2017 calendars - sold out -

October 6, 2016

Hello everyone!

I'm very happy to announce that my 2017 calendars are finally ready and I am now taking orders.

For my Luxembourg 2017 calendar (SOLD OUT) this year I opted for a collection of landscape and cityscape images that showcase the beauty and diversity to be found around the green heart of Europe.

My Mourne Mountains 2017 calendar is a collection of various landscapes and seascapes of this stunning part of Co. Down.

Both calendars are A3 in size and are printed locally in Luxembourg to high standards of quality. The design and page layout has been done beautifully by beingcreative.es. Scroll down to browse the images

To place your order:

Use the contact form on this site to enter your full details.
Enter "Luxembourg 2017 calendar" or "Mournes 2017 calendar" in the title.
Enter how many copies you would like to order in the field "Message".

I will get back to you with payment details. The calendars will ship once the payment has cleared.

Price per calendar is €30 / £25
3 copies are €80 / £70
5 copies are €130 / £110
Discounts available on larger orders.

Shipping is included in the price for the whole of the European Union. Anywhere else in the world will have a €5-10 shipping fee. If you happen to live near me I can do home delivery at no cost.

Order before 5th of November 2016 to qualify for free delivery to the UK and Ireland.

Luxembourg 2017 calendar gallery

Mourne Mountains 2017 calendar gallery

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The Mourne Mountains 2017 calendar -sold out -

July 22, 2016

Hello everyone!

I am very happy to announce that my Mournes calendar 2017 is finally ready and I can already accept orders..

The calendars are A3 size in landscape format. They are printed locally in Luxembourg to high standards of quality.

To place your order please:

Use the contact form on this site.
Enter your full name and address.
Enter "Mournes calendar 2017" in the title.
Enter how many copies you would like to order in the field "Message".
I will get back to you with payment details.
The calendars will ship once the payment has cleared.

Price per calendar is €30
3 copies are 80€
5 copies are 130€
Please contact me if you want to order more than 5 copies.
There is a €5 flat shipping fee for the whole of the European Union.
Anywhere else in the world will have a 5-10€ shipping fee.

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My small art gallery in Luxembourg

April 12, 2016

I have been looking for a space in Luxembourg to display some of my printed photographs for quite some time and I have finally found it.

I am very happy to announce that a selection of my pictures will be displayed at B U R O S, an office space located in Strassen managed by Janice Allgrove. Janice has been very kind and has shown great interest in my photographs, so we have come to a good arrangement. At the moment there are six photographs from Luxembourg (seen below in the slideshow) in different sizes and formats hanging at B U R O S.

The pictures can be bought at the premises or they can be useful to have an idea of how the real thing would look like if you are intending to buy some of my prints.

The address of B U R O S is 3 rue Thomas Edison, Strassen, L-1445 Luxembourg. You can use the map below to find the exact location and also get directions. The number 22 bus passes their front door every 7-8 minutes.

There are parking facilities and their opening times are Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 17:30, Saturdays and Sundays closed. You can call (352) 20 21 15 11 or send an email at info@buros.lu

I can also meet you at the premises if you need any additional information about my work. Just send me an email to alsal@pt.lu, call me at (352) 621 513 406 or use the contact section in order to arrange a meeting.

If you would like to know more about my photo products just follow this link or select the appropriate page from the menu. You can also have a look at the galleries on this website or check my Flickr albums for a greater selection of my photographs.

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Easter week in the Mourne Mountains

April 8, 2016

I visit Co. Down, Ireland, every year for family reasons, but I typically go either at Christmas or Summer time. This year however I visited it at Easter. One of the things that I always do is to bring my hiking and photography gear and head to the Mourne Mountains as often as I can, which is not any time I want given the many family and friends visits that I (gladly) have to do.

For my walks I had in mind a few spots that I had briefly visited around the Mournes, and one of them was Tyrella beach. The evening I went to Tyrella the weather was rather dull and I left a little too late.

I arrived on Tyrella Beach with low tide and there were some people flying kites and some horses galloping in the distance. I decided to walk towards the Mourne Mountains to try to find some foreground interest for a shot I had in my mind. Thanks to the big puddles left by the low tide and some sunset colour I was able to produce some images that pleased me, including the panorama heading this post. I also found some harbour seals resting on a rocky outcrop. It was the first time in my life that I saw wild seals.

Harbour seals resting on a rocky outcrop at Tyrella beach

Another area I wanted to revisit was up the Mournes, near the well known Hare's gap, which is a mountain pass and one of the main access points into the heart of the Mournes.

