Postcard from Montevideo, a photo from Montevideo, South

Photographer's Note

For tourists visiting Buenos Aires it may be tempting to visit easily one more Southern American country. It is just across Rio de la Plata. You can take a ferry either to Colonia (1h one way) or Montevideo (3h one way). Montevideo trip is longer but for some reason I like visiting capital cities when I have a chance.

The title of this upload, although so simple, has a very particular meaning for me here. I have walked the main streets of Montevideo and tried to buy postcards to send them home. For a very long time I did not find any. Finally I did find 5 types of postcards however of an extremely low quality. I was very surprised by this fact. Montevideo is a capital city, has over million population, is a charming place to visit, and I have met indeed plenty of tourists. May be I should move there and start a first Uruguayan postcard producing company?...

Palacio Legislativo in Montevideo, Uruguay, is the name of the working place of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The construction of this building started in 1904 sponsored by the government of President José Batlle y Ordoñez.It was designed by Italian architects Vittorio Meano and Gaetano Moretti, who planned the building's interior. Among the notable contributors to the project was sculptor José Belloni, who created numerous reliefs and allegorical sculptures for the building. The General Assembly building was inaugurated on August 25, 1925, presided over by President José Serrato, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Uruguayan Independence; before then, the Uruguayan parliament assembled at the Montevideo Cabildo.

Pablo25, besnard, dta, PaulVDV, SnapRJW, adramad, macjake, worldcitizen, s_lush, yeln, josepmarin, raszid62, jlbrthnn, vasilpro, jafadabret, Juntas, danos, edcone, fritzi007 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Pablo25 (3184) 2010-11-29 2:50

czesc Mariusz, chyba bede pierwszy dzisiaj:) ladnie pokazane, centralna kompozycja w zaden sposob nie zaburza widoku, a kwiatki na pierwszym planie dodaja uroku calosci. Swietna jakosc jak zawsze u ciebie zreszta:) dobre naturalne kolorki, kontrast i ostrosc. Swietna robota.
pozdrawiam
Pawel

besnard (49031) 2010-11-29 2:52

Bonjour Mariusz
Elle est très jolie ta carte postale. Ce bâtiment est superbe, pafaitement symétrique et mis en valeur avec une bonne luminosité.
Merc pour le partage et bonne journée.
Nicole

npecanhuk (54221) 2010-11-29 2:59

Hello Mariusz!
That's a wonderful building! I could see it myself back in 2002, when I went by car, with my mother, from Campinas, where I live down south to Buenos Aires, passing by Montevideo!
The picture is beautiful with excellent sharpness, exposure, chosen pov, dof, colors, pp, contrasts, vertical format and symmetrical composition!
TFS - congrats,
Have a great week,
Neyvan

dta (52250) 2010-11-29 3:06

Hello Mariusz ,
What a fine view of this impressive and beautiful buildings . As you , I like post cards , and i'm sometimes surprise to see very average ones for sale .
Here , the quality is perfect . But may be that the format is not the best :)) .
Regards

JFS (32429) 2010-11-29 3:54

Hi Mariusz,
Superb shot of this magnificent building, the POV and the quality are perfect. TFS!

Juan

PaulVDV (15365) 2010-11-29 4:03

Hello Mariusz,
We don't get much views here of Uruguay. So it's good that you crossed the Rio de la Plata. Also surprisingly is that there's almost no postcard industry.
Beautiful view of this palacio. Although the building is situated on a broad avenue, we don't see much traffic or pedestrians. The light is beautiful and the sharpness excellent. Good you've included the orange flowers on the FG.
Best regards, Paul

SWEETFREEDOM (18607) 2010-11-29 4:14

Hi Mariusz,
great quality postacard with excellent sharpness and colors.
i like the building's details and the flowers in foreground.
regards
Alessandro

SnapRJW (19188) 2010-11-29 5:12

Hello Mariusz- What a clear, bright scene. Very nice composition with the band of orange marigolds giving way to the road and cars (the red ones picking up the colour in the flag) then the handsome building against an attractive sky. Good light and a clean image. TFS Rosemary

adramad (27872) 2010-11-29 5:17

Hi Mariusz.
A magnificent building and a beautiful composition with good symmetry and a nice POV including the floral border in the foreground.
The elegant lines and architectural elements of the building are clearly displayed by the image quality. The brightness is well maintained and attractive natural color.
Have a nice week. Best regards.
Luis.

Longroute (19390) 2010-11-29 11:09

The perfect postcard! Really a classic composition, well framed and with a suitable and nice foreground. I'm stunned by the sharpness of this photo... and I see now you have a new camera!
Is that it? I was thinking to buy the eos 550d, are they the same? How could you buy the kiss x4 which is distributed only in Japan?

