Sonimagfoto 2007 at Fira de Barcelona, Montjuic

As I said I don't have any clue about this picture at the Sonimagfoto exhibition either but to compensate I will give you this link to AFP (Professional Photographers Association), the organization that grants the most important photography awards in Spain. The site is in Spanish but I highly recommend the portfolios if you want to know the work of Spanish photographers.

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Sonimagfoto Montjuic: Photography Exhibition

During my visit to Sonimagfoto event in Fira de Barcelona, Montjuic some photographs really called my attention so I will dedicate them two posts in a row. I wish I could mention the author as some photographers in this gallery were granted the AFP Lux Awards, the most important professional photography awards in Spain but I always take shots and forget about getting details. Yes I know I am a mess!

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CosmoCaixa Science Museum: Exotic Aquarium

This fish I photographed at Cosmocaixa Science Museum (check mark on map). There is a big tank with exotic species in a simulation of a jungle habitat in the Amazonian rivers. I can't tell you what it is. It looks like a snook to me because of the shape but it doesn't have a lateral stripe. There were also pirannas in there. There is a part of the tank where you have the water level at the reach of your hands, there is no protection, just a sign that says "watch it, pirannas are carnivore fish" although someone told me there is a herbivore specimen. I suggest you don't try to find out.

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Small Capgrossos Carried by Kids, La Merce 2007, Barcelona, Spain

Small Capgrossos carried by kids, La Merce 2007, Barcelona, Spain. I think this is the last picture of the series. Check capgros label to see them all.

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Capgrossos Parade, La Merce 2007, Barcelona, Spain

Yet another image of the Capgrossos Parade during La Merce 2007 celebrations in Barcelona, Spain.

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Capgros. La Merce Celebrations, Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain

One of the shots of Capgrossos I took during La Merce celebrations last September at Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain. Check my previous post: La Merce Celebrations 2007

Big Ripe Tomato Under The Afternoon Sun

A big juicy ripe tomato in a friend's orchard. This is obviously the kind we don't eat. Sometimes I think they only exist in dreams. We, city people, get all the crap. Vegetables frozen before time, with marks of bad manipulation, no juice, pesticides, and so on. There's nothing like a bite on a ripe tomato of your own harvest.

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Set Portes Restaurant, Barcelona, Spain

7 Portes or Set Portes Restaurant is located at Passeig Isabel II, 14 near Barcelona harbor (check Google Maps at the bottom of the page). Under this arcade which is old and needs some clean up, you will notice the big wooden doors to this renown restaurant which is a must in Barcelona, mainly because of the good paella they prepare. Nevertheless there are other great places in the city with better reviews. This one is a classic so it is worth trying instead of wasting your time and money at Las Ramblas.

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Tomato Under the Sun

This is a closeup on a ripe tomato under the afternoon sun in a picture taken about a month ago at a friend's orchard. From this post on I am going to be brief till I get uptodate with my posting. I hope you understand. Thanks.

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Red Peppers On Strings

Red pepper, Capsicum, chili pepper or paprika. What's in a name? If you visit Spain you are bound to see this image often. Not much in Barcelona city but in neighbouring towns. They are left there hanging under the sun to dry up. They are wonderful for cooking and for decoration in what is known as pepper ristras or pepper hangings. Since I am on a diet I can't stop talking about food.

Women Paintings at Maremagnum Promenade, Barcelona

These paintings of women wearing veils, hats or ties at Maremagnum promenade or Passeig D'Itaca looked so beautiful I decided to take a snap agaisnt the artist's will (check google maps below). I just don't know what gets into their minds when they see a big camera. You come with a small compact and nothing happens, you stick out some big lens and they immediately jump at your throat. Take it easy man, this is free advertising for your work which on the other hand is amazing and hypnotic, according to my opinion. Please buy him some paintings and tell him I was the one he shunned the other day.

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Aquarium of Barcelona

This sort of cartoon shark is located at the entrance to L'Acuarium or Aquarium of Barcelona. Luckily I caught this kid complaining about his mom not paying the necessary attention to his privilege hideaway. As both fish and child have the mouth wide open I thought it might be interesting. Here is a link to Barcelona Aquarium.

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Flute Player, Flautist or Flutist?

