Belated Merry Christmas Feliz Natal

I wish you all a Merry Christmas/Feliz Natal. This is a special time of the year to spend some times with the entire family and friends.

Traditions include listening to Christmas songs on the radio, a traditional portuguese christmas eve dinner of Bacalhau com batatas, couves azeite e vinagre ( Boiled salted dried cod fish, potatoes with olive oil and vinegar). Ervas (Turnip greens cut finely with vinegar). Carne alentjena (Fried pork, french fries and clams with sauce). The tradition use to be after dinner we would watch a movie and then open the gifts at midnight. I think the next generation of kids or maybe the next gen parents aren't as tough as our parents. The kids now open gifts at 10 pm instead of waiting until midnight. Church is also very special around this time of the year. With a really great chorus that captures the spirit of the holiday.

Short on time

I didn't have a lot of time to get out shooting this weekend. Holidays make things very busy. I went out for a couple of hours and got this shot. This was inspired by one of my flickr contacts. Hope you like it.

Sunrise 2 is possible

Could it be that I have 2 sunrises in me? This sunrise was nice but was quite blocked by thick layer of clouds. I also wasn't able to get a straight shot of the sun because of obstructions. I decided to work with the obstructions instead of fight them. Here are two of the keepers from this morning.

Portraits

I take a lot of landscape photos and haven't had much luck with portraits. I think I haven't had many opportunities to take portraits because no one is willing to endure being photographed by me. MMM wonder why are they afraid of the result? Luckily I have a very supportive family Here is a portrait of my wife and our dog. I think this came out pretty nice. We also took a spontaneously family portrait. I set the camera up on a timer. We will be sending out Christmas cards shortly, so rather than ruining the suprise I'll wait until you see the card. Let me know if any of you would like to be my models for a portrait. And no I don't do nudes unless of course you pay me.

Ready for Christmas

Things have been pretty hectic lately with work and around the home front. Of course as the holiday's approach, it seems like it gets even more hectic. The best part of the holidays is getting to see the entire family. The hard part is getting ready for Christmas. Speaking of getting ready I took this picture of the Friendship of Salem tall ship 2 weekends ago when I went out. The ship is all lit up and ready for Christmas.