We may have turned a corner today…admittedly some of our locations have been difficult to work with, but it seems that on today’s shoot we were finally able to put all the concepts together. The groups split up today, Fred’s went to a small workers village, while Thomas’s group headed out to a local market and shops.
The workers village is right next to the Palace and surrounded by these tiny beautiful old houses. A quick solution at the time, this village was originally established to house the construction workers who built the palace, and surprisingly, they’re still standing strong! This village currently is home to a quiet community and doubles as the headquarters for a group of local artisans. For today’s shoot the artisans came out and put on a demonstrations & craft fair for our students. Ceramics, model making, wood carving, tile making, and even wood-burning were just some of the local Portuguese crafts they exhibited.
Thomas’s group on the other hand went to a new neighborhood where a young Portuguese community have established a variety of modern shops; i.e. cell phone shops, little restaurants, and more grocery stores. Today we were working with difficult light, crowded scenes, and confined spaces…but I think the students finally broke through the technical barrier and were able to concentrate on the kind of story they wanted to depict.
You’ll have a look at the images and let me know what you think…