Barcelona Photoblog: January 2009

January 30, 2009

Modernist Lamp Ironwork: Imaginative Design

Modernist Street Lamp Ironwork by Falques on Avinguda Gaudi, Barcelona

Near Sagrada Familia and all along Avinguda Gaudi you come across beautiful modernist lamps like the one in this picture. Well this is only a detail of the wonderful design of the ironwork. Check the modernist lamp at Gaudi Avenue on my Google Maps. Finding here in full view in this other post:

Lamp post by Falques, Avinguda Gaudi, Barcelona

Look at this other beautiful street lamp near Arc de Triomf by Pere Falques.

January 27, 2009

Catalan Traditional Dress and Pubillas

Catalan Traditional Dress and Pubillas [enlarge]

A Catalan woman wearing the traditional dress. You should know that there are some differences between the traditional garment and a pubilla's dress. But what is a pubilla

Long ago, Catalan families with no male descendants considered the first daughter as the heiress in the family. In case there were more sisters, she kept three fourths of the family's patrimony. So an heiress is called pubilla and the male counterpart is called hereu. Pubillas helped preserved the family's last name in case of not having a male descendant. 

At present the pubilla tradition is kept in Catalan towns just for cultural purposes. Some towns elect their pubilla among young ladies (pubilla derives from puberty) who are to act as representatives of Catalonia's culture. Pubillas can only be elected once and during one single year to yield the position to other ladies. Both pubillas and hereus are accompanied by maids of honor and fadrins (brothers that are not heirs) respectively. 

I am not an expert on this matter but I would say this is just a traditional dress, age factors aside. A pubillas's dress is made of a more expensive fabric and shawls are made of a more elaborate lace. They wear shoes and not espadrilles although both the traditional and the pubilla's way of dressing include the elbow length fishnet gloves and the hair net.

I find it fascinating to learn about these old traditions from Catalonia that if it weren't for the perseverance of its people would be lost long time ago.

January 25, 2009

Green Sugary Candy

Green Sugary Candy [enlarge]

Sweets not only taste great but also produce beauty with their colors and evoke dreams in our deep rooted childhood memories. What if their colors were dull, would they sell just the same? Or is it a matter of stimuli? Are bright colors nice in our minds because they usually taste good? Are they associated with happiness, anniversaries, the colors of our room when we were kids, clowns? I don't know but I do prefer them that way! Don't you?

January 23, 2009

Keep on Turning Oh My Rusty, Rusty Wheel!

Rusty Wheel [enlarge]

Don't worry, it ain't no song or poem. Did I tell you I love rust and decay...in photography!!! Not that I have many pictures like this. Well I remember an old propeller. When you search for stuff carrying a good coat of rust you may come across the wildest remnants of old machinery, tools or scrap metal. Sometimes you may need to visit some abandoned warehouse or a junkyard in the outskirts but this curious wheel part of what I suppose was some kind of winch to load carts I found in a town near Barcelona.

January 22, 2009

Musing in Las Ramblas de Barcelona

Musing in Las Ramblas, Barcelona

Before I begin I would like to thank a couple of friends for making me muse on my blog and the daily posting affair. They both did in two very different ways which I won't explain here but made me think that daily doesn't mean having to post each and every day of the year but to do it several times a week perhaps. These are their sites: San Francisco Daily Photo by Manuel Guerzoni and Hyde Daily Photo by Gerald England. I am glad they made me came out of my stubborn obsession and in way released me from this sacrifice. I think this will mean better posts as I will have more energy and less ambiguity as to the date on my posts considering I am one month behind schedule and the blog is talking about January 2009 as of now. So I stood like this man leaning on the railing of some parking lot in Las Ramblas and began musing for a while about the future. In fact it only took me an hour to change my mind. Thanks again my friends.
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