Barcelona Photo Blog
Profiles: Rafel Bagot, Journalist
Rafel is a journalist and television sports presenter for TV3, I got to know him through his girlfriend Maysa and I suggested he would make an interesting interviewee to the magazine. We had talked about doing some informal photos, he likes to play basketball and so we had an idea of him doing some shots…
Valerie at Home
I have a personal project on the go which is about artists and scientists, I have an idea to do them in two distinct styles. I like the idea of photographing the artists in B&W, in a panoramic format, I want to strip out the colour and have an almost formal, posed quality, stylised even.…
Editorial Photography: Joan Laporta
On Friday I was finally given the time and place to get some shots of Joan Laporta for a magazine. These are quite interesting times if you live in Barcelona as the local elections are kicking off in October. Ironically I have already photographed Jose Montilla for his campaign website, these guys are competing for control…
Diane & Alvaro Dancing Salsa
I had to photograph Diane for an interview piece and for a change decided a more dynamic shot would be fun for this interview section that I do every month. I have also started a private project and Alvaro is hopefully going to feature in that, So it seemed a good idea to get them…
Bars in Barcelona: Quimet i Quimet, Poble Sec
This is a great place. Small, intimate with a friendly bunch of people and accommodating owners. It got busy very quickly, I had a strobe right in the corner to add some fill to balance outside light, but the main shots were the food. I basically took photos of the food before it was devoured…
Casa José, Barcelona
The email I got regarding this place was that the speciality prawn dish cooked on a bed of salt was the shoot needed. The space was very cramped, it was impossible to use a brolly on the flash fully open, there were all sorts of hot spots with the stainless steel panelling. Even with a…
Mary & Conor Wedding
Location: Blanes, Catalunya. Organiser: Crystal Events I hired a cool red Mini, that was great fun once I had worked out how to start the bloody thing! This wedding had time factored in for bride preparation shots, which I enjoy and it also allows you to get warmed up and flex the ‘photographic muscles’ before the…
Zosen, Graffiti Artist
This was another interview page shoot. Zosen is an Argentine artist with a growing reputation, we had to do this shoot on short notice because he was off to London where he had an exhibition starting. He wears the mask to stay anonymous of course and luckily it was a riot of colours and the…
Can Renji Restaurant
I have at last began to get the chance to do restaurants, I love doing interiors and architectural photography because it is something different from people shots, though in the end this was the best picture for me and qualifies as a portrait. The restaurant was busy but the staff were very patient and the owner…
The Holiday
Most of these pictures were taken within a very short time frame. I found myself along in the house after everyone had headed to the beach and after having taken so many pictures of the gang, especially the kids, using the ‘instant nostalgia’ app on my iPhone, I was suddenly taken with how quiet the…
Summer Jobs, Second Year
This is a story I also did last year. The day I was photographing Julia The art teacher (below) I also had to do one of another person for this article, I love whizzing around Barcelona with 2 or 3 different jobs to do, it keeps you on your toes and gets the creative juices…
Josep Oliver, Private Detective
When Nicola, the writer, told me about this guy I knew he would be fun to meet. The idea of private detectives always comes with iconic images, be it a laconic Humphrey Bogart or something more modern and invariably sleazy. He generously offered to pick me up in his car though the office is nearby,…
Tamariu Holiday, With Friends
I bought the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone and have been using it quite a lot. Of course any of these photo effects novelties can wear thin very quickly, especially when over used or used on bad subject matter. One good thing in terms of taking actual pictures is how slow the thing is! You…
Emily & Regis Wedding
Location: Parador Cardona, Catalunya, Spain. This location has to be the grandest I have attended for a wedding in Spain. I arrived the night before and stayed 2 nights in the end. I was working for 14 hours and knowing my bedroom was 2 mins away was a big plus, as was the real French Champagne that…
Emily & Regis Wedding Party
Location: The Forum, Barcelona, Spain. The pre wedding party for Emily & Regis was in a huge marque situated in the Forum. When I arrived I saw 2 ‘tents’ one big and next to it one that was huge, I thought to myself it must be the smaller one, I soon realised it was both, the…
Michelle Nielsen, Portraits
Michelle got in touch with me about doing some photos for her CV and publicity. I had photographed her last year for an interview piece so was happy that she came back to me for this work; it meant she must of liked the last shots I had taken, this counts as feedback I guess,…
Kiely Sweatt, American Poet
Another interview shot, this is my personal choice and as if often the case I make a point of shooting some frames composed the way I want. In this example I was experimenting with this particular cameras ability to let me use different formats. I love the square format, a hangover from my days of…
The Forum, Barcelona, Take 2
This trip to The Forum was with Naomi whom I am was teaching some photographic techniques to, we had done various theory classes and also shooting portraits with flash etc. I knew she had a certain reticence towards the idea of photographing modern architecture and I had persisted in suggesting it was an interesting thing…
Jose Montilla, a Catalan Politician
I got a call whilst cycling home from my boxing class with Andrea and it was from Xavier a member of my photography group (Barcelona Raw), he works for a design company. They needed someone to photograph Mr Montilla the next day for his election campaign in October. The rest of the day consisted of a flurry of emails…
Pau Estrada, Graphic Artist
An interview shot that needed space for text as always. I actually did not worry too much about this when shooting this image as I really liked the background and the colours and knew the magazine would just fade it out or as it turned out apply a somewhat weird pinkish wash… I have learned…
Drea & Brian Wedding, Granada
Location: Granada, Spain. A trip to Granada for work. I could not believe my luck and how I got the work was kind of convoluted, I had done a general mail out to agents and 2 months later a message from Angeles of Alhambra Weddings saying an American couple were coming to Granada to have an…
The Nature Reserve of El Remolar-Filipines
On a sunny but very chilly and windy day I and the journalist, plus the editor of Metropolitan Magazine drove to the nature reserve near the airport (El Prat) of Barcelona. The light was spectacular. I found myself shooting into the sun most of the time but the final results lack the usual diffusion, helped in part…
Mark Redden, Boat Builder
I am posting this image because it got me some work! I was contacted recently about a job in Geneva. Elena (Brain Bazaar) cited this image as one she particularly liked, I had completely forgotten about it, but remember the day quite well, not least because about a year later I was photographing a girl…
Emma Reynolds, Theatre Director
I have said before that interview pieces need a lot of dead space for text and often I shoot images for myself framed to remove this from the shot. In this example I decided to take advantage of a handy step ladder and get a little higher, we were at her office/studio where they create…
Christian Schallert, Austrian Artist
This guy is an Austrian photographer, who has made a success out of postcards and various printed products, a good example of how a business brain probably serves you better than just having good ideas. I wanted to play around with gels for this and after figuring a place to put him that showed off…