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?

Some days ago I published Human Statues at Las Ramblas: Elf or Vulcan?, Barcelona. It is not very attractive to capture people's nape unless the faceless silhouette is expressive enough against the background. This time, on the contrary, the living statue was as stunning as it looked in the side profile picture. As it happened then, I still don't know if this is a goblin or what. Anyway, the man was well disguised. As we are dealing with people photography today I am going to suggest a set on Flickr you will never forget:

- A set about inhabitants of Papua, New Guinea by Eric Lafforgue.
- My set about Humans Statues or Street Artists
- I have started a new blog that compiles blog posts, news, some videos and good widgets all related with Google Hot Trends list. Any of the tags referred to as volcanic or on fire are a gold mine if you manage to include them in your post and still make some sense. Please try Hot Google Trends and tell me what you think.

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

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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

This mermaid was captured with my Nikon D70s while fishing for human statues along La Rambla, Barcelona. Fishy things there were indeed in the sea of tourists, like pickpockets or trileros trying to swindle people with cards, but those were dangerous species to play with. Besides I felt charmed and subdued by the irresistible chant. I tried to tie myself up to a lamp post and covered my ears like some modern Ulises but then she pulled out a small jewel box covered in shells, insinuated a smile and I succumbed. One more euro!

A Marvel of Marble Human Statue

This is for me one of the greatest human statues at Las Ramblas de Barcelona. It was hard to capture white colors properly. As you know the ccd of the camera can be fooled by bright or dark surfaces thus making the picture too white or too dark depending on which surface you focus. The guy was smiling at me after I gave him one euro. Sometimes a picture is worth the money and these street artists really deserve it.

Note: Barcelona Photoblog has been invited to be part of Saatchi Gallery Online, a free showcase for photographers and a world leading interactive resource created for the art community. See some of my pictures here at Saatchi Online.