Very close to Ribeira d’Ilhas where the Billabong Buondi Pro is being held is located a beach called Coxos. North of the famous Ribeira d’ Ilhas Beach, close to Ribamar and about 6.0 km north of Ericeira is Coxos beach. With very large waves reaching the shore, it is a favourite with experienced surfers. Considered by some Europe’s best right. It’s ironic, actually, because it was one of the last “discoveries” in the Ericiera area.

The wave breaks along a shallow rock shelf into a very small bay. Swells muscle their way in from deep water just offshore and form into these fast-moving symmetrical right walls that seem to concentrate all their power into the base of the wave rather than the lip. There’s no easy entry at Coxos: you’ve got to paddle like mad, get to your feet and start driving, otherwise you’ll get sucked over an end up on the reef. If you do it right, though, it’s the best barrel in Europe.

Another Shot at Coxos with a fellow photographer on the scene:

A friend of mine after a surf at Coxos:

Today some shots of the Billabong Pro here in Portugal!

The expected excellent swell made its way to Ericeira for Day 2 of the Buondi Billabong Pro Portugal and Day 2 saw some of the bext conditions of the year give all Round 2 competitors some great scoring potential.

Some four to six foot (1.2 to 2 meter) waves broke all day over the reef of Ribeira d’Ilhas and athletes put on a show of powerful carving surfing and serious comitment to take advantage of the 100-meter rides on offer.

Many photographers on the beach, so expect to see more shots on the web. I will go back on Saturday/Sunday to watch the final heats and to take some more shots.

Puerta de Europa from Paseo de la Castellana, with the monument to José Calvo-Sotelo in the center.

They were designed by the American architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, built by Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and commissioned in 1996 by the Kuwait Investment Office (hence their initial name Torres KIO). Each building is 115 m tall with an inclination of 15º. They are located near the Chamartín railway station, on the sides of the Plaza Castilla bus station, north from the Paseo de la Castellana and near the Cuatro Torres skyscraper park, for dignify the Calvo Sotelo Memorial.

Many of these shots were taken over the last couple of months. Stay tuned for more shots in the days to come!

More about me here.

“A southern city. A city at the same time burning and cool that contains in the horizon the promise of the sea and the salted wind sweeping the hills.” - Simone de Beauvoir

Maybe you will hear the next John Lennon or the next Elton John on the Tube…

London for a week was fun but it feels great to be back in Lisbon… stay tuned for the next journey! In the mean while I will post some shots from areas around Lisbon for a change

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 33 mm

“It represents borders, the experience of immigrants, the experience of segregation, the experience of racial hatred.”

Neither the artist, Doris Salcedo, from Colombia, nor the Tate management would say exactly how it had been created. The gallery declined to disclose whether Salcedo had drilled down into the floor or whether the crack had been created by digging into a “false” floor that sits on top of the original. A spokeswoman said that Shibboleth had been created by the artist “opening up the floor” and inserting a concrete cast of a Colombian rockface.

“It is the experience of a Third World person coming into the heart of Europe. For example, the space which illegal immigrants occupy is a negative space. And so this piece is a negative space.”

According to the artist it is a statement about racism, with the crack representing the gap between white Europeans and the rest of humanity. Sir Nicholas Serota, the Tate director, said: “There is a crack, there is a line, and eventually there will be a scar. It will remain as a memory of the work and also as a memorial to the issues Doris touches on.”

It was a very cold day and to give it an even colder look I decided to go with the blue tone. As you have probably noticed I edit all my shots with Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Lightroom is very simple and efficient piece of software that (for me at least) makes digital photography easier!

30 St Mary Axe is a building in London’s main financial district. It is widely known by the nickname “The Gherkin”, name that first appeared in The Guardian newspaper in 1996, referring to that plan’s highly unorthodox layout, and this was enthusiastically adopted by other media and the public. Due to the current building’s somewhat phallic appearance, other inventive names have also been used for the building, including the Erotic gherkin, the Towering Innuendo, and the Crystal Phallus. It is 180 m tall, making it the sixth-tallest in London.

“London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.”

Picture taken from the south bank of the river Thames after a ride on the London eye. The Houses of Parliament where the two Houses of the Parliament (the House of Lords and the House of Commons) meet to conduct their business. The palace is one of the largest parliament buildings in the world. The layout of the palace is intricate, with its existing buildings containing nearly 1,200 rooms, 100 staircases and well over three kilometres of corridors. Although mainly dating from the 19th century, among the original historic buildings is Westminster Hall, used nowadays for major public ceremonial events such as lyings in state, and the Jewel Tower.

Tried to give this picture a silhouette look to show of the sunset in the background!

Sir Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize, wrote of the London Eye in a recent book about the project:

“The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That’s the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London.”

Designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Steven Chilton, Frank Anatole and Nic Bailey, the wheel carries 32 sealed and air-conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference. Each capsule holds approximately 25 people, who are free to walk around inside the capsule, though seating is also provided. It rotates at 26 cm per second (about 0.9 km/h) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes.