Praia da Barra, 19 January 2022

Barra is a mixture, on the one hand there is a vibrant town, quiet in January but packed during the hot summer months. On the other side is the sea, a haven for surfers and fishermen  and frequently visited by cargo ships and tankers entering the port. And in the middle is the Praia da

Another abandoned house in Oliveira do Bairro, 2 December 2021

Tucked away in the back streets of Oliveira do Bairro are these derelict buildings. Behind the building the taggers have been busy.

Urban Textures, 2 December 2021

Peeling paint from the doors of an abandoned house in Oliveira do Bairro, Portugal.

The front door, 2 December 2021

The front door of the large abandoned house in Oliveira do Bairro is a wonderfully ornate structure, now left decaying and rusting. The house must have been wonderful in its heyday, possibly with dinners and lavish parties, for the size of the building and the structure inside (yes, I snuck inside briefly, but don’t tell

An abandoned house in Oliveira do Bairro, 2 December 2021

This house opposite the post office in Oliveira has been abandoned for decades. On the front someone has stencilled, ‘they have guns, but we have flowers,’ a reference to the 1974 carnation revolution in Portugal that overthrew the fascist government.

Through the window, 2 December 2021 A few random windows in Oliveira do Bairro, Portugal.

Street photography in Oiã, 21 November 2021

Sunday morning in Oiã, and the streets are deserted.

Urban Textures, 17 November 2021

Images of gates, doors and walls.

Urban photography in Barra, 12 November 2021

Out in Barra this morning, a seaside town near Aveiro that is dominated by its lighthouse. Packed with tourists during normal summer months, in November the town is relatively quiet.  This morning Barra was shrouded by a seaside fog, which soon burned away as the sun rose.

Street Art in Barra, 12 November 2021

Barra is undergoing a lot of development at the moment, but alongside the new buildings there is always street art from the past. 

Aveiro: The Car Park, 27 October 2021

Driving into Aveiro the main road leads past the salt flats on the left and the nightclub Sal on the right. Turning right towards the city centre, on the immediate right is a small car park built (if that is the right word) on the remains of several demolished houses. Actually, I was never sure

Aveiro: The Underpass, 27 October 2021

Alongside the canal that forms the central attraction of Aveiro is a path that leads to what was Club 8, the go-to nightclub in the city. Now long gone, it’s a nightclub called ‘Sal’ (salt, Aveiro’s premier export) and the buildings around have been largely demolished. The path to Sal leads under the main road

Aveiro: The Overpass, 27 October 2021

Headed off along the railway line today. As well as a lot of commissioned street art, there is also a lot of graffiti to be found on the bridges and a nearby overpass. 

Actors of Urban Change, 27 October 2021

Several years ago, the city of Aveiro initiated Vivacidade, ‘Dressing-Up the City Voids’. The aim was to enable the local community to transform abandoned spaces into useful places. Actors of Urban Change was the team who coordinated and promoted the project’s objectives. This old stencilled wall looks like it’s an advertising hoarding for the campaign,

Artwork by Zooter, 27 October 2021

Tucked away near the park with the sculpture by Luis Queimadela is a small piece by the Portuguese artist Dalila Montero, known as ‘Zooter’. Zooter has been commissioned for various street art projects around Aveiro, and I’m not sure whether this is part of one of these commissions or if this is a personal piece.

Old sculptures in Aveiro, 27 October 2021

As everyone who knows me knows, I love Aveiro for its canals, its fabulous buildings and its magnificent street art. In 2009, Aveiro in collaboration with the VerArte Gallery, installed 14 sculptures around the city by the Portuguese sculptor Luis Queimadela. Titled “InVitro,” These square-face, block-body sculptures represent post-modern bodies through extremes, such as face and

Street photography in Águas Boas, 26 October 2021

Urban photography in a little village like Águas Boas isn’t like being in a larger city. For a start there are far fewer people, and not everyone gets to photograph a vineyard just up the road from the village centre.

Urban Textures, 26 October 2021

Out for a walk playing with panoramas there’s always time to capture the unique Textures of old and rusting gates.

Abandoned in Águas Boas, 26 October 2021

There’s a house in Águas Boas that has been abandoned for nigh on twenty years. Derelict on the inside, outside it has a unique hand-made wooden door that just screams, ‘restore me!’

Aveiro: The Metal Fence, 13 October 2021

Wherever someone has created a barrier or left a bare wall, graffiti artists or taggers have covered it. Many years ago the building behind this fence was demolished,  and the owners erected a metal fence before the land was redeveloped. However, nothing was ever done and the fence, tagged long ago by some forgotten artist,