The Year's Last Gallery!

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The last Gallery of 2007 comprises 10 photos that I took this month at two State Parks in Sao Paulo, Brazil: Cardoso Island and Fazenda Intervales, where I researched bats until 1991 for my Bachelor's degree.

To see the images, please click on the "MONTH'S GALLERY" box, located on the right-side column of Fotograma's main page. If you experience any problems, please try this alternative link.

Happy New Year!

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A great photographer has left us...

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.Fritz Pölking (1936-2007) os assignment in the Pantanal
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 1997

Last week I received the sad news about the passing away of German nature photographer Fritz Pölking, with whom I had the great pleasure and privilege of working when I was taking my first steps into photography, ten years ago. In 1997, Pölking spent some days at Caiman Ecological Refuge (Pantanal of Brazil) producing images for his stock. I joined him as a guide and also had the chance of taking photos, some of which using his own lenses.

Caiman giving its babies a ride, image made
during my work with Fritz Pölking
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 1997

The time spent with Mr. Pölking has greatly influenced my professional choices and the way that I take photographs nowadays, so I’m very thankful to him and am sure that his talented legacy will be a reference in nature photography for years to come. Better than words, his images speak for themselves and can better explain what I mean.

A message from Mr. Pölking...
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From East to West and Further East again

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. Flowering restinga at Cardoso Island (Brazil) with its
peaks covered by the Atlantic Rainforest in the background
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

I just got back from another season in the woods, after crossing Brazil from east to west and then further east again, finishing this year pretty much like I began: on the road!

Since our birds are in the mood with spring and upcoming summer, the past two months were a time for workshops about wildlife watching, photographing and sound recording. First we presented in Sao Paulo a free mini course named “Sound, Image and Biodiversity”, where participants learned how to choose and use equipment and techniques to appreciate natural environments. Next we went to Corumbá (Pantanal city on the border with Bolivia) for an activity with the employees of Rio Tinto Mining Co, which every year promotes a day trip to the Pantanal Park Road with the support from Birdlife International.

Flying back from borderland to the seashore, as if in an unlikely migratory route, I spent last week at Cardoso Island State Park with students from a school in Sao Paulo, helping them with their environmental studies and researches. Among so many interesting things, we found beautiful restinga landscapes and a family of Southern Lapwings that illustrate this post. The photo results were so outstanding that we’ll soon have this year’s last Month’s Gallery at Fotograma – wait for it!

Southern Lapwing chicks go for a stroll
under one of their parents’ wary eyes
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007
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New Gallery: Ecos de Aruanda

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.Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

There’s new stuff at Fotograma! The Nov/07 Month’s Gallery brings a sepia essay of pictures taken during the footage of our documentary "Ecos de Aruanda", about religion and environmental conservation.

To see the images, please click on the "MONTH'S GALLERY" box, located on the right-side column of Fotograma's main page. If you experience any problems, please try this alternative link.

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Spiders in my Backyard

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.A Brazilian Wandering Spider gets kind of angry
during a walk in my backyard...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

During some workshops about nature photography and wildlife watching that we have recently presented in Brazil, I always like to point out how the subjects which we want to photograph or see may be much closer than we think. This week I had two more practical experiences.

At our garden we have some birds, such as this Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, who are gradually getting habituated to visiting the feeders that we placed at the porch. Day after day I notice how tolerant they are becoming to my careful approach, without being much concerned about my lenses as they did before. From here we can learn a first lesson: different from what one may imagine, in places where there are more people – near ranch houses, tourism trails, houses and lodges – it may be much easier to photograph birds and other animals than in remote locations. In other words, that special little place, where no one ever goes to, is not always the cleverest choice to photograph fauna, since critters tend to be more skittish.

The other learning comes from the Brazilian Wandering Spider who showed up at the same garden two days ago. Looking carefully for small details, even in a place where you pass by every day, is essential to find great photographic themes – besides helping you to avoid a painful bite in some cases…

A naughty Swallow-tailed Hummingbird
shows its tongue to the photographer
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007
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Entering the Domains of Oxossi

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.Concentration and Faith
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Religion, environmental education and conservation come together at the Japi Mountains, where we are carrying out a research work for our postgrad course in Science Journalism. We chose a subject that is very interesting for being controversial, apparently full of doubts and prejudice: the offerings left in the woods by followers of the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda in natural areas (forests, rivers and waterfalls).

