Classic Cars at Auto Retro Barcelona: Jaguar

Thanks to some of you I found out that the red car on the right in my recent post about Auto Retro was a Jaguar and you even revealed some more details about the model. Well, in this image I can tell that we are also dealing with a Jaguar but as homework it is your turn to guess again the particular model.

Gaudi Animals: Snails in Sagrada Familia

Not too long ago I showed you the picture of two lizards by Gaudi on Sagrada Familia's cloister walls. 

To enhance this aspect of Gaudi's creation, that is the use of mythology and animals in his work I leave you with these snails that seem to crawl as slowly as my posts go appearing this week.

Remember that modernisme was very fond of nature elements, floral or animal. I cannot imagine the faces of Gaudi's fellow citizens looking at these snails feeding on a giant lettuce wall.

Classic Cars in Barcelona

If you can see both colors you are not Daltonic or color blind...I digress. These are classic cars in the past Auto Retro exhibition in Barcelona. The one on the left is an MG but I can't tell the other make. I know there are some fans among you, for example Curly from South Shields in the UK, who can help me with this.

PS: After I wrote these lines I paid Curly a virtual visit and found out he underwent an urgent operation recently so some words of support would be just great.

Update: The car on the right is a Jaguar XKE type "E". Thanks for your help in the comments.

Bronze Sculpture of Lady Near MNAC

© All Rights Reserved

Some months ago I posted a picture of this sculpture taken from a different angle and including MNAC building in the background. The woman figure in bronze is such beautiful piece that I thought I should give you a different approach, this time using some HDR treatment. As I am not a pro it has a lot of imperfections but I like the result. If you click on label "bronze" you will be able to see both posts together (at least for now). Happy New Year everyone!

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images statue sculpture montjuic art hdr nikon+d70s

The Muses at Palau de la Musica Catalana by Montaner in Barcelona

In spite of the awful framing and the rest of technical errors, due to the secrecy of the snapshot,(remember it is generally not allowed to take pictures inside Palau de la Música Catalana or Catalan Music Concert Hall) you are able to see just there on the left, at the end of the stage...

Six of the Nine Muses by Eusebi Arnau coming from the wall like silent ghosts.

There were three ushers and a lady carrying a staff badge, personally reminding me not to shoot, although some people in the middle of the audience managed to take out their compact cameras and I could see some flashes fired. Nevertheless, whenever I raised my reflex someone came and told me off.

Anyway, this stolen glimpse at one of the altars of Catalan modernisme made breaking the rules inevitable and almost justifiable.

Optical Illusion at Palau de la Música, Barcelona

© All Rights Reserved

On the Palau de la Música façade in Barcelona you can admire this sculptoric group protruding out of the wall. I was just shooting randomly and back home I discovered this white trail behind a jet plane that funny enough seems to come out of the soldier's groin (my rotten mind!). The sculpture by Miquel Blay is larger and it is located on the corner of the building. The group is entitled La cançó popular catalana (popular Catalan song) and its main figure is a maid located right below. The soldier on top is a copy of a silver statuette of St. George in the Palau de la Generalitat chapel.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images architecture jet sculpture nikon+d70s

Via Laietana in Barcelona

© All Rights Reserved

I don't have much time due to these days of Christmas celebrations but I want all of those nostalgic people craving for a fresh image of Barcelona to have their daily "dose". So here you are, an image of Via Laietana, one of the main streets crossing Barcelona from the Eixample towards the sea and one of the first ones to appear in the history of the city. It was built in 1907 and it's named after an Iberian tribe who dwelled in this zone before the arrival of the Romans. The building you see in the image is the headquarters of La Caixa, an important savings bank.

Park Güell: Chocolate, Candy and Marzipan

Remember Hansel and Gretel story where two kids find a house in the woods made of chocolate, candy and marzipan, well maybe you imagined something like this. I don't think Brothers Grimm were alive to see this masterpiece of Catalan modernisme so I guess Gaudi read a lot of fairy tales. 

One of the major works of Gaudí in Barcelona, Park Güell is a public park made of gardens and architectonic elements like this beautiful house with an incredible roof made using the trencadis technique, that consists in breaking tiles to compose a mosaic. As usual Gaudi went beyond many architects of his time and of generations to come. 

Gaudi's Lizard at Park Guell, Barcelona

© All Rights Reserved

Resuming my visit to Park Güell, and browsing my pictures I found this closeup of Gaudi's lizard with a beautiful tourist in the background. I guess I could have entitled the post as the Beast and the Beauty but I prefer better keywords in my headings. The reason I came this close is simple, the monster (looks like the Big White in famous Jaws jumping out of the water) is so "photo trodden" that you can't hardly take anyone by surprise. From here I would like to thank my anonymous model for her casual appearance in the image.

Recommended: A new tool to search for amazon products called Amaznode. I am not promoting anything here but it called my attention for its innovative performance. Say for example you look up "Gaudi" in the books section, a whole bunch of interconnected thumbs with the book covers in 3d appearance start multiplying in front of your face.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images gaudi park+guell catchy+colors mosaic modernisme nikon+d70s

Christmas Shopping

© All Rights Reserved

It's Friday and Christmas weekend is coming!. Shops are out there getting ready for skyrocketing sales. Me, I am just playing with colors in those scintillating Christmas balls trying not to get too affected by the throng. The new year is around the corner back again! This one passed me by and caught me unawares. Hey, cheer up! Let's go look for our presents. Oh no, not coal again!

