Small Girl Playing at Restaurant

Small girl hiding under restaurant menu. I hope you like another sample of pure innocence. Have a nice week everyone.

A Baby's Frown

I still don't know why babies make faces so often, wearing a frown like elderly people. At least that's how we interpret such gesture in Spain. We call it La Viejita (old lady). How do you call it when kids frown and they have all these wrinkles on their faces? Here is a very funny video of what they can do, although in this case the frown is somehow different to the one I meant.

The Boy and the Fishing Net

The boy and the f...ishing net. Yep, that intonation would suit the picture better. Gosh, wasn't the little guy crying like mad because mom wanted to leave and he was dragging behind to play a little longer. Kids! Aren't they lovely?

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Iberian Ruins: The Lichen Boy

A boy sitting on the foundation walls of an old Iberian town in Lleida, Catalonia. Obviously the kid is not surfing the imaginary waves of time to picture the ancient civilization that once lived in this vast prairie but he is rather amused by the curious surface of the rocky wall. What's this greenish-yellowish thing? Perhaps his parents not faraway, listening to the explanation of the local tourist guide, already told him that the odd thing is a symbiotic organism called lichen. Please check old posts: Lichen on Ancient Rocks, On the Tracks of my Ancestors and IR Iberian Ruins in the Spring.

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The New Trees of Catalonia

I don't like the final result in this picture because of the strong midday sun and the original colors but I kind of enjoy the pose of the little boy holding a hoe in front of the hole he dug himself and how he waits for his mom to plant the new tree they both had brought to the pond of Ivars (Lleida) as part of a campaign to bring back some green to the barren lands of this country. Well in fact it is customary in many regions of Catalonia to plant trees at the beginning of spring. I would say that in general we care about the environment and children are taught to love nature since they are very young.

Carnival Costumes: Indian Chief Feather Hat, Barcelona, Spain

Another one for the road, a boy wearing an Indian Chief feather hat during Carnival 2008 celebrations in Barcelona. I am trying to get more colorful pictures, I calibrated my monitor recently but as you know that's not an easy task. My screen is relatively big but not too good in quality. It looks somewhat softer now but I can perceive all the gray scale tonalities. Maybe in my attempt to make my images more contrasty they show too dark on your monitor. Perhaps they look more saturated now. No matter what the final result is I hate dull pictures, at least unintentional dull pictures. We may not be good photographers but at least let's avoid that disgusting washed out look. I know many of you obtain quite colorful images full of contrast, any tips that might help us all enhance our photos?

Children Photography: Tres Tombs Parade, Sant Andreu, Barcelona, Spain

This two children were driving a small coach in the Cavalcada dels Tres Tombs (Tres Tombs parade) in Sant Andreu district, Barcelona. I won't give you details about the parade because I want to concentrate on the kids' pose and due to the fact that I will post many more related images next week. I have pointed out sometimes in this blog that I love the way children behave in front of the camera showing that part of the soul we stubbornly try to hide every single day of the year. Take a look at each of them, dressed in elegant aristocrat costumes...the boy is concentrated so much on the reins that nothing in this world could distract him away from such magic experience; and what about the little girl, with that stern look, half conceited, half irritated and still finding some time to wave a hand with noble grace. Children can always surprise you with the most spontaneus gesture and they almost always look great in pictures, but still there are ways to take the most out of that sudden improvisation. Here are some tips about children photography:
The Complete Guide to Children Photography: This is a good course to get a general idea about how to approach a child in photography to get the best results in your pictures.
Depth of Field: DOF is used consciously or by chance but to make the best out of it we must know how it works in detail. Discover this excellent tutorial about DOF.

Chocolate Trade Show, Barcelona: Kid Drinks From Ice Sculpture

Chocolate Trade Show, Barcelona: Kid Drinks From Ice Sculpture. Not that it has to do much with chocolate or a trade show, the subject here is the kid and perhaps the ice sculpture. Well, in fact the left side of the sculpture was stuffed with small chocolate treats but the presence of people nearby made me disregard that part. It was some kind of game. Kids could drink from the ice in the hope that it tasted like chocolate but obviously he chose the most insipid portion.

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Young Girl Climbing on Rocks at Park Guell [Barcelona, Spain]

I was lucky to capture this young girl the other day at Park Guell while she was climbing on the rocks of the arcade. I certify she was not my model and that this is a spur of the moment picture although the pose is so perfect that it seems prearranged. Fortunately enough, she was wearing a nice color dress, a hat and a handbag which made the picture even more interesting from the point of view of kids photography. With her natural pose and the texture of the rocky background it was pretty easy to compose in this case. I like the fact that she is staring vacantly into space in the middle of a silent game perhaps. I admire the ability of kids to find happiness in the most boring things: for example, climbing on a rock.

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Kid at Las Glorias Shopping Center

Every shopping center shall have a fountain, according to the marketing gurus. It shall be placed at the very center of the premises. Then there shall be McDonalds, KFC and Burger Kings. Kids shall come by the dozen. Let them kids splash or trample on water, happy parents prove to be big spenders.

The picture was taken in Las Glorias Shopping Center at Diagonal Avenue, near Agbar Tower. I like it because it was just a lonely kid staring at the jet of water in the middle of a hypnotic trance.

See Picture of Las Glorias Shopping Center on a Google Earth Map.