Small Colorful Bouquets of Paper Flowers in Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain

In trying to keep the colorful posts cause I think most of all like bright colors, at least that's my impression, I chose a bunch of small paper flower bouquets on sale at the stalls along Rambla dels Flors. I am not happy with the level of detail, that is, upon taking a very close look at the flowers but it was almost dark, I had to fire my flash, ask for permission to shoot, watch not to be shoved onto the flowers by passerbies, hold one cigar in my left hand which the stall owner asked me to keep an eye on and last but not least finish fast so my wife and daughter didn't get too tired of waiting.

Human Statue of Warrior, Las Ramblas, Barcelona

Roman, Greek, Persian or whatever the warrior's armor is (I recommend you visit this place for more information: Helenic Art - Armors) I am sure you won't remain indifferent in front of this human statue I photographed at sunset just in front of the Liceu concert hall in Las Ramblas, Barcelona. All previous artists I caught in full daylight so I guess my first night shot is somewhat different and mysterious. Any lead concerning history and armor origin would be appreciated.

Pink Flowers Fantasy in Rambla dels Flors, Barcelona

And as one is never enough here goes my second post on flower stalls along Rambla dels Flors. Another bouquet, this time a pink bouquet or is it magenta? Well who cares! The thing is it must be nice to see this on the front page along with the previous post. Call me weird but I sometimes like to combine pictures according to colors in my blog, I find it interesting. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Have a nice day my friends.

Purple Flowers Fantasy in La Rambla de las Flores, Barcelona

A close look on a bouquet of purple flowers in a stall at Rambla dels Flors. As you know Las Ramblas de Barcelona is divided into different sections which I won't recall here not to repeat myself. One of them though is La Rambla de las Flores, a group of flower stalls set along the way which help to create a special mood in this famous part of town.

Save the Earth: Portrait of Human Statue in Las Ramblas, Barcelona

Again we rescue an old character from the archives in an unpublished shot. This time is Mother Nature's turn or at least that's his name the way I see it. It's some sort of tree holding a transparent sphere almost hidden in this picture but totally visible in my original post: Street Artists in Las Ramblas - Human Statue

PS: Remember these pictures look much better if enlarged.

Seasoned Human Statue II in Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain

This is another shot of a street artist, a human statue that appeared in Barcelona Photoblog a long time ago: Seasoned Human Statue Sitting in Las Ramblas. Seasoned because of that weather beaten look he has. His previous photography didn't show the suit too much so I thought you would also like to see this one.

Marble Living Statue With Lady In Las Ramblas, Barcelona

As today's post will deal with awards and friendship, what better than a human statue, a living statue, one of those anonymous Barcelona street artists shaking hands with a tourist, a lovely lady wearing a smile, proud and happy like a child posing for a photograph with her "hero" at Las Ramblas. This funny guy pretending to be a marble statue was featured some months ago in my blog: A Marvel of Marble Statue

I have been granted an award by Beautiful Places. A wonderful site you should visit often. Thanks so much. It is wonderful that you chose me. That really means a lot to me.

Here are the 5 blogs that made my day

1. Secrets by Quintarantino
2. Com Imagens by Daniel and Carol
3. Nashville Daily Photo by Chris
4. Wailea Daily Photo by Kuanyin
5. Momentos by Dsole

A big thank for always being so supportive and friendly. It is a real pleasure to know them and I do recommend their creative work and their human quality.

Please don't worry if you break the chain, I won't consider it to be rude since I am not an enthusiast myself. Most of all I like that someone thinks of me, that is really flattering so I took my time to really think of people I care like you. Here are the rules I have been given:

1.Write a post with links to 5 blogs that you like.
2.Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3.Display the You Make My Day logo (in this case I put it on my sidebar)
4.Tell the award winner that they have won by commenting on their blogs or emailing them the news.

Colored Flowers Bouquet Detail in La Rambla dels Flors, Barcelona

Due the success the larger picture of flower bouquets in La Rambla dels Flors had, I have decided to perform a little cropping to show you a small detail of the image in my old post. I was wondering how the saturated colors of these artificial flowers would look against the black and white picture I posted yesterday. I want to thank Strangetastes from St. Louis Daily Photoblog for the kind suggestions about other members of the City Daily Photo group who are really good at taking black and white pictures.

Flute Player in BW, Tres Tombs Parade, Barcelona

Black and white pictures are scarce in Barcelona Photoblog as many of you know. There are a few exceptions though. Take the case of this flute player, this flutist girl I captured during last Tres Tombs parade at Sant Andreu quarter. I loved the original image but sometimes I get so carried away by the light that I end up choosing the bw option. I know I am not good at black and white photography but you never know if you don't explore other fields. Not that there's anything special in the action or the subject but I do like the way she spots the camera as she walks and gives me this wary look.

