Bouza winery

 Our children gifted us a visit to a winery, and finally we could arrange a date and time. We chose the Bouza site in Melilla, and got there a bit before noon.

There was a nice collection of old cars, mostly Fords, very well kept. This was in the waiting area, while the rest of the scheduled group arrived. 

There was a small patch of grapes, still very small and green this time of the year.

The grapes are kept quite thinned to make sure that they get enough sun. This winery goes for relatively small volumes of high quality product. 

We got a thorough presentation of wine making. For me, the visually interesting feature was the large store of oak barrels where wine waits for the right moment.

I took my trusty Super-Isolette to the winery, loaded with HP5+. The venerable camera became a nice talking point with the young tour guide; film is cool now for the new generation, reared on phones and selfies.

Thanks for looking!

Ariel, master luthier

 Visited my luthier friend, who had the good sense to move close to Piriapolis and set up a cozy atelier, up on a hill with a million dollar view. 

I was privileged to portrait him as he worked to fix a nuance in my instrument.

Thanks for watching these!

Nikon F with 50/1.4 lens, HP5+ in D-76 1:1.

Aeronautical museum

 The aeronautical museum reopened some time ago, in a new location next to Carrasco airport. Outside, a Vickers Viscount is being restored. I was a young passenger in this plane back in 1967.

Inside the main hangar there is a collection of beautiful, old and proud flying machines.

This Pucará may have seen service in the Falklands war, 30 years ago.

Thanks for looking! I used a Contarex, with 35 and 50 mm lenses. Film was FP4+ developed in D-23.

Open again!

 One of my favorite places for photography is the fishing wharf in Buceo harbor. When Covid-19 struck, back in March 2020, some bright mind in our Harbor Administration (or maybe it was in some Ministry) decided to close access to the public, even though it is as open a place as they come, with more than enough wind to clear away any virus aerosol in milliseconds, and many people went there for a walk or to fish with a reel. Or to shoot pictures, with all kind of cameras and smartphones.

 I kept checking the place almost every week and getting more frustrated each time.

Last Sunday, under gray skies, I checked once again and was thrilled to see that common people were allowed into the wharf, as before. Immediately I got inside and started shooting, trying to recover two years of lost subject.

The old boats were still around. The water was dirty, maybe because of those recent floods.

The pilot launch was busy, coming and going, and the ADES rescue boat came from an exercise while I was shooting.

There were some interesting currents and waves in the oily, dirty water close to the stairs. I must come back with a longer telephoto lens and enough film to get a few abstracts. Light on water is a satisfying subject.

All with Nikon F2, 35-105 zoom, FP4+ in D-23. Thanks for looking!