This musician was performing with the rest of his quintet some sort of celtic music at the Mushroom Fair in Sant Iscle de Vallalta, near Barcelona. There was not much to photograph since the audience was there for the food and the last bright sunny days of the fall. I thought the pose by itself denoted concentration so I applied some blur effect to isolate him from the rest of the world. I think I did him a favor.

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Sant Pol de Mar, Maresme Coast near Barcelona

Sant Pol de Mar is a small town of strong Mediterranean flavor, with white houses that adapt to the gentle slopes on the hills of Maresme coast.

In Catalan, there are two names for English name Paul, one is Pau and the other is Pol. Sant Pol celebrates one of its most important festivities on January 25th, which is St Paul's day.

Of all the beaches on Maresme Coast, Sant Pol is one of the cleanest and most attractive for tourists and locals alike. It is a very quiet town which I recommend to visit.

Today's picture was taken from the upper part of town and it shows as you see the train station and railroads. You can go from here to Barcelona or vice versa in 40 minutes all along the coast. There is a very well known restaurant which is a must visit: Carme Ruscalleda's Sant Pau

Gathering Wild Mushrooms or Bolets in Catalonia, Spain

In the months of October and November a large number of Catalans hit the road to go picking wild mushrooms or bolets in the countryside. Although there are many edible species we use the name bolets to refer to all of them. But then there are specific names according to the type like rovellons, rossiñols, ceps, llanegas. In general they are served fried with some garlic and parsley but you can have them in stews, with meat,etc. The mushrooms in the picture were part of a small sample on sale at Sant Iscle de Vallalta fair. This town is located in Maresme, a comarca or county along the coast next to Barcelones county where Barcelona City is. Once a year a market is set up to sell mushrooms and we decided to pay them a visit for the first time to try some. If you are interested, there are a bunch of similar activities in November. Check this Maresme Coast brochure in pdf to see the whole activity program.

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Barcelona Icecream Greed: Diet Followers Please Refrain

Weight loss diet followers please refrain. This is an icecream shop at Libreteria street (see pic on map at page bottom). Creamy, fat rich, sweet and delicious icecreams are part of the special food program in the city for those sinful gluttons I mentioned in the last post, that is, for Barcelonians struggling to look like Brat Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon, all in one, but are more likely to resemble Marlon Brando, in the last years of his life. It is almost winter now so don't rush for icecreams unless you live South, of course!. "Oh, shut up Hyde!" - said Jekyll again.

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Chocolate Shop: A Halloween Nightmare

Today I'm gonna be mean. I am on a diet and going back to the gym so I am gonna tell you about these nightmares of mine where I dream I am surrounded by shelves full of chocolate of all sorts, in bars, fudge, covering strawberries, or cookies, white or dark, creamy or crispy. This shop at Princesa street gives an idea about the punishment a Barcelonian on a diet suffers everyday. As it is Halloween I will impersonate Mr. Hyde for a moment and offer you my trick or treat. Just to be mean as I said take a look at the shop one more time so all of you who succumb to the sin of gluttony repent and have to go to boring sessions of spinning, and sweat, and...just what do you think you are doing?...oh, nothing Dr. Jekyll.

Halloween Story: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Chocolate Recipes at Howstuffworks

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Pumpkin Under The Sun

Halloween is here and common things start to look spooky in the dark. Shadows are longer, the autumn withers leaves and tints our dusks with yellow and red hues. Everything around us acquires strange forms that remind us of those monsters we used to imagine hidden somewhere in the back of our minds, or worse somewhere inside the closet, the open window, under the stairs, the bed, the kitchen. What looks like a harmless pumpkin may suddenly turn out to be a dwarf fishing with his rod, who knows, and who cares as long as we see things in means we are alive. Let the magic begin!

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Bougainvillea

Walking along the beach at Sant Pol de Mar near Barcelona I spotted these beautiful bougainvilleas hanging from a white balcony right in front of the sea. Don't forget to check my previous posts about flowers.

