The Meaning of Life

Shooting at night is very special. I come upon scenes that I don't see or pay attention to during the day. Light conditions are (obviously) totally different, and I'm learning to use manual settings to get the shot I want in camera without having to spend hours processing it in Photoshop. I still need a couple of minutes and shots until I get it right, as I'm not very good at translating existing light conditions into the technical parameters of ISO/shutter speed/aperture. What I do is take the settings my camera suggests in auto (which tend to overcompensate the darkness creating an orange overall glow) and then manually reducing film speed (ISO) until I get the effect I was looking for. (amandoAlentejo asked me yesterday if I use a tripod. I don't have one, so my shutter speed is normally set to 1/60s at max aperture.)

I took this picture late last night around 10 PM - very late for me, as I love to sleep early :-)
What first caught my eye was the contrast in light between these two shops: One is a barbershop, the other one was a pet shop and now is getting a complete make-over.
It was only afterwards that I realized that both activities captured in this shot are meant to produce beauty.
This is something I have witnessed so many times here in Brazil: No matter how poor people are, they love beauty, and they produce beauty with whatever resources they have. 

I wish you all a Sunday filled with beauty and creativity.