I got up before sunrise one morning and headed up the Trassey track to reach the Hare's gap, which can be seen near the right bottom corner of the picture above if you follow the Mourne wall. I headed East towards the summits of Slivenaglogh, Corragh and Commedagh. It was in between these two last hills that I spotted some interesting rock formations and wanted to see them up close. The rocks hanging over Cascade river valley, as seen in the picture below, were a bit tricky to climb to but I finally managed to get near the edge and thanks to a remote control I was able to take the picture.

Rock formations over Cascade river valley

I also visited Murlough beach on several occasions since it is one of my favourite places around the Mournes. Murlough is a wide, flat sandy beach with a wide pebble ridge above high water mark. It stretches for about 6 km and is backed by an ancient sand dune system which has been declared a National Nature Reserve.

Whenever I went to Murlough I took my lovely Luna with me. She just adores this place and I just feel so happy to see her enjoy such a beautiful natural environment. I wasn't comfortable bringing her up the Mournes or to places I didn't know very well like Tyrella, but Murlogh is already a familiar place for me.

Being there at this time of the year I realised that weather conditions are yet more unpredictable that the typical Irish weather I normally experience around Christmas and Summer times. I actually thought that was to my advantage since the weather could go at any time from a beautiful sunny day to a very windy, stormy or cloudy one. It's a type of weather I have to admit I really like. It isn't boring and if you are a little patient you are rewarded with some incredibly beautiful light to take photographs.

I also visited some other spots a bit further away from the Mournes in order to get a full view of the mountains. The Windy Gap is situated to the West and offers great panoramic views.

My wife took me to the site of an ancient megalithic burial called Legannany dolmen, which sits not far from the Windy Gap and also has magnificent views over the Mournes. It is a beautiful area and it is the place where my mother in law grew up. I can imagine why the site became important for the early inhabitants of this part of Ireland. I tried a long exposure and a black and white processing to suit the mood of the place.

Last but not least, I did once again one of my favourite walks along the Annalong valley and up into the heart of the Mournes. The pictures below show some of the great spots to be found along this walk. I had such a brilliant time walking up and down those mountains, stopping at will whenever I wanted to capture some of that beauty the Mournes offer, feeling my heart beating hard, breathing pure fresh air and feeling strong. Pure joy!

One of the small rivers running along Annalong valley

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Luxembourg 2016 Landscape Calendar - SOLD out

November 13, 2015

Dear friends, my Luxembourg 2016 landscape calendar is sold out. I would like to thank all of you for showing interest or for buying them.

I am very happy my calendars will be hanging all over Europe. A majority will be in Luxembourg but there will also be some in France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, England, Belgium, Germany, and I think one of them is going all the way to Australia.

I will most likely repeat the project next year as I think it had quite a good reception and that made very happy.

All the best to everybody for the upcoming holidays!

I have produced a calendar with some of the photographs I have taken in the great outdoors in the north of Luxembourg.

It is an A3 size (30cm x 42cm), landscape format, 250grs mate paper. Printed in Luxembourg.

The price per calendar is €30 for Luxembourg and €35 for the rest of Europe including delivery.

If you, or anyone you know is interested, you can get in touch through the contact section and I will get back to you with details on how to place the order.

I love the north of Luxembourg and have really enjoyed my walks there. I'd be glad to make it possible for other people to enjoy the gorgeous scenery.

Thank you for the interest.

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Mystery solved

July 27, 2015

While taking my daily walk with my dog in the forest near my house, called Gréngewald in Luxembourgish, I finally discovered something that has been intriguing me for some time.

I have often come across this photograph in signposts scattered along this forest but I never knew what it was about.

I have to say that despite not being a scary cat I always thought the signposts looked a bit spooky. Even more so when walking late in the evening or in vary dark and stormy days. I even speculated about different stories these girls could have possibly had, and they were usually something along the lines of The Shining.

Well, today that mystery came to an end as I took a path I never took before.

As Luna, my lovely dog, sat down to have a little rest from retrieving sticks and running all over the place I noticed a junction in the forest with an info panel of some sort. When I approached it I realized it was precisely about the six girls of the spooky picture I had seen many times.

So the story goes that these six girls were actually princesses, their names were Marie-Adelheid, Charlotte, Hilda, Antonia, Elisabeth and Sophie, daughters of Great Duke Guillaume IV of Luxembourg. They were born between 1984 and 1902 and they seemed to have loved nature around this area where they spent time while some family members were busy hunting.

