Barcelona 4
After the heavy rain stopped we decided to walk around the Spanish Village and check the various streets and buildings that represented Spain as it was in the early 1900s. There were many shops and while my wife explored some of the art, clothing and foods, I photographed the buildings and streets. This is the last in the Spanish Village series.
The three photos I am sharing this morning show views of three different streets. (You can see more by checking my Photo of the Day Blog.). Barcelona was founded as a Roman City and some of the original city walls are still visible in the Gothic Quarter. I liked the Roman arches seen in the architecture around the city and represented in the first photo this morning and in a few of the previous photos. The second photo shows a narrow street made of cobblestone steps and colourful buildings. The third shows another street with a church at the end. Along with photos of other streets, I am sharing a couple more doors and windows this morning.
You have probably noticed that there aren't many people in the photos. I assume that was because of the rain. When we were getting ready to leave, the rain had stopped and more people began to show up. This was the least crowded place we visited during the 18 days we were in Europe. It was also the only day it rained.
Barcelona 3
Thanks for the positive comments regarding yesterday's photos. A few of you wondered if I was upset about the rain after flying to a different country. Of course I would rather it didn't rain that day, but since Everything's a Picture, I looked for different types of images - like those I sent yesterday. In fact, they were among my favourite of this village.
The first one today is a cropped view of the buildings across the square. (I've uploaded the original to my Blog this morning). I liked the windows, baclonies and patterns so I decided to take out the arches below.
For a guy like me who likes making photographs of doors and windows, this little village was a dream come true. The large door with balcony, columns, open window/door above and greenery was very interesting. In the Spanish Village, artisans created their art in the shops. The lady in the window was making beautiful Spanish dresses, but I liked the window with bars and a few plants. She is looking down which added mystery to the photo. I didn't know what she was doing until after I made the image. There were iron bars on many windows but I am not sure if this is a recent addition or that was the way they were built in the past.
Many buildings had interesting designs and artwork which I photographed as much as I could. I asked permission to photograph bottles of olive oil and the lady agreed to a few. Most places had "No Foto" signs in their entrances. I photographed archways in this village and everywhere else that I travelled in Europe.
Barcelona 2
Yesterday we rested much of the day to catch up on sleep but I was able to review most photos taken in Barcelona and Villefranche. I debated how to share photos taken on my European Vacation. Yesterday I shared 3 photos on my email lists but uploaded 10 images to my Blog. I think I will continue that approach - upload more images to my Blog every day. So, if you like the theme, you will see more by clicking the link to my Blog in the last paragraph.
Since this was my first trip to Europe I approached it as a photographic assignment - To capture images of each destinations that reflect my feelings about them. The first challenge in Barcelona was using a camera that I was not familiar with and the second was the heavy rain on the first full day of shooting.
We purchased tickets on the Hop On-Hop Off Tour Bus and headed out towards some of the tourist sights we had selected. However when the recorded tour guide mentioned the Spanish Village, we decided to check it out and we were glad we did! It was built for the 1929 World Fair and is representative of the style of buildings in the various regions of Spain at that time. The plan was to destroy it after the fair, but it was so popular that it was decided to make it a permanent open-air museum.
It rained very hard so we stayed under the arched entrance to the town square and hoped it would soon stop. I decided to make a few images of people who were also waiting for the rain to stop. Not being used to the zoom on the camera, I fiddled with it a bit, composed the first shot, then made the image. People were moving around so by the time I was ready, the scene had changed. Slow zooming was the first disadvantage with the new camera! However, since "Everything's A Picture" I decided to shoot anyway, otherwise I wouldn't take any photos at all.
I saw a man with an apron walking across the square and waited for him to walk into the scene. I thought it would be an interesting image because other than the fact he was talking on the phone, the scene would have been timeless.
As well, the viewfinder in the camera isn't as good as my DSLR so I also found it difficult to see what I was actually getting. I had set the camera to P rather than fully automatic and had to trust that the images would be OK. I saw a group of young people run out in the pouring rain so I composed and focus as soon as I could as they posed for one of their friends. I cropped out most of the light background and the expressions on the faces of the kids show the fun they were having. I've uploaded a second image of the scene and you can see the different expressions after standing in the heavy rain for a few seconds.
I saw a person with an umbrella walk out into the square so I composed the photo as soon as I could then waited for her to reach the centre of the square before shooting the picture.
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