The Rhythm of the Forest
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Last week, during two days we joined a local Umbanda group to gather information, images and testimonials. Within some weeks our task shall be accomplished, and the results will be posted here at FotogramaBits. Don’t miss it!

Devotion
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007
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Teaming with Wildlife

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.Researcher from the Hyacinth Macaw Project
analyses a 40-day old chick.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

I saw a Giant Anteater – I mean, three. And saw Giant Otters. And Howler Monkeys. Besides Yellow Armadillos, Crab-eating Foxes, South American Coatis, White-lipped and Collared Peccaries, Capuchin Monkeys, Agoutis, several deer, Capybaras, Tapirs, Brazilian Rabbits, fruit bats, Southern Tamandua… And it wasn’t in a zoo, but in Brazil’s best region to watch wild animals in their habitat.

I spent the last few days in the Pantanal with guests who are renowned for their international work in environmental conservation organizations. Just like nearly every visitor who comes to the region, they were fascinated by the diversity of fauna that we found. In less than three days, without doing any particular efforts, we say 18 species of mammals, over 100 species of birds and several hundred caimans. On a stopover in Bonito, we completed our list with the astonishing fishes of Rio da Prata.

The sun struggles to shine amidst the dense smoke
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Everything great, if it wasn’t for the fires… Been there before, but a long time had gone since I last saw such situation. The sun rises and sets resembling a weak fireball, hidden by a smoke curtain. Well, it ALMOST rises and sets, since it actually vanishes behind the haze of roasted biodiversity. It’s too bad to wake up in the middle of the night with the awful smell of smoke inside your bedroom!

But I’d like to finish up this post with an optimistic message, highlighting the great experience of visiting the headquarters of two conservation projects based at Caiman Ecological Refuge: The Hyacinth Macaw Project, in charge of researching the world’s largest parrot, and the Jaguar Conservation Fund, which studies our fauna’s most fascinating critter!

A family of White-lipped Peccaries searches
for the last remaining waterholes.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007
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Back to My Roots

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.A 1948 cover of Iris Magazine,
Brazil’s first periodical about photography

During a recent family visit I had the opportunity of talking about a subject that I kind of knew about, but had forgotten details. My grandfather Eudóxio Marques Manço, who died in 1978, dedicated a great deal of his life to professional photography, being the founder of one of Brazil’s oldest photo clubs.

Bringing my father along as his assistant, he’d photograph weddings and other events, besides producing landscape photos of which at least one received a prize (more details coming soon). Besides being a photographer, grandfather Eudóxio was an orchidist and musician (flute player) at our hometown’s symphonic orchestra.

In an old album filled with pictures from that time, besides images made by him (which I plan to scan in a near future), we found the manuscripts of a photo enlarger project and a 1948 issue of Iris – Brazilian Magazine of Photography, Cinema and Graphic Arts.

I guess this tells a lot about what I became…

Copy of grandpa’s original manuscripts,
presumably written in 1948,
with the project for a photo enlarger.
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Into the Devil’s Mouth!

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. One of the cave's most beautiful galleries
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Last week I took a trip to Cardoso Island State Park and surroundings while guiding a group of high school students. This region, where Brazil was first explored after the arrival of the Portuguese back in the 16th century, is extremely important both historically and environmentally. It comprises the largest remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest in coastal Brazil, besides the country's highest concentration of limestone caves.

The trip was too short for so much to see, but we found some time to visit and photograph one of Brazil’s most famous and astonishing cave: “Caverna do Diabo” (“The Devil’s Cave”). No evidences of Lucifer in there, just incredible formations that unveil amazing sceneries!

Limestone ornaments that are formed in an
extremely slow pace by the dripping water
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007.
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Biking for 2800 Miles!

