One of the challenges with Olympus micro 4/3 cameras is the mind bogglingly large number of options and shooting modes. I use an E-M1 mark II with an Olympus 60mm macro lens to digitise 35mm negatives, but I have never really been sure what the optimum way to configure the camera was. This post is an attempt to put that right…
One of the unusual architectural features of Salamanca is the unusual calligraphy, which is used to mark buildings and entrances in the street. Typographically, I am not quite sure what to make of the lettering style. There are numerous sources online for fonts that reproduce the basic letters, but the kerning is consistently somewhat eccentric.
A short set of images showing a different side to Salamanca, balancing the green and gold posts, and a reminder that even if this is a UNESCO site, it is also a large active city. These were all shot with a micro 4/3 camera system, and I would defy anyone to get better results from a Leica. In fact, things like focus accuracy and overall image sharpness at slow shutter speeds are reliably better than Leica digital thanks to the fast AF and image stabilisation. The shooting experience may be very […]
A short set of images from the church and university buildings at Salamanca. The old part of Salamanca has an astonishingly consistent architectural style, for which it deservedly is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and that style is largely governed by the intersection of Catholicism iconography and the characteristic yellow stone used for many of the older buildings. I am not a great fan of this rather baroque styling, but the light and colours in many of these buildings is astounding.
Some images of Ranunculus drawn out in the flow of the Rio Tormes at Salamanca. These were shot from the Roman bridge, using a polarising filter to cut out the reflections from the water and boost the saturation. The 3D-like effect comes from the variation in depth of the plant within the river. We are not entirely sure what the exact plant species is. Some of the white speckles are in reality small white-petaled blossom, but it was difficult to get close enough to inspect the flowers. However, this is almost certainly Ranunculus fluitans, […]
A mixed set of images of street art and advertising materials, shot around the Lavapiés and El Rastro districts of Madrid. The capital of Spain is a visually chaotic environment (outside of oases such as the Reina Sofía), and the sequence is intended to capture some of that.
A set of images from a full-day hike in El Garraf, Catalunya. The Garraf is a calcareous range of hills on the coast just south of Barcelona, and one of the few natural areas that can be reached easily and quickly by train from the city. It is not particularly mountainous, raising from sea level to a little over 600m altitude, but lack of shade and the Mediterranean heat can make the hike harder than you might expect.
Two contrasting galleries of colourful and textured images from the Jardins de Mossèn Costa i Llobera, in the Monjuïc, Barcelona.
More amazing Barcelona street art, this taken from by the junction between Carrer de la Selva de Mar and Carrer del Perú in Sant Martí. There are quite a variety of different styles on display, although here I have selected images that have a more organic or painterly feel.
Port Vell at night, Barcelona. Modern technology is quite astonishing. This was a 0.6s exposure taken hand-held with the E-M1 mark II and 12mm f2 at ISO 400. All you need to do now is simply frame, lock focus, and let the result of decades of high technology research and development by some very smart people do the rest…
A geometric narrative built around the theme of gateways, shot in Barcelona and Girona. All images shot with the E-M1 mark II and processed in Capture One / Photoshop CS6. Thematic continuity wth a hint of Spring…
Barcelona, as seen from the Collserola. The image was shot on Ilford Delta 100 using the Leica M7 and 21mm Super Elmar, and processed in ID-11 1+1. Both lens and film are extremely good, and the limitation on image quality in the digital images comes mainly from scanning rather than the original negative…
Two short galleries of very different architectural images, taken on a short walk around the area of the Encants market at Glories, Barcelona. The area is undergoing a construction boom at present, with large modern developments for housing of all types, offices, hotels and additional space for schools and universities. Much of this architecture makes a complete break with Barcelona’s historical building styles, adopting a very modern glass-and-steel approach.
Transient Eye 