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Corn Cobs: An Ackward Design by Mother Nature

Feeding human kind from time immemorial, corn or maize, from Spanish maíz, is the largest crop in all of the Americas. Ears are female inflorescences. The tufts of hair are stigmas known as silks. Young ears are edible even if raw but once the cob grows in the summer it becomes tougher and the silk dries so you innevitably have to cook it before it dries. Maize is used as a biomass fuel, such as ethanol, to reduce fuel costs. Such practice has caused an increase in food costs and results in extremely profitable crops for farmers who obviously reject other products. The use of hybrids has grown substantially and big extensions of forest soil have been cleared up for the sake of money at all cost. Little by little, who knows, we will have "greener" cars on an emptier stomach. Talking about green and ecology, Mr. Al Gore, the Nobel peace laureate, received the prestigious Prince of Asturias award in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo.

Links to the kind fellow bloggers that have tagged me recently: Budapest Daily Photo by Zsolt, Flagstaff Daily Photo and this one goes to Sydney Daily Photo by Sally for all I owe to her :)

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Casa de Convalescencia, Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona

Casa de Convalescència, on the corner of San Quintin and Maria Claret streets, is part of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and was built by Pere Domènech i Roura, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's son. Pere Domenech was a cathedratic professor at the School of Architecture of Barcelona and architect director of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.

Meant to be a maintenance building it finally lodged the wards for terminal patients and a church.

Back in 1969 it was granted to UAB (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona). At present it is the headquarters of Fundació UAB, Fundació Doctor Robert and Josep Laporte library, UAB Idiomes Barcelona (language school), Institut de Ciències de l'Educació and Escola de Doctorat i de Formació Continuada.

This representative of the last stages of Catalan Art Nouveau or modernisme is the perfect place for important events in the health field which in fact are held more than often in its high quality facilities.

Today's picture was taken inside the Aula Magna, a place that is not open to general public. Tourists are only allowed in the entrance hall on the way to the hospital venues.

I wanted to share this beauty with all of you, the amazing brick work of the dome and the light coming through the elaborate stained glass windows.

See also this link to all my posts featuring Sant Pau Hospital.

Art With Exclamation Marks: Stained Glass at Sagrada Familia

In this picture I tried to isolate these three stained glass windows because of an unusual and reasonable resemblance with exclamations marks. Quality of the image is out of the question, that is, don't ask cause it is awful. I just wanted to highlight the punctuation marks and how they might be used as part of some publicity campaign or something to emphasize the work of Gaudi and his art, art with exclamation marks!!!

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Pomegranate (Punica Granatum) - Detailed Image

This detailed image of a Pomegranate or Punica granatum is yet another weird still part of my collection of totally irrelevant shots in this Barcelona blog supposed to deal with Barcelona pictures. I consider that the title of my page should be regarded as two isolated words. Barcelona and/or Photoblog or even a third split, photo blog. After you muse for a millisecond on my nonsensical jumble of words and before leaving you alone with the photograph and the comprehensive wikipedia link, notice the etymology of the word: "pomegranate" derives from Latin pomum ("apple") and granatus ("seeded"). Now go ahead, pluck it.

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Bolivian Dancers, NouBarris Quarter, Barcelona

This is a group of Bolivian dancers with their colorful traditional costumes, in Nou Barris quarter, Barcelona. As part of an initiative by a local guild of shops and other small businesses, an integration party was organized in an attempt to show all time neighbors what newcomers' traditions are like thus strengthening the ties among the old and new Catalans. Immigration numbers have been skyrocketing in recent years in Barcelona and the process has been so fast that it takes some time for locals to assimilate different aspects such as behavior, language, cultural activities, food. This process, which is part of globalization and is inevitable, as it is inevitable that humans travel, interact, blend, trade and make a living where they see fit, is an old issue in the rest of Europe, in countries like France, Germany or the United Kingdom and now it is Spain's turn to face it. Young people, specially students have no difficulties with ethnic or social traits but our parents and grandparents are sometimes old fashioned and narrow minded.

Stink Bug on Pumpkin: Mimetism

A stink bug trying to mimetize on the surface of a pumpkin is not related to Barcelona unless we recall that Halloween is coming and pumpkins are omnipresent in this magical time of the year. But let's face it the star of the picture is what I think is the nymph of a Southern Green stink bug or Chinche Verde in Spanish (scientific name: Nezara viridula (Linnaeus)). An amazing image of the same bug here: Nezara viridula nymph by Joaquin Portela. The peculiar name is due to the fact that when crashed or in case there are a lot of them together a foul smell can be felt. We can easily spot them on top of this smooth surface under the light of the afternoon sun because we know that such "lump" shouldn't be there but surely on first sight mimetism does the trick with birds or other predators. Now that I popped in the bug issue on today's post what better than a beautiful set of insect macros by Manuel M. Almeida (mmeida) at Flickr who also runs Imagina Fotolog

See also Insect Macros in my Barcelona Photography swicki or perform a specific search following my photography customized Google searchbox on the top right corner of the blog if you wish.