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. Three crazy bikers arriving
at the dunes of Jericoacoara Beach
Photo: © Pantanal Vai à Praia Project, 1999

Exactly eight years ago my first “official” photo assignment and one of my life’s greatest adventure was ending. During four and a half months, from April to August 1999, my buddies Tietta Pivatto, Guto Bertagnolli and I traveled 4500 km (2800 mi) by bicycles along the coast of Brazil between Vitória (Espírito Santo State) and São Luís (Maranhão State). We carried an itinerant exhibit about the Pantanal with pictures, music and other typical items.

Our main objective was to promote cultural exchange between two regions located in opposite extremes of the country. As we traveled presenting material about the Pantanal, we collected photo and written records about Northeastern Brazil, which would then be used during the project’s second phase, when we planned to do the opposite: go biking throughout the Pantanal floodplains showing the culture from Northeast. Unfortunately this stage was never accomplished – or at least not so far...

Nova Tatajuba, one of the most
beautiful beaches that we cycled by
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 1999

By then, the internet - as well as digital photography - were virtually unknown down here, so that the great majority of our records were done on film, pencil and paper. We took approximately 3400 pictures, 250 of which using a Nikon Coolpix 100 camera with stunning 0.3 Megapixels (!) and 1 megabyte (!!) of storage capacity lent by one of the project’s 30 sponsors.

The trip lasted 145 days, during which we made 71 exhibits, 16 lectures and 15 environmental education activities in schools. We were interviewed 33 times by local TV and radio stations and had 21 printed articles published.

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Find more on our Trip Diary
In Portuguese only – you can just look at the pictures
or try out this online translator
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Our Logo!
Artwork © Ronald Rosa, 1999
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Pantanal: 2007 Gallery

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. "Come visit us!"
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

This year’s first gallery with photos from the Pantanal is already online. The images were done in July and August, the peak of the dry season in that region, after we moved to São Paulo. Enjoy!

See the pictures
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Birds All Over

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. Hyacinth Macaw is in for a winter banquet in the Pantanal
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Winter in the southern hemisphere is about to end - it’s time for all critters to start getting ready for another breeding season. Birds, mammals, reptiles, bugs – ultimately all those guys who were kind of hidden from the cold – start to show up again. From now and throughout next months we Brazilians will start seeing more animals in the woods, fields and cities.

Following this “collective awakening”, two articles published in Brazilian magazines during the past weeks (both using my photos) talk about fauna – more specifically about guide books and birds.

July’s issue of the Ciência e Cultura (“Science and Culture”) magazine, published by the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), brings an article about field guides, the books used for identifying fauna and flora in a given area. The text is written by my postgrad colleague Murilo Alves Pereira. Almost at the same time, the Globo Rural magazine (August) published a 10-page special about birdwatching, signed by journalist Sérgio Túlio Caldas.

Still on birds, I also cooperated with some publicity material, this time for Avistar 2008 (the upcoming third edition of the Brazilian Bird Fair). Next week, our friend and idealizer of Avistar, Guto Carvalho, will be in the UK participating in Birdfair 2007, the world's first and largest international birdwatching event! Long life to our birds…

"Whatcha looking at?!"
(Rufous-bellied Thrush in the Pantanal)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007
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The 40-feet long Jaguar!

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. First draft of the panel created by Competence...
(Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007)

The Competence Agency (Brazil) has just created and installed a 12 x 7 meter (40 x 23 ft) billboard for Itaipu Binacional using one of my jaguar pictures done on assignment. The huge panel is part of the publicity material for Bela Vista Biological Refuge. So, if some day you happen to be driving by... Beware of "my" Jaguar!

... and the final result of the billboard
installed by an avenue in Iguassu Falls (Brazil)
(Photo © Maikel Silva / Competence, 2007)

(This made me think about the “battle for megapixels” brought up by digital camera advertisers. It seems kind of exaggerated to feel that your brand new 6, 8 or 10 megapixel camera becomes “obsolete” after a couple of months, as some will try to make you believe... Obviously, a higher resolution will allow larger prints with less interpolation and more possibilities of cropping your image, but how much money is this really worth?)

