Streets of Sevilla

One of the places in Europe which I have been meaning to visit for ages is Andalusia. I’ve always been fascinated by the history of that particular corner of Europe, and the mix of cultures and religions (Muslim, Jewish, Christian) that existed for the span of a few centuries. I don’t know why it took me so long, but this month I finally got around to visiting it. I stayed in Sevilla for a week, which gave me plenty of time to visit the city and also take day trips to places like Córdoba and Cadiz. I missed out on places like Granada, but that gives me an excuse to go back there sometime.

Sevilla’s crown jewel is of course the Real Alcázar palace, a fascinating mix of Arabic, Mudéjar, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Other highlights include the Plaza de España and the Casa de Pilatos. In Córdoba, the highlight is the Cathedral which is a transformed Mosque, which again was built using Roman foundations.

While I visited all the touristy places, I also took time out to just walk the streets and observe and photograph people. That was easier said than done, seeing the temperatures were always in the high 30s, but I walked some 15-20km pretty much every day.

I have posted a selection of the street photographs to my web site: Streets of Sevilla. It includes photos from a number of the spots listed above, but also photos taken around the city. Despite its name, the set also includes photos from Córdoba and Cadiz.

I used a Fujifilm X-T20 camera for all photos.

Enjoy.

Links:

– Streets of Sevilla

– more international street photography

– Real Alcazar web site

“No Photo”

Saturday was not a good day for street portraits. I found three people who I thought were interesting, got my courage up to ask them if I could take their photo, and all three said no…. Well, you have days like that. I couldn’t help wondering, though, whether it was the fact that Saturday I had mounted the rather big 56mm lens, instead of the rather unobtrusive 27mm pancake lens I normally favour… who knows?

The story with the guy depicted above, though, was different… He was hanging out on Admiralsbrücke, a bridge in the Berlin area of Kreuzberg, a spot where people (locals, expats and many tourists) just love to hang out and drink beer. He was with friends drinking beer, and at some point started playing the guitar and signing in Spanish. I took these two photos and was just about to approach him when he noticed the camera and very energetically told me “no photos”, and a bunch of other stuff in Spanish which I didn’t understand. I nodded yes and that was that, but I didn’t delete the photos I’ve taken earlier.

Now, normally if people tell or show me that they don’t want their picture taken, I respect that. But in this case, I thought, if you’re playing guitar and singing in the middle of a street in the middle of a bridge in the middle of a city, you’re not exactly minding you’re own business, are you? So, whether you like it or not, being photographed is part and and parcel of making yourself a public spectacle… Hence, I decided to publish these pics.

I don’t know why he so vehemently refused to have his photo taken…. but maybe the clue lies in his tattoos…?

 

Camera: Fujifilm X-T20

Tales of Strangers #3: Walli

Part 3 in the stories behind some of my recent street portraits:

Walli

Walli was fairly reticent when I asked if I could take a some pictures of him. He had just put on his skates and was about to go skating in the park. But he didn't decline. He asked me what I was gonna use the pics for, and I explained that I put them up on my web site and on Flickr, he then went online and checked what I had been posting. Then he agreed to be photographed, and immediately struck this pensive pose which made me think that he's actually used to being photographed. I couldn't draw much information out of him, after all, skating waited…

Berlin Gay Pride 2017: May I Take Your Picture?

Berlin’s Christopher Street Day celebration was on this past Saturday. German parliament having recently ratified Marriage Equality, the event was more a matter of celebration this year than in previous years. About an hour into the event, heavy rainfalls began to come down, which didn’t really deter people, and the whole thing became a big party in the rain.

This was the first time in many years that I went back to the CSD march. It’s always been a good occasion for taking photos. This year’s didn’t disappoint either. On occasions like these, people usually don’t mind having their photo taken. I did take a number of candid shots, but the ones I’m happiest with are the ones where I asked people to pose. Gay Pride attracts many photographers, most with huge zoom lenses waiting at the side of the road. My approach is a tad different: I participate in the event, that is, I take part in the march, and I take photos from within, from close-up. When I ask people to pose, most of the time there is a connection, and there is something about the resulting pics which makes them more personal, and also makes them stand out.

