The Great (ish) Escape to Valencia
Out of the blue my friend Piper asked if I would like to visit her in Valencia.
I have been there once before, maybe 8 years ago, and liked it a lot.
To be honest I have been uninspired to travel much the last couple of years, but I decided to get motivated and booked tickets.
I have been there once before, maybe 8 years ago, and liked it a lot.
Arriving I had the distinct sensation that my senses had been supercharged.
The sky was a vivid blue; everything just looked sharper.
One realises Barcelona is almost always under a veil of something…
I arrived on a Sunday and it was the start of the Falas. The famous festival there.
The plan was to go out in the evening and see the opening ceremony.
I faked enthusiasm because it seems like every month there is a firework display of one kind on another in Barcelona and they always seems a bit half-hearted and… interminable?
We were with Piper’s daughter and her friend.
Everywhere we went we were pursued by local musical bands who hearts belonged in Baton Rouge. The kids were hyperactive and determined to torment us as well.
Mercifully the ceremony was short and actually not too bad.
The Point of The Post
Anyway the point of this probably pointless post is the afternoon I spent at la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
I have recently bought a new lens, it’s a very wide angle I got primarily for interiors but think it is also good for events.
I have avoided using them when travelling as I like to stick to one fixed focal length and wide angles make it easy to take dramatic images, sure, but they can start to look a little gimmicky after a while.
My choice for many years has been around the 40mm mark.
This new lens (Laowa) is also a manual focus which takes getting used to, as you tend to forget… to focus.
I have settled on the hyperlocal method and setting the aperture to f5.6. It is a very good idea to tape the lens to stop the focus ring from moving.
My Dutch friend Erik who happens to be living nearby in the hills (and I suspect slowly turning into a mountain man) turned up.
He promised to be patient while I wandered around taking pictures. I never know why I believe anyone who says this.
Unless you are with another photographer the patience of any companion wears thin pretty quick.
I think the next time I will absolutely insist of being alone; I was photographing on the hoof once again.
Last time I was here I got to shoot at dusk, but Erik was obsessed with eating tacos and stocking up on booze because his one horse village had bugger all options.
At last I admitted defeat and we head off following his rumbling gut… at least the tacos were quite good and they even had Guinness. Weird.
On my last day Piper and I took bikes and cycled to the beaches.
Cycling around Valencia is a really good idea.
The weather was perfect, it was March and hitting 28 degrees, and the beaches? They seemed endless, hard to imagine they could ever be crowded, even in the summer.
And then it was time to go home. I should have stayed longer. Barcelona seemed dirty and chilly.