Sorry that I made a detour... but if that is the result of your new camera I'm gonna buy it at once!
But also the light is very good here, and as often in your photos it's a pleasure to see.

Compliments,
Donato

macjake (39998) 2010-11-29 11:33

Hi Mariusz
well, if you start up that company, i'd like to be your partner! you and I can come up with some excellent postcards !
this one has your signature style, your sharpness and textures abound.
very well balanced and composed. the clouds seem to match the colour of the building too.
alot to like with this one
Cheers
craig

faletiz (10759) 2010-11-29 12:08

Hi Mariusz
splendid postcard of this beautiful building. FG with little orange flowers gives depth and softens the scene. Gorgeous sky and excellent color management.
Good evening
Letizia

worldcitizen (4930) 2010-11-29 12:49

Hello Mariusz,
You have presented this beautiful architecture perfectly. I really like the small orange flowers in the foreground, and the cloudy sky. We can even see the wind blowing by looking at the two flags in front. The symmetry is great, and there are even a couple of people in the frame to give us a sense of size. Very nice!

s_lush (15638) 2010-11-29 13:51

Hello Mariusz,
As usual, the foreground here is the first thing that arrests attention and then leads to the compositional center. In this particular case, the foreground also makes this austere-style architecture looking more colorful and cheerful in your postcard. Perfectly good presentation of the Uruguay's capital city!
Best regards,
Sergiy

iainsp (2626) 2010-11-29 15:48

Hi Mariusz,

I have wondered about your postcard idea in a few places in South America - Montevideo is not the only big city that is under-served - but I figured with facebook, TE and digital cameras, postcards are starting to become a thing of the past (about to go the same way as gloves for ladies, hats for gentlemen, watches, etc) - so I am not sure i would recommend it as a niche for the future.

This is a really nice shot you have here: good symmetry, nice orange details in the foreground, very nice depth of field. I have driven past it a few times, but never stopped (it is on the route from where we stay with some tango friends in Montevideo in to the centre of town) -I will have to take a break from the driving next time I am there.

regards and thanks, iain

ifege (9503) 2010-11-29 20:01

A classic building Mariusz and well photographed making good use of the clouds and flowers for contrast.
cheers
Ian

yeln (11502) 2010-11-29 21:12

hi M.
fantastična ostrina na mogočni zgradbi!! bravo! izjemno lepo narejen hdr!! dober "note"!!! tfs!
lep dan, vojko
p.s. Santorini je izredno slikovit in resnično ponuja obilo dela za fotografe.

josepmarin (55209) 2010-11-30 0:11

Hi Mariusz,
a good composition with the flowers in foreground, that introduce our look in a postcard view on the "Palacio Legislativo" of the Uruguayan capital.
The management of the light and of the colors is very good, and gives a great result in the sky and in the clouds, which have a lot of aesthetic power.
A beautiful work, my friend.
Best regards,
Josep

raszid62 (18482) 2010-11-30 9:24

Cze¶æ
Wspania³y ten pa³ac parlamentu urugwajskiego - jest piêkny i imponuj±cy. Dobrym pomys³em jest ta rabata z pomarañczowymi kwiatkami. Niebo robi wra¿enie. Doskona³a jako¶æ zdjêcia.
Pozdrawiam
Józek

Fis2 (73646) 2010-11-30 9:57

Czesc Mariusz!
Monumentalna budowla.
Ciekawy obiekt ladnie pokazany.
Turki ozywily kadr.
Pozdrawiam
Krzysztof

Silvio1953 (99199) 2010-11-30 10:20

Ciao Mariusz, lovely symmmetryc composition, great POV on a beautiful building, fine details, splendid colors, excellent clarity and wonderful sky, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

ciakgiak (30337) 2010-11-30 13:35

Ciao Mariusz,
composizione oserei dire geniale, dimostrazione eloquente di come un'inquadratura semplice possa diventare più bella ed efficace grazie all'inserimento degli elementi giusti, in questo caso i fiori in FG. Eccellente la tecnica e la qualità che mette in risalto ogni dettaglio di questa magnifica facciata. Complimenti.
Un caro abbraccio
Giorgio