A red oak was planted for each of the six princesses and they are still there. Only one of them was replanted since the original one came down after a heavy storm.

So these are the six red oaks planted in honour of each princess, and that was the mystery solved. No more speculation about terrible stories that could have happened to these six girls. Now I know that those six beautiful red oaks are as old as 121 years of age and they have a little story to tell.

Note: Pictures taken with a mobile phone so the quality isn't brilliant.

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International Women's day

March 8, 2015

It's the 8th of March, a day every year I celebrate doubly, one for my birthday and one for all the women I admire, those who I know well and those I don't know at all.

I am a firm advocate of women's rights and I am also convinced women who have managed to become brilliant and successful in the arts, science, sport, or in the fight for rights and equality play a key role in giving example to young girls and the rest of us.

So here’s my small celebration of this day with some photographs taken during some of the best performances I have seen in the Philharmonie of Luxembourg.

It is a small selection of images but one that shows diversity of styles, cultures, age & ethnicity. Because art and womanhood know no cultural, age or ethnic barriers.

Ana Moura at the Philharmonie of Luxembourg — Ana Moura at the Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Fataumata Diawara @ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Omara Portuondo @ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

Janine Jansen #@ Philharmonie of Luxembourg

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Years

March 7, 2015

I wonder how these trees would sound if played in the record player developed by Bartholomäus Traubeck.

For the project entitled 'Years', the artist and engineer made a record player that could play trees instead of vinyl, creating a different melody based on the tree's age. A tree's year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data then serves as basis for a process that outputs piano music using both analog and digital technology.

This mix of nature and technology, sound and shape, age and rhythm is one of the most original concepts I have ever come across.

The pictures above were taken in the Black Forest region of Germany on a photo trip I did last year with some friends and fellow photographers. I had already discovered at that time Traubeck's project and having listened to the incredible music coming out of the tree sections and his record player I could somehow listen to their music in my head while wandering in the forest.

To be honest this is not the type of music one would listened to while driving or in the house in a daily basis. However, if you are out in the forest, and especially if you are off the beaten track, it can certainly provide a unique experience in which one feels closer than ever to all those living things that often only catch our attention in a visual way.

I would advise you to do just that, get some music player device, use headphones and go off the beaten track in a forest. Play this music and imagine how time and nature produce music for you.

Check the video below and this link if you want to find out about Bartholomäus Traubeck's project. It is well worth listening to this uncanny music.

A record player that plays slices of wood. Modified record player, wood, sleeves. 2011 Thanks to: Pro-ject Audio, Karla Spiluttini, Ivo Francx, Rohol www.traubeck.com UPDATE: Years is out as MP3.Download the digital release: http://traubeck.bandcamp.com/album/years To get the 12" vinyl release please go to http://www.ordia-muszc.com/shop/

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Tigran Hamasyan

March 4, 2015

I haven't had a musical obsession, as the one I have over the past year with Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan, for a long time. I saw him playing live for the first time last year at the Philharmonie of Luxembourg, where I work as a photographer.

While I look through the viewfinder of my camera, I'm often moved by musicians who are expressive and absorbed during their performances. In a way it is a rather intimate moment I share with them even though they are not at all aware of it. Shooting most of the time from a dark control room, zooming in with my lenses and looking through a small viewfinder brings a sort of closeness that I love.

With Tigran Hamasyan I wasn't only moved but was also totally thrilled. His performance has left an imprint in my musical taste and preferences. The reason is that he encapsulates all those things I love about different musical styles and musical attitudes.

I have quite an eclectic taste when it comes to music, as I have listened to many and varied styles over the years. From rock, heavy rock, instrumental virtuoso guitar players, flamenco, classical music, jazz, blues, singer songwriters, world music, you name it.

So when I saw Tigran Hamasyan and his musicians playing at times like a heavy metal band, next minute like the finest jazz ensemble or giving us the most refined and beautiful melodies and singing I was immediately taken by his grasp of the essence of all those styles I still love. He was giving me in a sense a condensed formula of all the music I love into one beautifully conceived style.

His wildly complex beats and eclectic mix of styles go hand in hand with fragments of gentle folk music of Armenia's cultural heritage. If on top of all that you add that he does not shy away from improvising and using multiple keyboard instruments, the result is that his audience vibrates with so much energy it doesn't look like you are attending just another jazz concert.

If you would like to listen to some of Tigran's music you can do so in his youtube channel

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To place your order:

Luxembourg 2017 calendar gallery

Mourne Mountains 2017 calendar gallery