The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 27 trips to carry that many people.
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
110. Vale do Rio Doce
AUGUST 2007: Vale do Rio Doce
The almost 600 km long railway between Belo Horizonte and Vitória follows a great part of the course of Doce River towards the state of Espírito Santo. The railroad company is called after the valley, which is the river’s basin: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD). Since 2007, the company has been renamed into Vale. Vale is one of Brazil’s largest companies and one of the world’s largest mining companies. The company possesses a thirty-year-concession of the railway, and is mainly used for the transport of iron ore, while transport of people has less priority. The passenger train moves on slowly, at an overall average speed of only 50 km per hour, and stops regularly for allowing long iron ore trains passing by. Sometimes a train with almost two hundred wagons! It is no surprise that the train travel to Vitória takes almost thirteen hours, and that there is only one train per day leaving in each direction. It was almost dark when the train entered the state of Espírito Santo. The sun was already setting, towards the horizon. The colorful sunset was reflected on the shiny metal sheets of the train wagon.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
109. Purple flowers
MARCH 2007: Purple flowers
In March 2007, I had to replace my Sony camera for a Canon. The old camera, good for more than thirty thousand photographs and several thousands of kilometers of travel, got a serious problem with the lenses and the shutter. I went to several locations in Belo Horizonte for testing my new camera: the ZOO, Botanical Garden, Mangabeiras Park, the Ecological Park, and the Municipal Park. I took hundreds of photos of plants, flowers, animals, and landscapes. The results were very satisfying! One day, I was in the Botanical Garden, which is part of the ZOO in Pampulha District. I had the luck that many plants were flowering. Like the purple flowers on the photograph above; I had to aim in the air, the result seemed to be overexposed. With some slight digital modifications, without modifying the composition, I had managed to retrieve a clear and colorful picture.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
108. Descent of Man
JULY 2007: Descent of Man
In July 2007, we visited the state of Maranhão. We stayed in Barreirinhas, which is considered the gateway to the immense Lençóis Maranhenses dune landscape, from where we joined a boat ride on the literally lazy Preguiças River. Our final destination was Atins, at the Atlantic Ocean, four hours away. It was a hot day, but the ride on the water was really enjoyable. When we entered the sandy paths and streets in Atins, we almost immediately jumped from out feet. The sand was terribly hot! We all felt a bit tired after a 55-hour-long bus ride from Belo Horizonte and another 4-hour boat ride. One of the bus drivers was really feeling exhausted. For him, it was impossible to walk straight. He then trudged toward me, and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of him. His pose remembered me of the stories of the early humans on earth, several hundred thousands years ago, when man made the first efforts to walk straight….
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
107. Grass
APRIL 2007: Grass
Pampulha Lake is one of the main touristic attractions in Belo Horizonte. The lake was created in the Forties of the past century when Juscelino Kubitschek – one of Brazil’s most popular presidents of all time – was the mayor. Architect Oscar Niemeyer was invited to create a so-called architectonic complex, which included the small St. Francis Church and the Cassino, now serving as a Museum of Modern Arts. One small part of the lake, opposite to the ZOO, had become reclaimed, on which an ecological park was created: Parque Ecológico Promotor Francisco Lins do Rego. Large part of the park is open for public during three days a week; however, one part is closed for public and only accessible for scientists and those interested by appointment. On sunny days, many people, even entire families, populate the park for leisure activities. They can go on foot or hire a bicycle. The thirty hectare park hosts an interesting diversity of trees, bushes and plants, as well was a considerable number of animals. Therefore, it is interesting to take your camera and shoot some photographs of, for example, grass…
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
106. Colorful sunset
JULY 2007: Colorful sunset
During our trip in the state of Maranhão, we stayed a few days in Barreirinhas, which is known as the gateway to the vast dune complex of Lençóis Maranhenses. On our second day in Barreirinhas we took a boat ride on the very slow flowing Preguiças River. It took more than four hours before we reached Atins, our final destination of that day. Atins, located at the Atlantic Ocean, is a hamlet with literally one long street and a few side streets. Palm leaves marked parking spaces along the sandy street. We spent the afternoon on the deserted Atins Beach. Late in the afternoon, we witnessed a rapidly progressing sunset; it was as if you could see the sun move towards the horizon and disappear completely. It was a colorful end of a sunny and warm day. The low tide forced us to wait until midnight, for our boat ride back to Barreirinhas.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
