Barcelona Photo Blog
Berlin, A Stranger in a Familiar Town
I have been meaning to go to Berlin for years. That it is so close and easy to get to is why I have never managed it till now; that is often the way, because planning big exotic trips to faraway places is always easier because you actually have to plan them, popping over to…
Fresh Faces Model Competition
I recently spent a day photographing an event, I was also interviewed for it and below is the unedited text I supplied them, I don’t know how it will be edited, it rambles and rants a bit, but what the hell, I wanted to get something new online… You were recently shooting Fresh Faces 2012,…
Castelldefels, The End Of The Season
On impulse I hopped on a bus near my place and headed out to Castelldefels. I have been meaning to go there for a while and a recent wedding in the vicinity reminded me of this. I arrived and instantly picked up on the holiday town ambiance, Barcelona and even Badalona though having beaches feel…
Interview Portraits for Magazines
I realise I am behind in posts and it seems like a good idea to do one covering the interview photos I take every month. I have said this before, that doing these is not going to make me rich, but I do get to meet people, who for the most part, are interesting and…
Anna & Danny Wedding
Location: Castelldefels, Spain. My first wedding in quite a while. I had kind of forgotten about this type of photographic work, but when the offer came up I actually put on hold a trip to the south to be able to do it, because A) work had been quiet for a while and so a…
El Jardinet Dels Gats
I don’t do so many articles for this magazine anymore, but I got called up to do this at short notice and being free said yes. I know this little park quite well, situated at the back of the Boqueria market but, I suspect, not much visited or written about in guide books, it is…
Joanna Mills, Irish Runner
In the run up to the Olympic games in London I got a call from a guy who I had worked with in the past, he is a sports journalist and the last time we met was at the Marathon in Barcelona where he was helping to promote the marathon in Belfast. This time he…
Apartments & Interiors
I love doing architecture and interiors because it is a completely different process to photographing people; each can perhaps act like therapy for the other if you are feeling a little burnt out or jaded. These pictures were for a friend who wanted to rent his apartment on an exclusive site, I was flying out…
Anabelle Veritas, a Play
I photographed Julian Wickham for an interview piece and as is often the case it led to the chance to do some more work. He runs a theatre group (The English Drama School) that teaches the craft to both native and non-native English speakers and they actually perform the plays for the public to go see in…
The Girl in the Governor’s Tower
¨There is a derelict mansion in Alella, near Barcelona, called El Torre Del Gobernador, it is a labyrinth of rooms and corridors, some painted, vivid, with an obsession for ornament and detail, that is splendid, bordering on vulgar. There are fairy-tail turrets of glazed tiles fit for a Disneyland princess and here is where I…
UBIS, Geneva
I was contacted by Elena Panizza, head of Brain Bazaar about this job. I was very pleased to be asked, after all, it combined travel and decent renumeration, though, in truth, living in Barcelona means I am no longer sure what that is, as very few here want to spend money on work that might be professional when they…
My New Website
I woke up one morning last week and just erased my old website. I then checked out some templates on WordPress and got to work on a new one. I am not au fait with coding as such, so customising took some time and eventually, in exasperation, got some help from my friend Piper, when it came…
Olga & Carlos
These 2 were my old flat mates for about a year, they moved out when Olga became pregnant. She asked me about doing some photos and I got this idea in my head that was something between a portrait and a still life, I wanted to include a lot of objects that were symbolic and…
Agata Restaurant, Barcelona
These pictures were for a restaurant that was creating a new website. I got a call from a girl I know called Freddie, who is a designer and also runs a Meetup group for such people, I sometimes go along as it is a very relaxed social night out, rather than the typical networking events, which always feel…
Sagrada Familia, Never-Ending Story
This was for an article in the Metropolitan magazine. I knew nothing about the story or the person nor had I ever met the writer. The pictures were taken in the summer but the article did not appear till October. I am not a big fan of the Sagrada Familia, to tell the truth, I…
Micheal Witty, Walking Tours
I had to meet Mr Witty at a hotel near plaza Catalunya, the place was full of old German tourists and the vague description I had meant I was sure half the people there could have been him. When someone I thought was most likely to be him did appear and proceed to wander around…
Hollis Duncan, Bike-Cross Fan
This photo is an example of me having an idea in my head and striving to make it real. I have probably said before, that one does not do these interview pieces for the money, but they, at least, give you pretty much free reign to do as you please. I had an image of…
More Experiences with a Home Studio
I have not done much fashion myself but years ago, back in London, used to work with a friend who did, I was doing the post production in Photoshop which was my big obsession at the time, I had taken a hiatus from photography and was working as a designer at a big agency. I…
My Experiences with Home Studio Photography
Almost all my work involves me going places and photographing people in their homes or somewhere convenient for them. I have on occasion used my home as a make-shift studio, the walls are of a light enough colour and I can get just about enough distance that shooting portraits wide-open it is possible blur away…
Barcelona TV Interview
I got interviewed by a local TV company. It might seem churlish or fake modesty but I really did not wish for it to happen. A good friend who knows someone there thought it would be a good idea, she is not the vindictive type so I am sure she did it as a favour.…
Paolo Guidoni, Opera Singer
Paolo is one of those people you just get on with. I went there with an idea to experiment with a lighting effect that would give me an almost painterly effect; quasi Renaissance perhaps. As a result I fluffed around a little experimenting with different things, but Paolo was very patient and amenable. I photographed…
On using retro camera apps on smartphones
I have decided to do a post dedicated to retro style images usually caught on todays smart phones using special apps. I use Hipstamatic quite a lot and love the effects it can produce, I started using it maybe 2 years ago. After experimenting I soon found a combination of camera and film type I liked…
Profile Photography: Joan Calvet Merce, Wine Tester
Joan works for a wine company as a taster. To get to his house I took the Bicing to what is the last stop in that direction, essentially Sarría, it is all up hill and with a heavy camera bag quite a challenge. Once you are in the rarified world of this barrio you soon…
Women at Pregnancy Services
These are images for an article about people who offer services to pregnant women in Barcelona, aside from the usual midwifery this includes such things as massages etc. I did pictures of several of them together at the offices where they worked. There was a nice amount of white space and natural light to play…
Creative Spaces: Flora Miserachs
This was the last in a series about people who have created interesting spaces in apartments or other essentially non commercial spaces. Flora’s kind if stretches this conceit a little because the actual space is an outhouse at the bottom of her garden. I was late in photographing this place because it was still being…