Black and White

Barcelona Street – Week 1

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This is the first of five weekly posts featuring street images take in Barcelona. The idea is to try to improve my street photography my methodologically trying different approaches and subjects. Each week will feature images shot using a  specific camera and lens, with the intention of really deciding what style, medium, focal length and way of shooting seems to work best. At the end I will write a summary of what techniques were used and some of the pros-and-cons. For this week, all the images were shot with the […]

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Black and White

State of Independence XV

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Βlack and white film images taken at two Catalan independence protests in Barcelona. The use of Article 155 to suspend autonomous rule in the region has effectively blocked the indirect channeling of government finance (via cultural associations) to support events such as these, with the result that banners are being recycled or even hand made. This is in contrast to the piles of professionally produced posters that were routinely handed out at events earlier in the process. In these images, the protesters are mainly campaigning for two issues: to free […]

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Black and White

Sun and Rain

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A short set of recent street images shot on black and white film with the M7 in Barcelona. It has been a very unsettled spring, with alternating spells of torrential rain and blazing sun. Somehow these are coordinating with the calendar to land all the worst weather at the weekend! Shot on the Leica M7 with a mix of 35mm and 50mm lenses on Ilford Delta 400.

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Black and White

State of Independence XIV

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A set of images taken at the three protest encampments in Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona. In February, the independence movement secured permission to mount a protest in Barcelona’s main city square, with dozens of campaigners camping out and distributing propaganda. This ran from early in February until the campers were finally removed in mid-April. Unfortunately for the independence protesters, the city council can not legitimately turn a blind eye to one set of people camping out while denying a request from another. So before long, there was a smaller anti-independence camp […]

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Black and White

State of Independence XIII

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An update on the Catalan independence protest with a set of images taken on a March march against the independence movement, led by the Tabarnian movement. Tabarnia is a fictional region, which is seeking independence from Catalunya. It is a satire of the Catalan independence movement which has gained substantial popular support.

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Black and White

State of Independence XII

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Another set of images from the ongoing Catalan independence protest. Following the elections in December, the Catalan parliament was returned with essentially the same political makeup: a small majority of pro-independence representatives elected from slightly less than 50% of the popular vote thanks to Catalunya’s weighted voting system in which a rural vote can carry up to 2.5x the weight of a vote cast in Barcelona. Carles Puigdemont is currently subject to a Spanish arrest warrant resulting from his attempt to lead a unilateral declaration of independence for Catalunya, in […]

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Black and White

Dolce Vita

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A photo essay contrasting mass tourism in Asturias and Cantabria against city life in the same region. This reflects the growing tensions between increasingly wealthy and mobile tourists and and increasingly impoverished local population that sees little benefit from the tourist industry.

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Black and White

Dilbar

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Some more tests of the 90mm Elmarit-M, this time some semi-abstract shots of the hyper luxury boat “Dilbar” when it was last docked in Barcelona. The Dilbar is one of the largest private yachts in existence, and valued at $600 million it likely more expensive than the harbour at which it was docked. It is owned by the controversial Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Inexplicably, it is finished in a rather 1980’s beige colour that recalls many early budget PCs. It looks significantly better in black and white than in real […]

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Black and White

London River Walk

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A short set of images taken along the River Thames, mainly following the Thames Path. These were taken to test out a newly acquired 90mm Elmarit-M lens, which despite being more than 20 years old seems to be working amazingly well. The lens is extremely sharp, but lower-contrast than most modern lenses – although this is easily corrected when processing the images.  

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Black and White

State of Independence XI

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This is the last in the “State of Independence” series documenting the Catalan secessionist protests in Barcelona, covering the period leading up to the new regional assembly elections on the 21st December 2017. Throughout December the protests continued sporadically, mainly focussing on a campaign to support those people currently held in jail without bail for their actions that led to the current political crisis in Catalunya. The number and intensity of demonstrations is vastly diminished compared to the period around the referendum, as people tire of repetitive and cold evening […]

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Black and White

To The Beach

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A set of landscape photographs taken along the coast near Lynton and Lynmouth from a rather cold and wet weekend trip to the UK. It is not exactly Cannes, but the slightly less than hospitable weather makes a nice backdrop for the black and white imagery. All images shown here taken with the M 262 and 50mm Summilux, processed in Capture One 11. These would have worked very well on Delta 100 film, but it would have needed a heavy tripod to deal with the lighting and wind. At one […]

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Black and White

The City

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The first of two sets of high-contrast black-and-white travel photographs – in this case taken during a rather damp and cold day’s walk around Exeter. These were shot digitally and processed in Capture One. The results are very different from the usual film images, but for short trips such as this there is a lot to be said for the convenience of a digital camera.        

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Black and White

State of Independence X

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While the independence related protests continue in Barcelona, their number and attendance is very much reduced. This is a short set of film images taken at night at a protest in support of the politicians and independence group leaders currently on remand in Madrid following their unilateral declaration of Catalan independence.

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