On June 5, I went to Barcelona and to a few smaller cities nearby, discovering a part of the world that was still unknown to me. At that point, all I knew about the area was from one of Woody Allen's romantic movies... Armed with a camera for a solid nine days, I tried to capture my share of beauty from one of the most impressive cities on Earth. Back home, I went through nearly two thousand shots, selected a few dozens, improved them with Lightroom, and then chose the ten I felt were my proudest achievements. I listed them in chronological order... Enjoy!
Day 1: Smoking Alone
Day 2: Forever and Always
This one was taken during a wedding ceremony held at the Sagrat Cor, a Roman Catholic church on the top of Mount Tibidabo, in the city of Barcelona. The elderly couple united here in the same shadow happens to be the bride's parents. I like to think the car on the upper half represents both their tender past and their daughter's very near future.
Day 2: Funny How?
I came across these two seniors comfortably observing a game of pétanque not so far from the Arco de Triunfo. One of them struggled to hide a smile while the other wondered what in the hell was so funny. I'm sure I'll never know, and honestly, I don't need to.
Day 2: TRIPL3T
The FC Barcelona won the Champions League Final, gloriously completing their sweep of the three major trophies in European soccer, the other two being the Lliga and the Copa. The joyous riot was intense, and I went straight into it to get a few shots. In the likes of 2 AM, these two gentlemen walked up to me and requested a picture together. The background is slightly blurry, but we can still see the smoke of the lit flares and one very enthusiastic (and very drunk) fan perched in a tree in the upper right corner. It was a night to be remembered.
Day 3: Standing Guard
The view from the entrance of the National Art Museum of Catalonia is absolutely magnificent. I took the blue and a lot of tourists out of it, leaving us with a sky and a city that look like they are slowly fading away in front of the observer.
Day 4: Forbidden Access
This is a rock on the other side of the ten-feet stonewall separating Tossa de Mar's beach from the rest of the shore. To have the pleasure of contemplating, you have to, as you can probably guess, climb said stonewall, which still involves some degree of physical risk when you're not carrying a camera. But hell, it's worth it.
Day 5: Rocking Gigolo
The most colorful man I've encountered in Europe was crooning rock songs in Park Guell and hitting on every woman he could see, and so without giving the shadow of a damn about their husbands. Between two "Yeahs" and a "Motherfucker", I gave him an Euro to show my appreciation and then seized the opportunity to immortalize him from up close. If I suspect he was not totally sober at the time our roads met, he surely was happy to be alive.
Day 7: Mountain Abbey
The Monastery of Montserrat was constructed a millennium ago and is peacefully resting high in the mountains. A visit through it blurs the line between pilgrimage and tourism. If you are willing to do so, there is a trail the the mountain to get to the top of it, which brings me to the next picture.
Day 7: Piece of Heaven
That's the only picture of myself on this list, which also means it's the only picture that I did not directly take. It was taken by my good friend Catherine, with whom I had to do a three hour hike through the mountain of Montserrat to get to this point.
Day 8: Maiden on the Beach
On the not-really-that-fade beach of Sitgès appeared an undressed beauty that caught my eye. It's always as if she was posing for me, I love it.
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