AKITA (15125) 2010-11-30 17:19

dear Mariusz,
a very fine picture of the wonderful Greek style palace,
its symmetrical design is perfect, and stones look dignified here,
its detailed figure is well captured as nice composition with fore orange flower garden and back blue&white sky,
thank you for your excellent shot,
Akihisa

delpeoples (45717) 2010-11-30 20:08

Hi Mariusz, hehehehe Mariusz the Postcard Guru, from your intro note, I know that postcards mean alot to you. I'm the same, I send postcards from wherever I go as outdated as it may seem. So when the quality is low, this is not a good thing. Anyway, I think you should stick a bit of cardboard to the back of this excellent shot and send it home to your family & friends. The perspective, colour tones and composition are all spot-on. I love the flowers and the differing levels of horizontal lines. Shame you didn't meet up with the Tango Dancer from Argentina, I reckon it would have been fun! TFS and I wish you a beautiful evening (hope not too cold in Dublin), Lisa

emka (59010) 2010-11-30 23:52

Witaj, Fantastyczna pocztówka, z Twoimi zdjęciami żadne pocztówki nie maja szans. Znakomity kadr, kolory, ostrość nienaganna... Symetryczny kadr, co w tym złego - uważany za nudny, ale ja lubie symetrię. I co widzimu na pierwszym planie? Aksamitki, zwane tez byczkami Na razie małe, bo to przeciez wiosna.

Pozdrawiam serdecznie

Malgorzata

mikolaj_kawa (0) 2010-12-01 1:36

Hola Mariusz!
Urugwaj! Montevideo! Wspaniala architektura. Swietna perspektywa. Dobra symetria. Cudowne swiatlo i kolory. Dobra glebia ostrosci.
Klaniam sie!

rodgerg (55767) 2010-12-01 3:25

Witaj Mariusz,

The POV well selcetd give a very impression of symetry. the large FG give depht to the image. details and colors well colected under this beautiful cloudy sky. the ca en the peopels give an idea of the scale of the place. An interesting and good post.
Best regards,
Roger

jlbrthnn (79787) 2010-12-01 8:18

Hello Mariusz,
As a dancer of tango, I should visit these two superb countries which are Urugay and Argentina. Very beautiful interesting, coloured and perfectly enlightened image. Cheer.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joel

vasilpro (40233) 2010-12-01 8:42

Hello Mariusz,
Superb composition, interesting architecture, excellent POV, lovely colors, beautiful atmosphere, fine photo work!
Greetings, Vasilis.

jafadabret (56497) 2010-12-01 9:35

Bonjour Mariusz,
Les grandes idées naissent souvent comme ici de la constatation d'une lacune. Cette photo ferait bien pour la première carte postale. Je trouve sa finition bien soignée avec le bâtiment bien mis en valeur.
Amicalement
Jacques

jemaflor (69731) 2010-12-01 11:13

Hi M,
Well framed with a colourful fg with orange flowers, good light to present this monument.

ManuMay (33523) 2010-12-02 7:16

Witaj Mariusz!

Impressive capture...because th emoment of light, because the amazing sky...and the very well used first ground with flowers!!

Good composition and elements placement, a good colours contrasts and very nice image...

Have a nice day...

Manu

sacavem (18586) 2010-12-02 9:03

Olá Mariusz,

One pov frontal to full the frame is not what I more taste. Good exploitation of the first plan with the flowers to guide them until the o Palace. Good quality of image and colors also.

Cumprimentos,
Filipe

Urs (12456) 2010-12-03 5:34

Hi Mariusz

Good geometric composition in layers, you were at the right place to do so. Very good combination of colors, your effect works very well. Good photo job. How to do a crowd shot? Just look for a place, where you are a bit out of the crowd and shoot ... that*s what I do, of course some framing is necessary.

Warm regards
Urs

stevesaba (8019) 2010-12-03 20:26

Hi Mariusz!
This one really caught my eye the other day but I ran out of time. A wonderful architectural landscape indeed, in every respect. As always with your work, fabulous detail, and perfect colors. The sky adds much to the photo as well. It is a very appealing building. Fine work, warm regards,
Steve

Juntas (7958) 2010-12-06 9:51

Hi Mariusz A very nice postcard. The flowers in the foreground look great and add depth to the scene. The details on the building are amazing and colors look very nice too. A great job.
Have a nice day.
Paulo

danos (74518) 2011-01-12 6:41

Witaj Mariusz,
nice the panoramic view of the Palacio Legislativo with the clarity and the sharpness to be superb.I like the see the photos from your portfolio that are so attractive and well composed. The beautiful flower bed adds depth and perspective in the scene.Well done.

Have a good afternoon,Danos

fritzi007 (7744) 2012-10-15 10:32

Hallo Mariusz,
wunderbares Foto mit sehr informativen Kommentar, wirklich eine sehr gute Arbeit!
Viele Grüße
Wolfgang