreknowledge, it’s a risk I know. After a short while in Lisbon it is hard not to see that all is not what it seems. At times the place seems like a forgotten film-set; rush past on the bus or in a taxi you might not notice but stop and look deeper into the eyes of the building windows and a darker truth emerges. Many, so many of the buildings are empty, some in disrepair few looking about to be repaired.

Cash is king, plastic won’t get you far here and the police stand outside the Rolex shops and the supermarkets. Dining can be inexpensive, and good, really good, you will be hustled to make your choice though, such is survival. And for many survival doesn’t seem guaranteed yet the people are polite, friendly and courteous.

As we drove back to the airport I asked the taxi driver why all of the building doors were green, he laughed, a few minutes later he pointed to a brown door and laughed again.

A new space dedicated to 20th century post-war design opens in Lisbon: Galeria Bessa Pereira – 20th Century Design. Located between Chiado and Bairro Alto, on Rua Luz Soriano, the gallery presents furniture and interior architecture by renowned Portuguese and international designers from the mid-century period. To inaugurate this new space, the gallery presents the exhibition José Espinho: Diversity in the Making. The opening is 5 April, and will run through 6 June 2013.
Source: portugalconfidential.com

• The Leica bag
• The Peli full of Nikons
• The Bowens flash
• The ridiculous Manfrotto collection
• The old bike gear (great for grubbing round on the ground)

Really silly of me to forget:

• The Thermos

So, early start, daughter hurried off to school, a flyer up the motorway and why oh why did I stop for that low grade Crappuccino. The M50 was slower than I’d hoped for and the neat idea of printing the Google satellite image wasn’t really helping in this indeterminate season, I really couldn’t recognise the fields.

Vodafone oh Vodafone how useless thou art in Devon how redundant thou art in wherever I was stood this morning. Tech wasn’t helping and eventually the coffee was screaming so loud that I had to turn into Mythical Hackney Cab-driver and abuse the rear nearside of the Saab (modesty assured courtesy of the open rear passenger door). Full flow and a ‘Giles’ pulled up in a Jag. Seriously, this place was remote but the chappy needed instructions and I looked like a chappy in the know. Eventually the Giles glanced towards Brisbane (and chappy) and duly apologised.

Giles chose not to shake hands as he departed, wise.

Men don’t like asking for instructions but in the next village I betrayed menfolk and asked a woman who was taking her kids to be educated where RTS was. “Just down there” she said “the end of this road, it looks a bit like a house.” She was correct on both counts.

Many years had passed since I last met Ellis, he still has hair, I don’t. Great to meet him again, really great. A busy morning though, lots of people too including:

• Ellis
• The man who builds motorbikes
• The Glamorous Assistant
• The daughter of The Glamorous Assistant
• The man who had arrived from Melbourne to look at the bike
• The customer of the man who builds bikes
• The wife of the man who builds bike who makes delightful cakes

and latterly:

• The young French design student who had just ridden through the night from Paris
• The son of the man who builds bikes who builds bikes himself

No, I don’t remember names easily.

Ellis has created a new motorbike, I think this is a fantastic achievement. RTS Racing design and build grasstrack and speedway bikes, this is where the Mac is being developed. My commission was to photograph the bike. To be honest it was quite some time before I even got to see the bike but there was lots and lots to see in this location that looks a bit like a house in the country.

In an ideal world the remote location would have been a bit less busy, in an ideal world there would not have been snow in the air and in an ideal world there would have been a bit more ‘life’ in the light. This world is rarely ideal, however the part of the world that I was in had life in the air, was fun and full of interest.

This bike is a prototype, I was honoured to get the second ever ride on it, up the lane and back. Many of the bits that are on it will change and as it stands this is a bare-metal creation, no paint, no powder coating. This is an summation of the work to date and an expression of intent. All of this has a bearing on how the photography was to be approached. Little point in paying too much attention to details that may change, this shoot was about recording the form and creating a conduit for discussion.

This bike is Marmite, that’s how it was designed, it’s never going to be a me-too.