The One Eyed Cat is King

In the country of the blind the one-eyed cat is king. I took the liberty of rephrasing this wise saying. I happened to read the story by H. G. Wells many, many years ago, about a man lost in the mountains, I think it was in Los Andes. There was some sort of cataclism and there was no way back. He wakes up in a town where everybody is blind and although for some time he thinks he was bound to be the king among the unfortunate inhabitants he soon discovers that he was totally wrong, in fact***spoiler ahead***they soon decided that he had to be deprived of his eyes so he could be one of them, a normal citizen. I digress a lot today, but this poor cat, so young and yet so impaired really caught my attention and reminded me of the famous words.

My recommended blogger of the day: South Shields Daily Photo by Curly.

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Olympic Stadium on Montjuic Hill: An Inside View

The Olympic Stadium, where Barcelona 1992 Games famous opening and closing ceremonies took place is part of the Olympic Ring that is also made up of Palau Sant Jordi, the National Institute of Physical Education, Picornell swimming pools, a new baseball field, another pool, an enormous square and Santiago Calatrava's telecommunications tower. These facilities are on Montjuic hill that is topped by Montjuic castle, an old fortress facing the entrance to Barcelona port. Check my new Google Map of Barcelona at the bottom of the page to have a general view of the mountain.

Suggested links from fellow bloggers:

1. Nashville Daily Photo by Chris




2. Kansas City Daily Photo by Waldo Oiseau

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Amusement Parks: Swinging Ship Attraction at Tibidabo, Barcelona

Swinging Vessel at Tibidabo Amusement Park

There are thrilling and exciting amusement park attractions and thrilling and nauseating  amusement park attractions.

Take this swinging ship at Tibidabo for example. So beautiful a vessel can only inspire confidence in the rider-to-be! You might think "What the heck, I'll get on this one!, at least I don't go upside down or fall like a corpse with a concrete block tied to the feet". But alas! Upon the fourth or fifth swing, those friendly guys sitting upfront start grasping the security lever and they don't look that tough anymore. The beautiful lady right on the matching row on the other side was not that cute, in fact she could make it in the cast for The Exorcist V.

The usual screaming suddenly sounds like desperate calls for help and little by little, swinging up, swinging down, you remember that you got that hotdog with fries, and the memories turn so vivid!...Well folks, I hope you are not having lunch or dinner when you read this and that you visit Tibidabo Amusement Park...on an empty stomach of course.

Spiral Staircase at CosmoCaixa Science Museum

This time Barcelona Photoblog has the pleasure to upload this picture of the spiral staircase, or better said ramp to the underground levels inside Cosmocaixa Science Museum in Barcelona. Today there is no possibility to enlarge the image cause quality was not good and I hate it when someone enlarges an image just to see a noisy or blurry background. Sometimes smaller works just fine. I am way behind schedule with my posting as you know due to an excess of work both at the office and at home so I apologize for the inconvenience. I want to point out that late posting does not mean I am quitting! Thank you for coming and for the kind comments.

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Red Pepper Drying Up In The Sun

Red hot chili peppers could easily be the title of this post but I prefer to concentrate on the color and not the famous band. I don't think this is a chili pepper either but it certainly looks hot. The afternoon sun and the texture of the cement floor emphasize the shape and highlight the vivid color of the pepper which was drying up fast although not where it was supposed to be, hanging from a string on the wall nearby.

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Barcelona Harbor: Las Golondrinas Sightseeing Boat

This is a closer look on a very similar scene that I featured in my post Barcelona Harbor Cruise: A City Teaser. This time I added some extra effects to enhance the picture. Notice the Columbus Monument and the Harbor Authority building mentioned in the past and seen here from a shorter distance.

The boat is one of the older Golondrinas (sightseeing boats company) cruising the harbor and I am taking the picture from a modern vessel run by the same company sailing not just the harbor but going along the coast till the Forum Area on the other part of the city.