* The photo of this jaguar was taken with a Canon EOS 30D camera
and Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens*

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The Early Bird

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.Iguassu Falls National Park (Brazil)
The heavy clouds made for a much more dramatic scene
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

“The early bird catches the worm”, claims the popular saying. One of the fundamentals for those who deal with wildlife or landscape photography is the need of waking up and getting to the field very early. First, because the best natural light for such kinds of pictures happens when the sun is very close to the horizon, throwing an inclined and soft light that illuminates the subject evenly, without pronounced shadows or strong contrasts. In second place – and just as important – is the fact that animals are more active during these periods, specially in the first hours of morning.

But, different from what beginners tend to think, firsthand experiences and reading about photography have taught me that in many occasions an overcast day can be equal or better than a sunny day for photographing nature. Pictures taken inside the forest, in particular, come out much better when done on a sunless day. The thin layer of clouds acts as a giant natural hazy light, similar to the accessory used in studio photography to attenuate shadows. This way, the problem with the “hard” light in the middle of the day is gone (keeping in mind that in lower latitudes, as I said in a recent post, the “good” sunlight usually lasts very short).

With time our eyes get accustomed to perceiving when the natural illumination is at its best. As well as too much sun is bad, too many heavy clouds may turn the environment too dark and the colors become lifeless. Also, if you are shooting landscapes in which the skyline appears, a gloomy sky just won’t do. Then the only solution is to wait for the next day…

Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
The overcast sky made the light soft and even
Photo:© Daniel De Granville, 2007
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Home Sweet Home

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.Japi Mountains
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Since about one month ago we left the region of the Pantanal and Bonito (State of Mato Grosso do Sul), where I lived and photographed for almost 13 years, starting a new project living by the Atlantic Rainforest in São Paulo State.

We are now at the Japi Mountains, an important remnant of the Atlantic Forest located 40 km (25 mi) north from the city of São Paulo, protected by various legal issues and by the environmental awareness of many of its inhabitants. The region’s bird list accounts for about 235 species, of which we already saw more than 50 without even leaving home!

This means a lot of projects coming up - a new environment, new landscapes and species from the fauna and the flora waiting to be observed and photographed!

Home, sweet home!
Photo:© Daniel De Granville, 2007
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At The Zoo

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. "I just hate paparazzi!"
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

After some months without updates, Fotograma finally brings you the new Month’s Gallery with a selection of captive animal images done by me at Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich Zoo), at Refúgio Bela Vista and Bird Park (Iguassu Falls) and at São Paulo Zoo (the latter done during a field trip as part of the bird photography course that I taught last week at Avistar 2007).

Check them out!

Despite offering no glamour or healthy challenges brought by wildlife photography in natural environments, photographing at zoos can be a quite interesting and fun experience. The fact that the animals are totally habituated to human presence and in urban areas which are quickly accessed makes the photographers’ work much easier in many aspects. In addition, the gathering of species from all continents in a single area offers an almost inexistent opportunity for the vast majority of nature photographers, of registering critters whose original home is located many miles, days and dollars away.

The difficulties include being able to compose an interesting scene of an animal inside an artificial enclosure and simultaneously eliminate from the photo objects that could give away the place where the creatures are, such as bars, glasses, sawn wood, mowed lawn, concrete walls and floors. The intense presence of the public also requires a lot of creativeness and patience from photographers used to the quietness of the forest.

No matter what the final results are, even if one is able to get a photo on a scenery that resembles very much a natural environment, it is ethically recommended to clearly state in the photo captions (or tell those interested in details) the fact that the image was produced in captivity.

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Two Suns in The Sunset

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.“In my rear view mirror the sun is going down,
sinking behind bridges in the road” – Pink Floyd

Many times it’s hard for “non-photographers” to understand the professional needs and demands involved in making a good photographic work. Something that at a first glance might seem excessively finicky or exaggerated might end up making the difference between a fair, a good or a great shot. Specifically on nature photography, knowing how to use the best light – in the early morning and late afternoon – is by far the most important factor. So, when you depend on other people to reach the place to be photographed, a little delay or some other unforeseen event might spoil your shoot for good. And a fact like this is what inspired the opening picture of this text.