105. Cicada
AUGUST 2007: Cicada
The start of the Brazilian spring is announced with a lot of noise. A penetrating noise, as if someone had activated the alarm system in a factory. Surprisingly, this sound is produced by an insect: a cicada. Brazilians call it a cigarra. The cicadas live in trees. The sound they produce is developed by a special organ at their anterior abdominal region. The first days are used to test and to optimize the sound quality. Then they please their neighbors with serenades from dawn to dusk. The cicadas are not fixed to one tree, but they move on, until they have found their female counterpart. When I was in Vitória, it was obvious to me that the cicadas already had started their noisy serenades, while in Belo Horizonte – about 600 km away – the cicadas hadn’t appeared yet. The cicada on the photograph apparently got lost, and landed on a safety net on the sixth floor. Like a professional artist, it posed in front of my lens.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
104. Pine tree
MAY 2007: Pine tree
When you will meet this pine tree, you won’t imagine yourself in the tropics. This pine tree, however, was found on Santa Catarina Island, near Pântano do Sul Beach. This beach is one of the more than forty beaches on this island, within reach from the city of Florianópolis. Pântano do Sul Beach is flanked by some green hills. I had climbed one of these hills; from the top, the view on Pântano do Sul Beach and the Atlantic Ocean was breathtaking. When we were back on the beach, we didn’t allow ourselves a lot of rest; we continued our walk for another six kilometers to another beach, were a number of our friends were waiting for us.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2006, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
103. Ipanema Beach
OCTOBER 2007: Ipanema Beach
Almost everyone knows Rio de Janeiro’s two most famous beaches: Copacabana and Ipanema. Both enchanted beaches have been sung by renowned artists, painted by dozens of painters, and photographed by millions of tourists. I belonged to the latter group, when I returned to Ipanema Beach once again. Sunset at Ipanema Beach is really breathtaking, and inviting for taking many colorful images. This picture was taken on a sunny day in October, when it is spring in Brazil. The high tide had left some shallow pools on the beach that reflected the twin mountain peaks of the Dois Irmãos (‘Two Brothers’) at such a colorful sunset. In 2007, the Dois Irmãos were in the news, because of the slums expanding on their slopes; it was feared that this postcard image will become a thing of the past…
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
102. Beach balls
JANUARY 2007: Beach balls
This photograph was taken at Jacaraípe Beach, just north of Vitória, capital of the state of Espírito Santo. From Belo Horizonte, the distance is about 600 km, little more than eight hours by bus. Pretty close, when compared to the distance Belo Horizonte-São Luís for instance: 2800 km. I would visit São Luís some months later that year. Jacaraípe Beach is not very known among Brazilian, and virtually unknown among foreign tourists. Foreign tourists gather on the beaches in Rio de Janeiro, or on beaches along the northeastern coastline. Brazilian tourists prefer beaches like Búzios, Cabo Frio, Guarapari, Guarujá, Porto Seguro. Therefore, this beach ball vendor had nothing to sell on this summer day in January. Besides the light and colorful balls, he also carries his loneliness. Every day. Whether it rains or not. Even when there are not many tourists on the beach. A tough life….
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
A personal selection of photographs with their stories.
101. Bicycle on the beach
SEPTEMBER 2007: Bicycle on the beach
The flat coastline at Camburi Beach in Vitória is ideal for cyclists. In recent years, cycle lanes have been paved. You will notice that most bicycles are quite different from the solid European ones: Brazilian bikes are more suitable for any kind of terrain. More Brazilians possess bikes for short rides; they also are discovering the advantages of taking the bike to school, to the bakery, or even to the beach! However, bicycle racks were not that common in 2007. The only alternative was a young palm tree. In this case, a perfect solution. I was quite curious if the owner had locked his bicycle with what kind of locks. To my big surprise, it was only locked with a simple bicycle lock. It was not tied to the tree with a big chain. Dutch insurance companies would disapprove this, and there would be a big problem in case the bicycle had been stolen. Therefore, at a first glance, you might consider Camburi Beach as a secure place to park your bicycle, without the necessity of heavy chains and locks.
© Adriano Antoine Robbesom 2007, 2014
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