I cannot begin to explain the carpet, the lampshade or the al-fresco seating. I have no idea why this emerged from a blue Ford. I can’t show you the shots yet, hopefully they will appear from a screen, book or magazine near you soon. What I do know is that we are going to do it again and this is a good thing.

Can I make it clear, I love old Lancias but don’t look at the current Lancia website full of re-badged Chryslers unless you want to cry. There is something about the old ones though. I drive a Saab and briefly Saabs were re-badged as Chryslers, in fact Lancias were re-badged as Saabs too after the ‘engine falling out issue’, but I would never try to link the Saab experience to the Lancia one.

Now, I must admit I had noticed the two young men with their lovely long lenses. I was even briefly perplexed by one who had both Nikon and Canon gear in his bag, that’s just not right is it? What I hadn’t realised was that they had noticed me, well to be fair I was probably stood in their way and actually it was the M9 that they had noticed. I had ridden to the meeting on the BMW and the Leica works really well, fits in the top-box, no need for a trailer.

While we were talking nonsense about cameras I was aware of Sir Blighty-Tweed walking past me, barking “Aha, BMW, by the people who brought us Auschwitz!”. I assumed he was addressing the chap cruising up the hill in his old 3-series, but then I looked at the logo on shoulder of my, err, BMW Rallye-3 jacket.

Probably best not to mention the Leica then?

Another day photographing training sessions, an email while I was working asking me if I had something suitable for the front page. Oh, and a quick (soft) drink before the drive back to the Lightroom. This was the view.

Reminder set.

This is what WH Smith says,

Many books have been published about BMW motorcycles, but this is the first to cover the evolution of the BMW sportsbike to the BMW cafe racer. A marque not commonly associated with the cafe racer scene, the growing trend of custom BMW cafe conversions is illustrated in detail with stunning images of sporting, racing, and ‘cafed’ BMWs. From Airheads to Oilheads, modified singles to parallel twins, Fours and Concept 6s – see the ‘cafed’ side of BMW.

I say there’s some neat bikes very neat bikes indeed.

OK, so WHSmith.co.uk weren’t the quickest to deliver but hey, Uli told me it was the cheapest place to get it so here you go, it’s the hardback too.

Yes, Kev assumed I would be travelling light on the GS, but no, I had brought the full compliment: Nikons, Leicas, reflectors and most of the Manfrotto timeline. So we ended up with two bikes a car, a T5, a trailer and a shuttle service up and down the hill.

Anyway, it sunned, on the bikes, the early morning dog-walkers, the woman in pink on a horse, the PCSO who stopped to say hello and latterly the ice-cream man.

Afterwards we went to The Hound of the Basket Meals and ate dogs.

Quote of the day? (Kev) “I didn’t know this was here” (Dartmoor)

12►

I used Andrew Butler at DesignCredo as an SEO service and to look over my website. I already had a DIY package website which was ok but cluttered and on about page one thousand when you google searched my business. As a bespoke wedding stationer and a sole trader it was vital that brides could find me when Googling key wedding words.

Andrew completely transformed my website. For a modest fee he helped me to quadruple my business within weeks. He de-cluttered my website, suggested content, set key words and introduced me to social media for business. I followed all his tips to the letter and almost instantly I was found on the front page of Google every time.

In the last 6 months (as I temporarily wind down the business to do an MA) I have ceased all other marketing, such as wedding fairs and magazine articles, and I still consistently get inundated with enquiries. They all say “we found your website, it looks fantastic! Can you do…….?”

I can’t thank Andrew Butler enough. I recommend his service wholeheartedly.
Sam Aspden SamAspdenDesigns

Footnote

Only issue……I’ve shut down (under construction) website as I’m fully booked till August, starting MA in September and couldn’t manage the constant enquiries I was having to turn down! Nice!

For the record Sam was a bit of a start pupil, she asked what else she could do on a limited budget herself and we suggested she set up a free WordPress blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Remembering that she couldn’t be found on Google even by her own name this has to be viewed as a result!

They seem happy to have people just mooching round with a camera. I guess I may use these as backgrounds some day, who knows?