The penultimate week of street photography experiments, shot entirely using the Ricoh GR II. Given the heat this summer, the Ricoh feels much much less effort to carry than just about any other camera. But equally, the unfiltered sunlight makes composing shots on the LCD screen at best something of a lottery…
CaixaForum in Barcelona is currently running a retrospective on Warhol – El Arte Mecánico, where you can see some the artist’s most iconic works and a good exposition of the route through commercial work that lead to the development of his iconic style. These are somewhat experimental shots taken on the Ricoh GR and processed to recall the style of some of Warhol’s work.
A short collection of images from Perpignan. These are very random and very unevenly edited, and show a very partial view of the town. These were originally intended to form part of a set of images around the theme of the recent French presidential election, as Perpignan is very much a microcosm for the issues central to the election. Unfortunately, conflicts on time meant that it was not possible to complete the necessary sequence, and the images here do not attempt to show the tension between the French middle classes, […]
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.
A gallery of images of the illegal street market at the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona. The market sells a mix of collected rubbish and most likely stolen items, and at its peak can have as many as 30 to 50 traders present. It forms part of a criminal system that spans from minor crimes such as petty theft through to more serious concerns such as drug dealing, prostitution and criminal theft, damage and usurpación that has badly affected local residents such as ourselves. The traders here represent very much the bottom of this […]
Four doors. Four futures. Which will you choose? Street art and sealed doorways, shot around Sant Martí (Glòries and the warehouse district), and in the Raval, Barcelona. The images are a mix of Leica M 262 with Zeiss ZM 1,5/50 and the Ricoh GR. And almost, but not quite, entirely unconnected with the events of last week in any way whatsoever.
A set of photographs from the Ocupació de les Rambles, Barcelona. This was a citizens protest march which combined a diverse range of groups and issues that affect the lives of ordinary people living in Barcelona today. There were several key issues being protested: the unsustainable level of tourism and its effect on local residents, the cost of property and rents, and forced evictions of people with mortgage arrears. All of these are combining to destroy the quality of life of people living in the city, and indications are that […]
Three images with converging lines. Converging lines are rare in nature, and as here are often symbolic of transport and travel to a distant destination. Even if it is just the bottom of the stairs.
Not desperately pleased with the UK at the moment, and this short narrative explains something of that. I hope that I am wrong.
It is August, hot and everyone is on holiday. A few highly non-artistic and random shots taken on a walk up to the wild green hills hills above Singuerlín in Santa Coloma de Gramenet. Unfortunately, a strained leg meant that we did not get as far as we wanted. There is a lot of interesting insect life here – the mantis was very unexpected. At some point it would be interesting to come back specifically to take some insect macro photographs.
Six images from Sant Boi de Llobregat, on the outskirts of Barcelona. An interesting town just on the edge of the Garraf, and easily reachable from the centre of Barcelona on the metro from Plaza España. This will be the last of the weekly sets, as it is getting to difficult to juggle the conflicts between temporal and thematic aggregation – so this will switch next week to a mix of single image posts with occasional longer posts on a single theme.
Five more black and white images, taken in and around the touristic centre of Barcelona. These were all shot with the Ricoh GR II and converted from RAW to black and white in Capture One.
Five images characterised by framing, taken at the Monestir de Pedralbes on the outskirts of Barcelona. The monastery is now run as a museum, and makes an excellent alternative place to visit if you are overloaded from Gaudi and the industrial-grade tourism of the centre of the city. Aside from the history of the monastery, there are often music recitals and an excellent collection of religious art (click an image to view full-size):
Five images, loosely around the theme of movement in Barcelona, and differing opportunities. The tiles with the aircraft form part of the installation “El món neix en cada besada” (The world is born in every kiss) by the excellent conceptual photographer Joan Fontcuberta. The installation is a fotomosaic showing a kiss, made from local residents’ photographs. Here is another shot, showing a small section of the images more clearly: The full mosaic only really makes sense in colour – I will post an image of it when I catch up with the colour film processing here.
Five random images from an unexpectedly damp Barcelona.
Some images taken around the sea front at Sant Adrià de Besòs, near to the remains of an old power station. The area is on the beach, and is gradually being redeveloped from an industrial zone to what will likely become an upmarket residential area in future. It has remained largely undeveloped in part because it is a relatively small zone that is effectively blocked on all four sides by the sea, the Riu Besòs, the costal railway, and the Badalona Marina.
Transient Eye 