On a previous post I made comments about how I feel when I’m out in the field on assignment, of the anxiety caused by the need of getting good images day after day. The deadlines are short and you’ve got a lot to photograph out there. When something doesn’t work as planned and I find myself inside a car in the middle of the road, while the golden light is ending, a sort of affliction hits me. After all, at that exact moment I should be in some natural scenery that does justice to the light, and not seeing the sun go down between cars and asphalt. Then, when things are making me really desperate, I start looking for anything worth photographing so that the moment isn’t completely lost. Usually these pictures turn out to be pure rubbish, but sometimes something nice comes out. And that’s how I saw the reflection of the sun in the rear view mirror and the reflection of the reflection in the car’s side window...

PS.: It’s worth mentioning that in the Pantanal and most of the Brazilian regions this special light lasts very short, as opposed to places located at higher latitudes. I noticed this very clearly while photographing in Germany during the winter, where the sun’s inclination tricked me and I caught myself photographing landscapes at 11 AM – a time of day that, in Brazil, I’d never dare trying to make some good outdoors shot.

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Honorable Mention - Best Photo!

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White-faced Whistling-duck (Dendrocygna viduata)
Honorable Mention Award as Best Photo
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Just got the good news and am forwarding it: this photo of mine, taken early this year in Belém (Northern Brazil), has received an Honorable Mention award in the “Best Photo” category at Avistar Itaú BBA “Brazilian Birds” photo contest, which had almost 5,000 submissions! A great way to start a happy weekend!

more info

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When the Hunter (almost) Becomes the Hunted

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.If she did this to a poor bird just a few minutes afterwards,
what would have happened to me if she hadn't missed the strike?!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Do you remember one of last month’s post, where I talked about a mother caiman that I was trying to photograph? Well, today this stubborn photographer decided to take his chances again and go after the young caimans, this time “a bit closer”, to get details from one of them alone. But now, maybe due to the cold and rainy weather that is ruining my shooting days, the lady shown in the picture above was not nearly as tolerating as before… and decided to strike against me when I was lying by her swamp, about 2 feet away from the baby. But, c’mon you crocodilian dude, I’m the one who should be in a bad mood because of the lousy weather!

Luckily the years of experiences in the Pantanal taught me that I must always beware of these animals, so that nothing bad happened (except for the inevitable adrenalin discharge). So today the “image hunter” almost became the prey. Too bad that I didn’t have my camera pointed at her – I’m sure that those sharp teeth sticking out from a huge mouth coming towards my head would make some real cool shots.

An anaconda squishes a whistling-duck in Bonito (Brazil) –
scenes like this require a lot of patience, persistence,
knowledge and a great deal of luck for the photographer
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2005

FINAL REMARK:
One of FotogramBits’ frequent reader has just written me to comment that the current text seemed to contribute for increasing the fears that many people have regarding such animals. I agreed with her, and therefore found it important to mention that caimans, as well as other creatures stigmatized as ferocious beasts – anacondas, jaguars, bats, sharks – solely play their role in nature. No animal will attack humans just for fun, they do it upon feeling threatened or in rare cases of ecological changes caused by ourselves.

The caiman tried to scare me away because at that moment I was representing a lethal threat for its young. It’s always good to keep in mind that we must be ethical and respectful with our photo subjects at all times – and this is an issue for an upcoming post.

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A Day for our Indians

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Guarani Indians from the “Tekoha-Añetete” (“promised land”)
Indigenous Reserve, in Southwestern Brazil.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Today at FotogramaBits, just a short post in honor of our indigenous peoples on this April 19, when Brazil officially celebrates the “Indians’ Day”.



(Next week I’m back in Iguassu Falls to conclude my photo assignment with Itaipu. More news soon!)

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All Over Brazil

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.Inside (but almost out...) of a doorless helicopter
photographing the vicinities of Iguassu Falls National Park
(border between Brazil and Argentina)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

April has just begun, but this year I have already roamed through 7 states of 4 Brazilian regions, photographing and doing other jobs on environment and ecotourism.