One of these in the image costs you around 7,70 € adults and 2.80 for kids and that entitles you to go inside the harbor for around 40 mins.

Check rest of the offers here: Barcelona Sightseeing Boats

Human or Living Statue: Goblins in Las Ramblas, Barcelona?

The Mystery of the Silver Silhouette

Some days ago, I posted about a mysterious character in Las Ramblas, asking if he was an Elf or a Vulcan. Well, I am back with another angle on the same mystery.

Generally speaking, it is not very attractive to capture a person's nape in photography. The back of someone's head is usually boring unless the faceless silhouette is expressive enough against the background. But this time, I think it works. The living statue was just as stunning from behind as he looked in the side profile picture.

Goblin, Elf, or Alien?

I still don't know if this is a goblin, a space traveler, or what. But looking at the detail—the silver fabric gathered at the point of the hat, those oversized pointed ears painted to match the skin—the man was definitely well disguised. The silver paint creates this great metallic texture that pops against the blurred city street behind him.

Some Photography Recommendations

Since we are dealing with people photography today, I am going to suggest a few links that are worth your time:

• A Flickr set about the inhabitants of Papua, New Guinea by Eric Lafforgue. It is absolutely stunning work.
• My own set about Human Statues or Street Artists on Flickr.

Chaos Machine at Cosmocaixa, Barcelona

The Chaos machine as I call it, can be found at Cosmocaixa Science Museum in Barcelona. Propelled into space by two powerful fans on the floor of the box, the balls simulate what could be the erratic movement of particles in an apparent disorder state, that is, chaos, although it is said that there is order inside this mess! Hmm, let's leave this to Maths geeks. I used autofocus in continuous mode to obtain these sort wormy shapes and added some violet overlay effect to make it more attractive.

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Montjuic Fountains: The Magic Show

Watching the iridescent colors of Montjuic fountains at dusk can be one of the most relaxing things to do in Barcelona. However, before you go, make sure you know if some important event is going on since it is possible that the fountains are dry when you get there. On this occasion, I was invited to visit Sonimagfoto, a photography related event held in Barcelona Fair venues (my thanks to Barcelona Photobloggers guys who were exhibitors promoting Barcelona bloggers' community). On walking out of the exhibition area I stumbled upon the beauty of the fountains with Palau de la Merce and MNAC in the background. My first thought was "hey there's water in the fountain" then I stood in the middle of the avenue where there's this narrow traffic sign painted on the road about to steps wide and took some shots. It's a little bit noisy but worth showing.

Previous related posts: Fountains of Montjuic, Barcelona Skyline: Magic Mountain of Montjuic, Montjuic Fountain (BW)

Funny and popular today: Elecam. A webcam with a privileged view of...?

Interesting: Rotten Neighbors (are you planning to move? check in advance if your neighbors are not as cool as you expect - you can even add yours to the database!)

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Billowing Flags of Sovereign...Cloth

A windy afternoon in the city of Barcelona, year 2007, three flags, the city flag, the Spanish flag, the Catalan flag. You are a tourist, what do you see? Nothing, just three sovereign sheets billowing in the balcony. But you know better, you know there is always history behind flags, there is always blood, "winners" and losers, territorial occupation, invasion, negotiation, abdication, overthrowing, peace treaties, armstices, scheming, alliances, treason. What is left in the end? Land, fed with the blood of millions of souls who abandon their right to live this reality in the name of a just cause. Together - apart, war - peace, hatred - love, what's left in the end?. I know that not taking sides is betraying their memory but everything was wrong from the very beginning. Remember the Spanish Civil War, remember the Spanish-American war, remember Carlist wars, remember succession wars, remember the conquest of Granada, remember the crusades...remember all those people. Anger only leads to more anger. What do I see here? Billowing flags of sovereign...cloth.

Absent Minded Giant at Port Vell, Barcelona

Oh Janet, no, not again! Hmm, bad joke! Hey, this is what happens when an absent minded giant or gegant is too busy holding the basket and the bearer is concentrated on the road along the sea in Port Vell, Barcelona, which by the way, doesn't have any handrails! Well, in fact, the gegant is already dressed that way and this is another sample of traditions and folk humor...do you think this picture will be banned like J.Timberlake & J.Jackson - Superbowl 2004. Oops!