Barcelona City of Angels

Not that I ever counted all the angels in Barcelona! I just wanted to use a poetic license to honor my city and what better than this angel you can admire right after you leave Sant Jaume square on your way down Carrer de la Ciutat. You will find a small set of stairs to your right and voilà.

Contrabass Player at Barcelona Cathedral

This contrabass or double bass player was part of a small band performing in front of a group of sardana dancers. The place is the square facing Barcelona Cathedral or Santa Eulalia Cathedral (video). If you check blogger labels below you'll find other musicians or instruments featured in Barcelona Photoblog in the past.

Pirena Dog Show: Boxer

A photograph of a boxer during a dog show taken from my archives. To be precise the animal was participating in a race along with other dog breeds and the show was part of Pirena 2007. To get a better idea about when this happened and what Pirena is please check my previous post: Pirena 2007

Blue Princess Costume With Crescent Moon

A lovely princess in blue looking the other way as if to look into the future with sorceress intuition. I love it when kids stop to think this way. Is it that their innocence just gives them a detached rose-colored vision of the world or do they really see beyond? Do you remember what we used to think when we were staring like this? No, you can't, but they do look as if being somewhere faraway beyond the yellow brick road.

Costumes from Around the World: Barcelona Carnival 2008

More colorful costumes. Participants went by fast so I couldn't take notes or grab the names of the countries. I vaguely remember the name was shouted over a distant loudspeaker but I must work harder with my brain trainer nintendo game to recover the original status my numbed mind once had. Please help me find out what country was this woman in blue from. Yes, I know, you don't have the pleasure to know her but any idea about her traditional dress?

Carnival in Barcelona: Football Lady

Today I want to show you another carnival image, yes, yet another. This time we leave folklore for a while and set eyes on the weird football costume the lady in my picture is pompously wearing. I don't have the slightest idea about the meaning of the dress but she did let her imagination go. I realize I am being a real pain in the a.. with so many carnival photos. As you can guess I need to go out and take some fresh shots but believe me I don't have much time lately. I am aware of that and I do know the kind of images you prefer, me too! Today I added some extra memory to my PC and everything is working faster so maybe I squeeze more minutes for the posts. I never was too serious about buying memory cards and today I realized how wrong I was. It feels like being younger or getting your sight back, if you know what I mean.

Carnival Costumes: Bolivian Devil, Barcelona Carnaval 2008

Now that we can easily distinguish the Bolivian flag next to our character we can dare to say that this is a Bolivian costume. Thanks to this clue and jumping to the conclusion that this must be some devil figure it is not difficult to investigate Bolivian carnival and discover that a devil dance or diablada is suppose to inagurate the famous carnaval in Oruro, Bolivia. The story deviates a little from our subject which is Barcelona but I guess many of you would like to learn about colorful costumes and traditions in South America. Please read the whole article about Bolivian Carnaval here. Today I was not pretty satisfied with the image so I asked my wife: What do you think? No need to say she didn't like it either. I had the hunch. But the figure is so hideous, and to make it worse, the fact that it was on top of a passing truck looked so bizarre and out of context, that I thought, hey, why not!!!. What do you think?

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?

Barcelona Carnival Costumes: Clowns in the Mirror

Barcelona Carnival costumes detail. Two clowns or is it just one, looking at herself in the mirror? As usual this picture looks better if enlarged. I could have cropped the faces but I wanted to keep the hand gesture and the out of focus clown in the far right to emphasize the fact they are on top of a carnival float. Am I digressing here? Well at least she is cute and those piercings give her quite a modern look. See if you can find her clown nose.

Carnival Costumes: Girl With Mantilla

Another carnival photograph taken in Barcelona. This time, a girl covered with a colorful mantilla or manta cloak. Our Carnival 2008 has been a total success and fortunately it started to rain just when celebrations ended around 11:30 at night.

Carnival Costumes: Three Men In White, Barcelona, Spain

This is my second image about Carnival costumes. As I said most of them are regional clothes mainly from the immigrants, the new Catalans that added the brightest colors to Carnival celebrations in the city of Barcelona. This year a new variant has been introduced in the event: the Rua, that is, all the participants in the parade (about 3000 people) walked along Passeig Maragall, a long avenue in the Nou Barris and Horta Quarters about 20 minutes from the city center (subway or bus). As you can imagine to have such an important event happening in front of your door once in a life time makes all the citizens in this part of town quite happy. No more traffic jams going downtown to find that there's no room to watch the parade and then walk your way back because the subway is packed with people or buses won't stop. It was about time authorities organized Carnivals in other areas of Barcelona. I don't know who the smart guy or girl was, but hey, you can have yourself a couple of drinks, I pay!