Need A Lift?, a photo from Lisboa, South

Photographer's Note

There are many photos of this famous Elevator, or Lift in Lisbon. So I wanted to try and at least show it in a different way - whether or not I succeeded, who knows.

The Santa Justa Lift was opened in 1899, its 148 ft tall, and the tallest point is a lookout tower, overseeing the city of Lisbon.

Its now a popular tourist attraction, but it actually was quite functional and an important part of the city's transportation system for locals when it was built. There are many different options which city council had to review/vote on, as architects and or engineers presented their ideas for a system to transport people and goods from lower Lisbon to higher levels of Lisbon.

One of those options presented to city council from engineers was actually a set of Rail-Lines pulled by animals up an incline plane. Keep in mind, this was in the 1880's.

In the late 19th Century, Iron was a relatively new material for construction. It was decided that a Neo-Gothic Iron lift would be designed, and it still stands proud and tall today.

To go up this lift, I suggest lining up very early in the morning, before it opens, as the lineup is long even at 30 min past opening.

A colourful Blue Hour version is up next. This shot was taken in very over exposed bright white light, so its converted to black and white.

Fis2, pierrefonds, PiotrF, holmertz, ChrisJ, ikeharel, jhm, papagolf21, kasianowak ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

freedahu (824) 2019-10-02 12:21

Good Evening Craig,
A beautiful one….and excellent POW and good choice with B&W. I saw the place some times ago….but not under this angle.
Best
Serge

Fis2 (171849) 2019-10-02 12:34

Witaj Craig!
Interesting lift design, the view is impressive.
Why B&W?
Excellent framing, light and contrast.
Well done.
Warm regards.
Krzysztof

Tue (93340) 2019-10-02 12:48

Hello Craig,
It is an excellent and very clear photo of this beautiful lift. What a great piece of architecture and engineering. The details are truly wonderful. The two people at the top in the middle are a great addition as well.
Lars

pierrefonds (115462) 2019-10-02 13:03

Hi Craig,

The tight frame is putting the lift in evidence. The point of view is showing the details of the lift. The presence of the persons has an effect of scale. Have a nice day.

Pierre

PiotrF (55892) 2019-10-02 13:43

Hello Craig,
Interesting capture of this famous Elevator in Lisbon.
We managed to show this place in an interesting way!
Perfect captured and fine details.
Fine presentation.
Regards
Piotr

GyurMaster (25012) 2019-10-02 13:53

Hello Craig,

You created a really nice effect and portrayed this building. Others would have chosen the well-known postcard format, but this is really unique.

Best Wishes,
Gy.

lousat (139926) 2019-10-02 14:11

Hi Craig,surely one of the most photographed place of Lisbon,but surely one of the most original pic from there. A very difficult backlight,good sharpness despite the distance and an excellent choice of black and white,well done! Have a nice evening and thanks,Luciano

Nicou (193814) 2019-10-02 19:53

Hello

quelle compo NB de cette élévateur quelle architecture très spéciales avec le balcons et les divers palier avec les deux personnes au sommet on voit bien le détails architecturaux superbe vue et image
bravo et amitié
Nicou

pajaran (116971) 2019-10-02 21:27

Pozdrav.
Lep pogled i trenutak, interesaantan i dobar tekst ...
Lepa fasada i detalji, lepa stara arhitektura.
Lep lift.
Lepo pokazano, dobro uhvacen trentak sa posetiocima.
Zelim vam sve najbolje.
Paja.

Greeting.
Nice view and moment, interesting and good text ...
Nice facade and details, nice old architecture.
Nice lift.
Beautifully shown, well captured moment with the visitors.
I wish you all the best.

emka (158710) 2019-10-02 23:54

Hello Craig,

original capture of this iconic elevator. With these iron decorations, it looks like black lace. Nice to see the guys on the top. I do not remember such big queues there. Maybe I was there in the low season.

Kind regards Malgo

holmertz (103564) 2019-10-03 0:25

Hello Craig,
I can't remember whether I went up this elevator in 1984. I probably did, but I definitely didn't have to wait for an hour or so in a long queue. This is why I am beginning to hate travelling to popular places. Mass tourism has gone too far. There are too many crowds everywhere and the locals have started to hate the tourists who have taken over the city centers, pushing up prices and pushing the locals to the suburbs. Apart from that it's a magnificent building and the persons standing on the top level viewing platform make the photo graphically interesting. I guess the colours were not very interesting.
Best regards,
Gert

Miguel82 (47110) 2019-10-03 2:27

Craig, that old lift becomes a tourist attraction in Lisbon. It offers stunning views on the city from its storey. Good image quality, instructive photo note, regards

ChrisJ (172378) 2019-10-03 4:02

Hello Craig,

I do hope you made it to the Carmo Convent ruins, which are only about 50 metres behind the upper level exit to this famous elevator. Good sharpness, tonal range and flattened perspective. Tfs!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carmo_Convent,_Lisbon_(11976491405).jpg

Silvio1953 (222811) 2019-10-03 4:37

Ciao Craig, beautiful view of fantastic old elevator, excellent clarity and fine details, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Sergiom (117241) 2019-10-03 7:17

Bonjour Craig,

J'aime beaucoup cette composition ainsi que le texte qui l'accompagne. J'aime le foncé sur fond gris ainsi que l'histoire derrière cette tour d'observation.

Amicalement

Serge

jhm (211738) 2019-10-03 10:24

Hello Craig,

Its must are a popular tourist attraction with this additional Elevator
An excellent composition and perfect presentation.
Sharpness and clarity are superb.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice evening,
John

drt100 (4038) 2019-10-03 21:21

The photo I took was taken from here. I only managed to stand on the lower levels, I am not that keen on heights. Perhaps you took this photo from the old Church on the hill near the tower. - it is a great photo and up quite high. Well done drt100 David

papagolf21 (152607) 2019-10-03 23:27

Bonjour, cher Craig,
ici, c'est le savoir-faire parfait d'une période sachant utiliser ce matériau. Outre la qualité architecturale et de sa mise en oeuvre technique, nous pouvons admirer les détails ornementaux réalisés.
Bonne idée d'avoir utilisé le noir et blanc.
Amitiés.
Philippe

mkamionka (75049) 2019-10-04 1:54

Hi Craig,
even though I have been there and used this lift, when I first swa your photo it made me think about a ship and it reminded me the famous Titanic scene with Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet.
Very original black and white rendering and well cut through as well which took it out of the context and raised curiosity of the audience.
The presence of the couple at the top is important for the scale and general interest.
Brilliant final effect,
M

ikeharel (114499) 2019-10-05 0:48

Choice of a B&W picture was rightly executed, harsh backlight could ruin the colors, Craig.
Anyway, the Santa-Justa Elvador is black steel structure and we get to see good details of the lift.
Wish you a nice weekend,
Ike

kasianowak (17676) 2019-10-05 8:36

I really like the technique here, even it was just because of the bright light. It's almost a silhouette but you can see every detail of the surface.
It was a brilliant idea to convert it to b&w, what would otherwise have been a record shot is now an artistic interpretation of reality.
Have a nice weekend.
Kasia

jmdias (116373) 2019-10-08 13:25

craig

in fact it was a different view using only the upper part and the personages. once I and my cousin were in the place where they were. haha. nice image making me to remember LIX.

take care

jorge

worldcitizen (16226) 2019-10-10 13:52

Hello Craig,
I like all the small details in this photo. There is a lot of artistic work on this structure, and the two people at the front on top really add to the composition. I think my monitor might be a bit dark, or maybe my eyes are failing - ha ha! - so I tried making a WS with a bit more exposure.

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