I used the Fuji X-T20 camera, with initially a 56mm lens which I soon swapped for the 35mm lens as it was more suited to work from within the crowd.

For more of my Gay Pride photos, [click here]. Photos from earlier CSD events can be found on my Berlin page. Enjoy.

Portraits, Continued

I’ve been doing some more portrait work these past couple of weeks, both indoors and out, trying to do a mixture of both formal and informal settings.

Cameras: Fujifilm X-T20 and X-E2, with 35mm and 27mm lenses.

For more recent portraits, [click here].

Eduardo

Flower Power Grlll (Karen)

Flower Power Grrrl

Patrick in the Park

Katharina & Domenic (Fun Fair Fun)

Patrick in the Park

London Street Photos (Part 3)

This is the final instalment with photos which I took in London’s Brick Lane last week.

Camera: Fujifilm X-T20 with 35mmR1.4 lens 

London Street Photos (Part 2, Colour)

More street photography from London, this time in bright Velvia colours. Taken in and around Camden Market in North London, and Brick Lane in the East End. Both these places attract street photographers, I saw quite a few out and about. Most seem to use zoom lenses (some of them obscenenely huge). I myself prefer prime lenses, here I used the 35mm. For some reason I don’t like zooming in on people – I feel like a Peeping Tom doing that. But maybe that’s just me? Did I watch too many bad movies?

Camera: Fujifilm X-T20 with 35mmR1.4 lens. 
 

London Street Photos (Part 1, Black and White)

It’s been a while… here are some new street portraits and street photographs from a sunny day in London. There is nothing like travelling to get the creative juices flowing. That, and decent weather, i.e. light. 

All images shot with a Fujifilm X-T20 camera and the 35mmR1.4 lens. Colour photographs to follow…

Meanwhile, back at Hermannplatz…

One of my favourite hang-outs in Berlin is Hermannplatz, a square at the intersection of Neukoelln and Kreuzberg, two traditionally low-income parts of Berlin who have been heavily gentrified in the last few years. It’s a fascinating place where many of the cultures that make up modern Berlin meet: the hipsters from all over the Western world, kids whose parents or grand-parents once came  from Turkey and Lebanon, newly arrived refugees from Syria, Africa and other places. I wrote about this intersection of cultures in a lengthier article last year, after having photographed in the square all of that summer and fall. Now with summer here, it’s again a good place to hang out, to meet people and to photograph.

The gentleman with the beard pictured above is a street musician who plays the guitar and other instruments, mostly in Berlin’s underground. He seems to have quite a reputation (he told me his name so I can check his videos on YouTube, but I managed to forget it…), and the other two guys were busy taking selfies with him when I asked if I could photograph them. As you can tell, they were happy to oblige. The encounter was centred on the musician, who told me all about his music; and I did not get to ask the other two guys about their background. But if you look at the scars on their faces, I am sure there is much history there as well… I guess, that’s for another day then. I’m sure we’ll meet again. On Hermannplatz.

To view more of my street photography, click here .
To view more street photography from Hermannplatz and Neukoelln, click here.

The photos above were taken with a Fujifilm X-E2 and a 27mm lens.

As Summertime Ends

With summer drawing to a close in these parts of the world, it’s time to wrap up those summer photo shoots. I’ve still been out and about in Berlin over the last sunny weeks and captured more street photographs, a selection of which I added to the sets I uploaded a couple of months ago: The Singer On the Couch and Scenes of Summer, the former being in black and white, the latter in colour. As before, the bulk of the new colour photos were shot with the Leica X2, and all the black and white ones with a Fuji, this time the X-T10. These are the final additions to these sets, and I must say I’m happy how they turned out.

Apart from the images which I added to these sets, I also shot a bunch of street photos around my neighbourhood, most of them with the Leica X2, which I will be adding later as a separate set – these photos really stand on their own and don’t really fit in with the happy-go-free images of the other two sets.

So, here’s to a good summer almost past. Enjoy.

Links: 

– The Singer on the Couch (black and white set)

– Scenes of Summer (colour set)

– The Singer on the Couch blog entry 

– Scenes of Summer blog entry