Reflections
Church reflections in the Biblioteca Facultat Comunicació i Relacions Internacionals, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona. Leica M7 with Zeiss ZM 2/35 Biogon and Ilford HP5+.
High Art
The Hotel Arts and casino at Port Olimpic, Barcelona. A suite in this inviting looking tower can cost up to 12000 euros per night, so if you are planning to stay for some time a cheaper option might simply be to buy a flat in Barceloneta. This was taken with Ilford HP5+, which to my eye appears to have both substantially nicer grain than XP2 and also higher resolution. I think that the grain’s texture is an advantage here, adding a nice 1960’s inner-city council housing vibe to the image of the luxury […]
C41 Process Black and White Photography
These are a short series of images taken around the cruise-ship terminal in Barcelona. They were taken using a mixture of Fuji Superia 200 and Ilford XP2 Super 400 films, both using the standard C41 process. The Ilford is interesting in that it is a black-and-white dye-based film, rather than traditional silver-halide. The first two shots were taken at ISO 200 using the Fuji, scanned using Vuescan and a PlusTek 7600i, and then converted in to black and white in Lightroom. A virtual red filter was applied in post-processing to help darken the […]
Daybreak
A few simple pictures taken early in the morning along the beach between Port Olimpic and Barceloneta. This is quite a good time of year to catch the transient morning light as it is no longer necessary to get up at 4am… Shot with the DSLR rather than film so that I could use a short-telephoto lens (here the excellent Canon 135mm f2). The lens gives a nice telephoto compression that seems to work well with the relatively empty shots, suiting the early morning tranquility. There are surprisingly few ape-descended life forms people at the beach at […]
Port Vell
Early morning view of the W-Hotel at Barceloneta, taken from the ferry jetty at the Port Vell harbour. It is rather a strange shot, as although there are numerous people and traders on the jetty above, the photograph implies a stillness and calm that is somewhat at odds with the nearby reality. I quite like the way that using film makes this scene look so much older.
The Old Dairy
The walk from Pian delle Betulle, in Alta Valsassina, to the Larice Bruciato (burnt larch) is a lovely trail through a beech forest and pasturelands. On the way there is the Alpe Ortighera, a summer pasture, where there is the old dairy illustrated in this post. This is the main room at the entrance of the dairy with the churning machine to make butter (the stainless steel drum on the right) and some of the season production of ricotta, a whey cheese. The forms on the shelves are left to […]
Modern Communications
Carrer Elizabets, Barcelona. This and most of the upcoming shots were taken with the 5DIII and 50mm. In shadow is very very hard to get sharp focus and a fast shutter speed without insanely high ISO values. This image ended up at ISO 12800 at f11.
Portal
Street art, Barcelona.
Speed
Skateboarder, Barcelona. Long exposure with fill-flash – a bit experimental, but with some practise it should be possible to get some interesting results. Shot with the Ricoh GR using built-in flash.
Look Back
Carrer de l’ Hospital, Barcelona.
Fish
The abandoned Fase-4 shop-front, Ronda Sant Antoni, Barcelona.
Towel
Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona.
I Exist
Plaça dels Angels, Barcelona.
Just Sitting…
Five images of people sitting, Barcelona. Some of these people are actively working, begging or just resting. It is not always obvious which.
Raval Colour
Some more street images, taken around the Raval and Ronda Sant Antoni, Barcelona. These are again mostly candids, taken using manual focus and a wide-angle lens. Although I am far from an expert in street photography, it is clear that themes naturally emerge as a result the interaction between environment and the instinctive interests of the photographer. And the environment here in Barcelona has such an incredible variety of life and its contrasts that there is always something interesting to photograph.
Tourist Snapshots
Three snapshots of tourists, taken around Plaça Universidad and Plaça Catalunya this afternoon. The tourist trade is the economic life-blood of Barcelona, with people coming from all backgrounds and from all over the world.
Transient Eye 