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Spanish Souvenir: The Bull-Parade

This is an all-in-one souvenir, a bull, for bullfighting tradition followers abroad, designed and dressed the cowparade way. The curious thing is that instead of a bull hide this one has trencadis or mosaic in a clear allusion to Gaudi and other art nouveau artists. And the sort of blanket in the way of saddle must be the Spanish flag although it has the same colors as the Catalan flag. So ambiguity eliminates all barriers in order to sell and keep everybody happy. The history of mankind.

A Purple Fantasy: Bubbles at CosmoCaixa, Barcelona

Purple or magenta, the point is that this image is to be regarded more as an abstraction. I decided to follow one of those typical bubbles inside a lava lamp, you know, the ones that hypnotize and make you look like an idiot. The place CosmoCaixa again. This is more some sort of experiment and not exactly a lava lamp I guess but it reminds me of the old fashioned contrivance.

A Brief History of the Lava Lamp by Spacehopper.

How to make your own Lava Lamp

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Plasma Ball Detail at CosmoCaixa Science Museum, Barcelona

This is a detail of a plasma ball at CosmoCaixa Science Museum. Many of you have seen these balls that seem like octopuses or aliens extending their tentacles whenever someone dares to touch the surface of the crystal sphere. It was hard to take this picture since I had to avoid the use of flash on the reflecting surface and I had no tripod with me at the moment to gain stability and look for more natural light in the dark pavilion. I hope you like the result. The tiny star-like spots are just reflections on the ball that I did not edit to keep the cosmic look of the image.

Now to enrich our scientific knowledge a little bit, a definition of
plasma [YouTube video].

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Sea Urchin Skeletons or Tests at CosmoCaixa, Barcelona

What looks at first sight like a submarine photograph, the kind you would see when those robots scan a deep oceanic bottom with their spotlights is nothing but a cross section inside a crystal box full of sea urchin skeletons or tests at CosmoCaixa, an interactive science museum in the upper side of Barcelona (address: Teodor Roviralta, 47-51). Cosmocaixa is modern in design, and good in quality but above all it is fun for kids who discover that science is not just a boring book with entertaining pictures here and there, but a fascinating world full of mysterious experiments, amazing optical illusions, curious instruments and what is best, things they can touch and play with to obtain magic results. If you come with your children to Barcelona this museum is a must. This is a Google Earth snapshot where you see CosmoCaixa's location and also a closer look. As to my picture and sea urchins, I thought this cross section offered nice textures and made you think in a way about evolution of species and science.

Here is a short video to get an idea about the experiments: Defying Gravity

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Inflorescence

Some green in the middle of so many street photos may be good for Barcelona Photoblog's health. This inflorescence is not precisely my best picture but I like the tall stem and the way it stands out in this vertical photograph. So far so good, have a great weekend.

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Thirsty Turist in Barcelona

Just for a change I publish in today's post this sepia image of a turist I came across last weekend while I was visiting a wine fair just in front of Port Vell. The man was carrying a cup for the wine and a bottle of water inside his bag. It was pretty hot that afternoon and the sun was quite annoying. Nevertheless the light coming in his direction was fantastic and considering the haircut, tattoos and necklace I thought I'd better give it a try with my camera for my people photography collection.

Here are two old posts with cool hairstyles: Skamania and Social Distortion

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La Merce 2007 Celebrations in Barcelona, Capgros

Besides the splendor of La Mercé 2007 celebrations at night by the fountains of Montjuic I can only show you what happened in the afternoon at Port Vell. As usual giants and capgrosos (big heads) gathered to start the parade that serves as an early introduction to the big night show in front of the multicolored fountain that moves to the sound of music and the fireworks. For some us the real party starts too late and the site is packed with people. When you have kids crowded places late at night are practically impossible to attend. I hope you like capgrosos which are present in many Catalan celebrations all year long.

Marina and History Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona

There in the background the History Museum of Catalonia and part of the Marina. Appart from the museum this is an important zone of restaurants and specially recommended is the one of top of the building not only because it is a good restaurant but because of the magnificent views.

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La Fura dels Baus: Naumon Ship at Port Vell, Barcelona

As I am behind schedule with my posting so I will just show the whole version of yesterday's image: The Naumon ship of a La Fura dels Baus theater company. Notice the figure of the giant lying on the deck.