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images red christmas catchy+colors nikon+d70s

Color Markers

Some colorful markers to celebrate my dsl service is up and running again. Thanks for your patience. These improvised boxes I photographed yesterday while singing Christmas carols in my daughter's class. Merry Christmas my friends!

Citroen DS: Classic Cars at Auto Retro Barcelona

Citroën DS, one of the most beautiful classic cars as seen at one of the parking lots in front of Fira de Barcelona at Plaça Espanya during past Auto Retro Barcelona exhibition last Dec 10th.

As I said before I am not much of a classic car enthusiast but I can see beauty and art in such nice design.

For the picture I had to climb a wall which gave me an attractive perspective. The orange reflection on the left comes from the plastic barriers next to an improvised mechanical inspection ramp nearby but in my opinion not even this noise can alter the nice look of the DS, the elegant sleek shark of classic automobiles.

Montserrat: The Jagged Magic Mountain

The mountain of Montserrat used to be part of a delta in the Terciary Period. Sediments came from a mountain range located on what today is the Mediterranean Sea and were deposited on a narrow shallow sea that reached the Atlantic Ocean. From those times are the conglomerate rocks present in the area which are very resistant and that form those familiar monoliths that Gaudi perhaps evoked in his famous knights of La Pedrera's chimney stacks. In between the monoliths there are fractures of clay continuously altered by erosion thus the isolation of the big solid structures and the numerous caves. I mention all this because I was always amazed when some geology teacher back in my childhood days said: "You see these layers here, well, this region was once under the sea" - and you wondered, "how come!, we are miles away!". So this post goes to all those would-be scientists who still feel nostalgic about long gone field excursions.

Tapas: A Spanish Temptation

© All Rights Reserved

This is a picture of a Spanish tapa called pincho or pintxo served in the Basque country in the north of Spain. There is a huge variety of them but they share a common feature they carry a toothpick that holds them to the slice of bread and that you are supposed to keep so they can count how many you eat. Pintxos are part of the big family of tapas that are known all over Spain especially in Andalusia but this way of serving them has rooted in many places of the country. In Barcelona there are lots of Basque restaurants preparing delicious combinations on that little piece of bread but they will never ever taste (this is common opinion I guess) as good as the ones you can have up North in San Sebastian, Bilbao, Vitoria, Trapagaran, Baiona, Mungia or Ulzama and Pamplona (these last two in Navarra). I am sure I am leaving someone out but it would be too long a list. I have another image to show you in coming days about pintxos. I would haven taken many pictures but I preferred to eat.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images food tapas cuisine gourmet nikon+d70s nikon

The Old Man and the Sea

© All Rights Reserved

Yet another shot of the beach in Barcelona city. I was trying to capture that quite restrictive sign post using the sea and the rocks as a background when this old man suddenly appeared on the corner of my eye. I had nothing but the sign in my picture and that was not too much appealing so instead of taking some steps back which would make the man notice I zoomed out and included him in my picture to improve composition.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images sea beach nikon+d70s

Green Peppers

© All Rights Reserved

These green pickled peppers called my attention while we were visiting the medieval market of Suria. I took many pictures there so you will hear the name of this town near Barcelona in many of my posts. I also like the color of those olives back there. I am not fond of peppers myself but they really make a good subject for a picture. I have managed to post today through one of my friends. Have a nice weekend!

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images peppers food nikon+d70s

Couple at the Beach in Barcelona

© All Rights Reserved

Today I am in a bit of a hurry but of course I won't let you without your daily picture of Barcelona. This time I chose another romantic image in the same line of a very recent post: Love Me Tender. As you can appreciate the world could be falling appart and they would still be holding each other. I think they call it love, an ancient "illness" as old as humanity itself.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images love beach nikon+d70s

A Dog's Day

© All Rights Reserved

As far as I am concerned I had no pictures of dogs. Recently I posted my first cat so I've got my classic animal pictures after so much time. Maybe I can even start an animal photoset at Flickr, who knows!. Last weekend, on our way to the Auto Retro exhibition in Fira de Barcelona and some steps ahead of me was this beautiful dog, a boxer or a bullboxer I guess (please correct me if I am wrong) walking unleashed near his owner. The light was so good that I started to chase him trying to find the right moment. I got his butt all the time in my viewfinder but suddenly he paused to wait for the master and here is the result. Then came the eternal question black and white or color. I settled for bw, using a tritone combination that looks more like sepia but maybe you prefer the original color version.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images dogs dog+breed sepia vignette nikon+d70s

Palm Trees in Barcelona

Palm trees are common in Barcelona, almost 5,000 according to official figures. Besides the Mediterranean fan palm native of Catalonia, you can also find the Canaries palm or some members of the Washingtonia family like the California fan palm or the Mexican fan palm. In today's picture you can see the striking colors of Phoenix dactilifera or date palm tree and its fruit. In recent years a foreign species of bird has invaded Barcelona choosing such trees to nest and feed on the colorful and tasty dates. As many of you already know this bird is the quaker parrot.

Barcelona Street Artists: Cleopatra in a Trance

You have seen her before on this site. This time I managed to come up closer to Cleopatra to take a good look at those bracelets, those rings and the pearl tiara with the lethal asp.

Apparently she is still in a trance induced by the dreadful bite although she is quite aware of the noise of those coins falling in a can at her feet.

As you can see she is sitting on a chair which is quite more comfortable than standing still like many of the human statues along Las Ramblas: wise girl indeed!