Five street photographs, taken around Las Ramblas and the center of Barcelona. I am trying to limit myself to five photographs, and it is simply not possible to capture everything that you can find on even a short walk. However, I think these are a good summary of what an average tourist might expect to encounter in hour’s random wandering on a warm Sunday afternoon in early April…
A set of five images taken on or around the streets in Barcelona. I still do not have much energy for street photography at the moment, although these are almost there (please excuse the rabbit).
One benefit of being a street photographer is that creating a photographic record of criminal activity is an instinctive reaction, even if most of the photographs for legal reasons can not be published immediately. These images have been deliberately selected from a few of the more abstract captures this week – caused by an occasional flash misfire or from several attempts to destroy the camera (as in the lead image). The photographs were processed in the frustratingly buggy Capture One Pro 9, and have no content changes or effects other than to obscure facial features in one image below.
Another new year, and back to back to basics. Unfortunately, the holiday period has been a disaster for various reasons that I will post about if I get clearance to show some of the images. Meanwhile I am going to try to run another more regular photographic project using the Ricoh GR that will help extend the “No soms Funcionaris” series that has been ongoing for some time now. The aim will be to post the best five images each week, starting in mid January.
Three long-exposures taken at the World Press Photo 2015 exhibition at the CCCB, Barcelona. The exhibition was organised by the interesting Fundación Photographic Social Vision. The exhibits seemed to have a little less impact this year, although Marco was quite taken by some of the insect images (“parasites are always intriguing…”, which I hope is not a comment on these images). It was incredibly busy, and quite difficult to cope with the crowds, so at one point I collapsed on a bench and took these shots. They are long exposures taken at low […]
A couple of images from Encants, Barcelona, shot with the Lubitel 166.
Another high-contrast contra-luz shot from the FED 5b. I am really happy with the way that these have come out – for a 20 euro camera that is 35 years old it is capable of some amazing images, and it is also quite pleasant to shoot with thanks to the quirky-but-solid construction and quiet-but-satisfying shutter. Another bonus is that people seem to react less to the sight of the camera, possibly because it does not look even vaguely professional. This film was the first that I have completely taken without a meter, using just the sunny […]
Shooting fast moving subjects wit the FED 5b. Rapid focusing with the Industar 61 lens is quite hard. The viewfinder on the FED is tiny, and it is easy to miss a focus error when working quickly. Even zone-focus is slow as the focusing ring has a very long movement, and there is no way to tell where the focus is set without looking at the lens (there is no ‘tab’ or similar found on some Leica mount lenses). The trick used here was just to preset the focus and wait for the subject to […]
The first of four posts with images shot with the (now repaired) FED 5b. These were all taken in or around the Ciutat Vella, early in the morning. Barcelona’s streets are fantastic for these contra-luz style images at this time of year, thanks to a combination of the low sun and the just-washed cobbled streets. This was shot with the FED and Ilford Delta 100. I shot almost all of this sequence with the lens at f11-f16, using zone focus (which is not hard at these f-stops!) and guestimates for […]
A loose corollary to the previous post, and a hint of some more architectural images still to come. Shot with the Instagram app and processed using the XPro filter, which helps give a sense of timelessness to this image.
Street photography with children has obvious ethical challenges and, much more so than with adults, we seem to be wary of people taking such pictures. Notions of censorship from both the general public and also from within implicitly colour what we choose to image. I spent quite a while photographing this installation (lots of concentrically rotating coloured glass, with people wandering around inside and out), and although no one troubled me I started to wonder if I was going to attract attention. Sometimes the censorship that we apply ourselves is the […]
Old books at the Els Encants market, Barcelona. This is a market whose origins date back to the 14th century, yet which is now housed in a new ultra modern permanent building. Despite the architecture, the market retains much of the character that you might expect if you were to mix a 14th century trading style with 21st century goods. The aim was to capture some candid images of people browsing the second hand books, furniture, ceramics and general bric-a-brak:
Some shots from a wine tasting event at Passeig de Lluis Companys during the Mercé, in Barcelona. Here you can by a set of tickets which can then be exchanged for glasses of wine from many excellent local producers. However, given the quantities of wine being tasted (see above…) I think that it is more accurate to see the event as a kind of giant open-air wine bar… The photographs were all shot on HP5+ 35mm film, pushed two stops to ISO 1600 by processing in Kodak HC-110 1+31 (Dilution B) for 6:45 at […]
Rather loosely continuing the theme of independence…
Another motion-blurred image, taken in the rain. Even the priests are rushing around with mobile phones these days.
Illegal street sellers, moving in response to the arrival of some security guards. Rambla del Mar, Port Vell, Barcelona.
Transient Eye 