According to my accounts, during the past 3 months I traveled about 23.000 km (14,000 mi) by air, land and water, passing by places that I had already been and also knowing new regions with an amazing variety of animals, plants, people, climate, food, accents and problems. From the indigenous people that live by the Amazonian rivers to the German colonizers in the south; from the traditional fishermen at the seaside to the Pantanal cowboys on the Paraguayan border.

This incredible diversity makes of Brazil an extremely interesting and photographable country, that deserves to be known firsthand by us all – while this is not possible, I try to show you some of it through my photographs!

Follow the red dots and find the ways that I have roamed
since the beginning of this year (some stretches more than once)!
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Inside the World’s LargestHydroelectric Plant

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. The worldwide famous Iguassu Falls
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

In front of me a group of Paraguayans eat, drink and wholeheartedly sing (I’m assuming that they are Paraguayans because Paraguay is right next door, but it’s impossible to tell by the way they dress since their outfit is all but typical, if you know what I mean). Behind their table, a musical group – actually a duo of a keyboarder and a singer – plays a medley with instrumental versions of all-time successes including “Only You”, “Solamente Una Vez” and “The Girl From Ipanema”... One of the gentlemen at that table makes a move like he’s getting up to sing along with the musicians. His friends tell him to go for it, but he gives up. I still haven’t decided whether I found it good or bad that he didn’t have the guts to go ahead.

It’s 11 PM and I’m having dinner at the hotel’s restaurant after an intense shooting day at the de Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant. This is the eighth day of assignment, from a total of 25. I’m just done transferring the photos to my laptop, editing the images, backing them up and transcribing my day’s field notes – a big day as usual, I must say.

Today I photographed a little bit of everything: animals such as caimans and a jaguar, plant nurseries, fat and thin people, rivers, landscapes. I also photographed the job of some folks who rescue fish that get trapped inside the plant’s structures.

Periodically, one of the 20 turbines from Itaipu are deactivated for maintenance, and that’s when a team of specialists come to capture and save fish that might have been stranded somewhere inside. This wasn’t in my original shoot list, but since I figured that it could render good pictures, here I go tucking myself through the ducts of the world’s largest hydroelectric plant.

Our walk starts at a long, narrow, humid, hot and irregularly lit concrete corridor that for some reason reminded me of Dachau in Germany (fortunately the similarities are solely structural). I’ve never been claustrophobic, but for a moment I felt something strange. And this was only the beginning...

From the first corridor we took an elevator and quickly went up some 25 meters until a second alleyway even narrower, which led to a yellow metal spiral staircase, which led to a tiny little room full of levers, controls and gauges, which led to a sort of hatchway, that finally led to a small ladder similar to those found in swimming pools, by which we descended in total darkness. Voila, there I was inside the duct. In front of me, no more Paraguayans eating and drinking and singing, but a steel wall full of huge rivets that holds all the backwater from Itaipu’s Lake – or almost all the water, since part of it is dripping down the wall and from the ceiling, leaving the floor extremely slippery. Five meters behind me is a 40-meter deep abyss that ends up at the turbin. I bravely refrain from the temptation of asking how many meters we are under the water surface – and what would happen if someone hypothetically forgot that we were inside and opened the floodgates. This time – as opposed to my doubts whether the Paraguayan folk should or should not sing – I’m sure that the best to do was to remain quiet and just listen to the instructions.

Inside the plant – two meters ahead, the abyss...
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

The technician in charge of the fish rescue operation gives me strict orders not to get away from his side, under absolutely no circumstance. I guess that he got kind of scared with me this morning, when I walked a bit too close to a mommy caiman with its babies. To calm him down I tell him not to worry, since I really don’t fear animals that much, but am very respectful to things such as dark ducts and turbines and black abysses.

And there he goes underneath the big wall, fishing net, flashlight and bucket in his hands, trying to save some stranded fish. Search here, search there, but nothing – fortunately all of the area’s fishes seem to be safe and sound. I feel glad about them, but kind of frustrated for not being able to get a good picture of the rescue operation.

No problem, tomorrow we have another chance, they are going to take me to a “neater” spot (inside the turbine!) where the chances of rescuing fish trapped in the duct are higher...