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The Rusty Anchor of the Naumon in Port Vell, Barcelona

To start let's say that this is just an anchor, a rusty anchor against a very bright background. But it happens that the anchor belongs to a ship and the ship is called Naumon. Naumon belongs to Fura dels Baus, an important theater company in Barcelona that among other things organized the opening ceremony for the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. It is complex to talk about La Fura in just a few lines. No matter what they do it is avant garde, polemic or at least innovative.

La Fura del Baus Naumachia: Part 1, La Fura del Baus Naumachia: Part 2, La Fura del Baus Naumachia: Part 3, La Fura del Baus Naumachia: Part 4, La Fura del Baus Naumachia: Part 5.

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La Pedrera or Casa Mila by Gaudi: Balconies and Ironwork

Casa Mila by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi is logic defiant, even hard to frame properly with the camera!.

This modernista house is also known as La Pedrera (quarry) and has been featured in my blog several times.

Today I just want to concentrate on that set of irregular balconies with elaborate and impossible ironwork.

As you notice, the stone is cut and aligned in such manner that the balcony appears to undulate, like foamy waves that cast seaweed upon the shore.

Of course the seaweed would be the floral adornments in the wrought iron.

Gaudi was commissioned by the industrialist Pere Milà to build Casa Milà in 1906 and finished it in 1910.

It's a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1984 and thanks to Caixa de Catalonia (the bank that bought the building) it was restored and opened to the public in 1996.

Mermaid Captured in La Rambla, Barcelona

Fishing for Sirens on Las Ramblas

I captured this mermaid with my trusty Nikon D70s while going on a little "fishing expedition" for human statues along Las Ramblas. And let me tell you, there were plenty of fishy things in that sea of tourists—mostly pickpockets and trileros (shell-game swindlers) trying to trick people with their cards. Those are dangerous species you definitely want to avoid playing with.

The Modern Odysseus

But this encounter was different. I felt charmed and subdued by her irresistible, silent chant. In the spirit of Greek mythology, I almost tried to tie myself up to that black cast-iron lamp post standing right next to her and cover my ears like a modern Odysseus to resist the temptation.

But it was no use. She pulled out a small jewel box covered in shells, insinuated a silver-painted smile, and I succumbed instantly. One more euro for the catch of the day!

A Marvel of Marble Human Statue

A Marvel of Marble on the Street

This is, for me, one of the greatest human statues at Las Ramblas de Barcelona. The texture, the costume, the way he holds the pose—it is all top-notch. But I have to admit, taking this photo wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

The Challenge of Shooting White on White

It was surprisingly hard to capture these white colors properly. As any photographer knows, the camera's sensor (or CCD, for us old-school shooters) can easily be fooled by large bright or dark surfaces. It tries to compensate, often making the picture look too grey or blowing out the highlights depending on where you focus.

I think I managed to balance it here, though. You can really see the "marble" details—the grey veining painted onto his face and the folds of the cowl are incredible. And that expression! The guy was smiling at me right after I gave him one euro. Sometimes a picture is worth the money, and these street artists really deserve it for the effort they put in.

A Little Art News

On a different note, I have some exciting news to share. Barcelona Photoblog has been invited to be part of Saatchi Gallery Online. It is a massive, free showcase for photographers and a world-leading interactive resource for the art community. It’s an honor to be included. You can see some of my pictures over at Saatchi Online if you want to check them out!

Giants in Catalonia: The Eagle

This is a detail of an eagle, the eagle that represents the city. Yes, it is not a closeup on a small adornment but a figure taller than me (anyone of course!) which can be admired among other giants in the Palau de la Virreina building at La Rambla, 99. This is the original figure from 1999 by Xavier Jansana. You can also see its replica at the popular site known as La Casa dels Entremesos. 

Long ago in medieval times when theater and religion used to go hand in hand in the form of mystery plays staged in the streets, giants began to play an important role in Catalan towns. One of them was the figure of L'Aliga (eagle). In spite of not being as tall as the rest of the figures, the animal was a symbol of the corresponding city and its municipal authorities, thus the crown, and was mainly used to receive important personalities that came into town. The eagle is often holding a white pigeon in the menacing beak. There was a time when the pigeon was alive and was to be eaten by participants later on. 

L'Aliga is the only giant that is allowed to dance before the altar in church and there are specific procedures to observe when walking her in processions.