Sunday, August 12, 2012

Palacio Salvo

We don't have castles but we have the Salvo.


This is the top portion of the most emblematic building in downtown Montevideo. Build in 1928, it was briefly the highest building in South America (105 m height). It has definitely seen better times.

Once it had a lighthouse at the top, and a tiny observation room just below the mast that could be visited by the public - I visited it back in the 1960s. Built as an hotel, nowadays it has only small flats and offices, and a couple of radio stations, probably attracted by the high mast.

Supposedly there are ghosts in the building. In 2010 there were rumours of demolition.

There is a twin building in Buenos Aires (Palacio Barolo) by the same architect.

The picture was processed digitally to give a negative image, because I like the way the lines come out with this technique.

Friday, August 03, 2012

They've got fish


Those fishing boats at Buceo have been having a hard time lately. Cold weather, scarce catchs.

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Last weekend, they got fish enough. The fishermen were smiling.

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The guys were untangling the catch from the nets, and throwing the fish into the plastic boxes for transport. Small trucks were coming, no need for refrigeration this time of the year.

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The larger boats got black corvinas - awesome animals, about 1.2 meter long. Excellent for the grill, if you have a lot of people to feed. The guy in the background offered me to exchange one for my old Autocord. It would have been a profitable trade!

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It took some work to get the big black ones out.

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Technical: Minolta Autocord, HP5+ in Rodinal 1:50. Thanks for watching!