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Bavaria’s Last Snows?

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. A color picture or a black-and-white picture?!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Judith Schnaubelt, a journalist friend who lives in Munich, just loves Brazil and interviewed us during our project in Germany. Needless to say, one of the subjects that she brought up was global warming.

A view from the roadside at Bavaria
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

The forecast today says it will snow in Bavaria this weekend. We are already in mid March, but this is only the second time that it snows over there this winter! It’s hard to believe that at the same period, exactly 12 months ago, I was taking such pictures...

Sunrise at the Alps, border between Germany and Austria
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

I wonder if they will worth more in some years, not necessarily due to their artistic quality, but for being rare records? I guess that only time will tell...

Street lamp post with a "cold" lamp bulb
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

(During the next two weeks I will be at Iguassu Falls on a photo assignment for Itaipu Binacional – if I have the time and internet, I’ll keep you posted!)

”Snowmobile”!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2006
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Tales from Germany, Part 3: Football!

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. The Allianz Arena by night
PHOTO: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

This week I am celebrating the anniversary of my assignments in Germany, and will continue telling some cool stories.

One of the reasons that took me there was the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Therefore, even though my photo work is essentially turned towards nature, I felt “obliged” to shoot some things related to football (or soccer, if you are in the USA) – which brought about an invitation for a second exhibit of my work at the Muffathalle.

This is how - thanks to acquaintances’ contacts and the essential support of friends such as Christopher and Arnold - I managed to get press credentials for two TSV 1860 München matches. For those of you who don’t know, the “Lions” (as their fans call them) are one of Munich’s pro football teams, along with worldwide known Bayern München. TSV is the #1 team of the masses, the unconditional “sufferers” who dream of their team returning to the first league of German football (their peak was in 1960, when they became champions of the major league).

Ticket and credential
PHOTO: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

Best of all? Both teams built Allianz Arena together – this is the world’s most modern football stadium, where the 2006 World Cup opening ceremonies took place. In other words, the “Löwen” matches would all happen there!

Match day, we got to the stadium by subway, everything extremely organized and civilized. At the entrance line, a thorough rummage by the security staff, I had my vest’s pockets full of lenses and other gear junk (and without being able to speak German to make myself understood...). But the guys were very polite and spoke English – showing them my press credential and the Brazilian team jersey that I was wearing underneath was enough! “Ok, you can go, enjoy the game!”. Vielen dank...

Now I had to get the official vest that gives full acsess to the football field. The guy in charge asks me for a journalist credential. I tell him I don’t have one, that I am a photographer participating in a cultural project sponsored by the city’s Department of Culture. He says that’s OK, “it can be some other document, I’ll give it back to you once you turn the vest back in”. I offer him my passport, he thinks it’s too much of a responsibility to keep such document. So I end up giving him the cheap plastic card that grants access to my town’s public recreation center. “Ah, this will do, just perfect!”.

Some biiiiig lenses...
PHOTO: © Daniel De Granville, 2006

At the playing field, after passing through the press room where there was a full banquet served, I meet several photographers lined up with their supertele lenses muuuuch more powerful than mine. A German lady photographer asks me: “in Brazil’s stadiums, do fans behave so badly as the ones from here”?? She must be kidding...

The match’s summary: TSV was desperately in need of a victory because they were in risk of falling to the THIRD league! They started out very well, scored 1 to 0, everything seemed to be heading towards a happy end. But suddenly, at the very last minute of the match some folks from the defense failed, the opponents tie the match… and I go back home with several cool images, including a shot of the electronic scoreboard showing TSV winning the match at half-time. “Congrats Daniel, this is the most rare scene you’ll ever be able to photograph in Germany!”, was the joke I heard from the always high spirited Löwen Fans...

"Daniel in the Lions’ Den"


(at the next match that I went to some weeks later, the “Löwen” won by 2 to 0 in a sensational game, and at least ensured their continuity in the second league – guess I brough them good luck...).

A lion’s embrace after a tie with the taste of defeat...
PHOTO: © Daniel De Granville, 2006
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