James, Author at Grays Life

The Feira da Golegã

The Golegã National Horse Fair, Portugal — Plenty of thoroughbred horses on display and their riders

Feira da Golegã, the most important horse fair in the world.

Golegã is a small provincial town with origins stretching back almost a millennia. It has grown into a world-famous horse festival for horses. Every November, the Feira da Golegã draws in horse enthusiasts from the Spanish/Portuguese peninsular and beyond for a week of competitions, races, jumping competitions and dressage displays.

Whether you’re a horse lover or not, the Feira da Golegã is an event steeped in tradition, offering a unique glimpse into Portuguese culture and the horse-racing world. The event some of the world’s most beautiful horses and riders in the region, with competitions and exhibitions taking place over three days.

The origins of the Feira da Golegã go back to the 12th century when the region was ruled by the Knights Templar. At that time, the knights would hold an annual horse fair in Golegã to buy and sell horses. The event has continued to be held yearly since, becoming one of Europe’s most important horse festivals, attracting horse breeders worldwide.

Arriving at the event in the evening last night, I came prepared with my camera. I left the flash behind as I planned to use high ISO/ASA film speeds, regardless of how much grain might creep into the pictures. Flash would have ruined the effect. I could maintain a lower profile shooting with the available light, of which there was plenty in the main arena.

It’s not an easy place to find a parking space, and the limited spaces available suggested that there were a lot of visitors here. I hoped to take photographs of the riders in colourful traditional costumes and beautiful horses in all shapes and sizes, and I wasn’t disappointed. In particular, I wanted to catch sight of the fine details, including the horses’ manes and tails and the riders’ Bolero Hats. Bolero hats are those with a flat rim and are iconic when you think of a Spanish rider on horseback.

I wanted to try to get some blurry shots of horses and managed to get just that. Photographing with a Sony A7iii makes it a breeze. I set the shutter speed about 1/4 of a second and f11-22 for maximum depth of field and let the auto iso set the film speed, which was about 10-15,000 ASA. It’s possible to be quite creative and there was no objection to being photographed, as these horses and riders were out on display.

Over the years, the Feira da Golegã has become a significant tourist attraction for Portugal. In addition to the competitions and exhibitions, there is also a large market where people can buy horses, horseshoes, saddles and other equestrian equipment. There was plenty of food and drink on offer, and music and smoke from the many grills and fire pits gave the centre of this throwback-in-time a medieval feel.

#Golegã #FeiraDaGolega

Using your iPhone as a Webcam

Photography

Apple's new continuity camera feature in iOS 16.1 — Apple’s new continuity camera feature in iOS 16.1

The continuity camera feature on the latest iOS release, iOS 16.1.

When using the iPhone continuity camera feature, prepare to have better work face times or MS Team meetings. Gone are the wishy-washy poor, quality images and sounds of yesteryear. Instead, the images are crisp, and the sound is sharp.

To get this feature, firstly, this is for an iPhone, so if you don’t have one, I would imagine Android already has a workaround. But for iPhone users, you only need to get into the settings.

For MS Teams – open Teams, head to the ‘***’ 3 dots at the top right corner, and get into ‘Settings -> Devices -> scroll down to Camera -> select your iPhone. If your phone is not in the drop-down list, check your phone is connected to the same wifi as your computer. ‘

If you’ve successfully connected MS Teams to your iPhone, then the camera will default to your iPhone when you join a call in Teams.

Facetime is easier. Open ‘Facetime -> Video -> Camera’ (your phone should be on the list. If so, select it).

Now all you need do is position the phone on a tripod, like a mini Manfrotto, so that you can set the camera to film at whichever angle you’d like it to be. But ensure you stay in the wifi range to keep the connection. Or search for a ‘continuity camera mount’, which will bring up a list of accessories to hold the camera at screen level. Some use a MagSafe bracket, but this might only work on Apple Macs or MacBook Pros as they have a metal case. My HP monitor may not work as the rear case is plastic. I’ll have to check.

For those using a Sony system, like the Alpha A7 camera series, here is a similar post on using the Sony Imaging Edge Viewer. However, as there is more complexity in the set-up, this might be worth doing if it is for TV broadcast purposes.

Sophia Gardens to Western Avenue

Reels

Overnight, new cycle lanes appear

In Cardiff, cycling has been gaining momentum over the past few years. The cycle lanes were mostly painted lines on the edge of the road, without much thought given to the actual cyclist. Often these lanes just came to a stop, as if the council/authorities had either run out of paint, or ideas. But with the pandemic, new routes sprung up, almost overnight. They’ve gained momentum with a planned network of bike lanes crisscrossing the city and in dedicated 2-way cycle lanes, with dedicated traffic lights. This feels like a 10 x improvement. That the city has finally decided to do what the authorities did in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Bringing the best of European Cycle Standards

At the moment, these bike lanes are relatively sparse, with only a handful of people cycling along them at any given time. I wonder though, how long it will take before cycling really takes off in Cardiff and the lanes become much more crowded and vibrant. Some might say that this could take years – it certainly did in other cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen – but I’m hopeful that cycling in Cardiff will soon gain the traction it deserves. After all, there are so many benefits to cycling: not only does it help you stay fit and keep healthy amidst all of this uncertainty, but riding a bike can be both economical and environmentally friendly too.

Take in the route out of Cardiff through Sophia Gardens

So if you are thinking about cycling in Cardiff, or you’re an experienced cyclist looking for a new route to try out, I’d definitely recommend the Taff Trail. Starting just outside the city centre and running all the way to Radyr, it is perfect for commuting or with the family as it follows the Taff Trail.

This is a reel showing the route, filmed in 2020.

Roof Top Light Trails

Photography

The first of many perhaps, a picture of the view from the rooftop of our building overlooking Caldas da Rainha, a town just north of Lisbon.

Rush Hour is Needed

All it needs is more cars and people walking and driving passed leaving their trails. I hope to get this kind of image in the winter months. Then it will get darker, earlier, say 5-6pm, and there’ll be more trails during the rush hour.

This was taken about 9pm in late August, early September, and not so many cars were around at that time. Long exposures like this, always help to give the picture more movement and interest. But, I do like the star lights from the street lamps in the distance.

Sony & Zeiss Glass

I took this using a Sony A7 and Zeiss 21mm Loxia lens, which is fast becoming a favourite of mine. I stopped the lens down to f22 to help get those star lights and help get a longer exposure of 30 seconds. I am sure that this won’t be the last picture I take from our rooftop.

Photographing Around Cardiff Bay

Photography

I had the pleasure of exploring Cardiff Bay early one morning a couple of weeks ago with my camera. The light was good, and the lack of crowds made for different scenes than you’d typically see around here. Usually, Cardiff Bay is full of crowds, especially when the weather is good. But I was here at 6am in the morning, and there were no crowds then. So I had the place to myself. I was fortunate, as the weather was beautiful, with clear skies and no wind. The lack of wind helped set up some great photographs of the bay, which was completely still and with a fine mirror finish.

My exposures were f22 at ~1 second, and people passing through were blurred, including a couple walking past the front doors of the Millennium Centre, which you can just make out. The Millennium Centre is now probably Cardiff’s most famous landmark. The building with the copper roof and the inscription, ‘In these stones, horizons sing’. Possibly the most famous landmark, or a close second after the Principality Stadium, AKA Cardiff Arms Park, home to Welsh Rugby. But Cardiff Bay is now quite photogenic, with sculptures, buildings, views and more to see and photograph.