Summer can be a drought season for a photographer. Long days with unflattering light and flat skies that make nature photography almost impossible, a mix of bright light and strong shadows to complicate street photography. To sum it up: things slow down between June and September, [despite never stopping to take photos][1] I spend most of my summertime waiting for it to end. Waiting for it to end, photographically speaking, because I love warm nights outside, wearing flip-flops and drinking cold beer.
There’s something about the first rainy days in a row, the first rainy week, that I love. It’s the end of Summer, officially. Vivid colors start to fade and days slowly become darker. The mood changes on the streets, the jackets come out of the closed and weight on the shoulders of someone used to lights clothes for months, people return home faster than the previous days after a workday and on that first cold weekend loose interest on being outside.
Earlier this month I wandered Lisbon’s downtown, waiting for the days where the mood of the city and its inhabitants changes after a hot Summer.
Father and son running for shelter
Empty streets at Chiado
Tourist couple with a smart solution for checking the map
Waiting for the rain to stop
Cheap umbrellas
Finding a place to take cover
A pause of a rainy end of day
Rain outside, live football and beer inside
One of the old and worn pensions at downtown Lisbon
A cigarette before going down to the subway
Going down the subway
Incoming Train
Catching up with the news