The Can Roca Brothers in Girona

A love of photography and the arts seems to go hand in hand with an appreciation of fine food cooked magnificently by artisans. Barcelona with its Catalan culture of Mediterranean cuisine has a generous helping of world-class restaurants.

Catalunya’s star chef Ferran Adria has the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli several miles North of Barcelona. This restaurant booked up years in advance and closed for half the year for cutting edge research for new dishes and reinventing traditional ones.

Well we’re very pleased that Barcelona once again is well located next to the world’s new best restaurant, El Celler Can Roca which once again is North of Barcelona in the heart of Catalunya.

Bottle and bottles of fine wine at El Celler Can Roca

El Celler Can Roca is close to Girona, a beautiful city in its own right. In fact, Girona equals Catalunya for Fine Art architectural photography and is an amazing place to spend a wedding, honeymoon or just a weekend getaway. It’s one of our favourite places for travel photography in Spain!

Now it’s possible to pair up a visit taking pictures of Girona and enjoy a meal in the best restaurant in the world too. You’ll need to book up far far in advance as tables are highly desirable and sought after.

Congratulations to the three brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi who run El Celler Can Roca restaurant!

Can Sunyer 48,

17007 Girona

+34 972 22 21 57

All photos of the Holi Colour Festival in Barcelona taken with the Nikon D3 and Nikkor 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.4 and 180mm f2.8 prime lenses and polished with Color (sic!) Efex Pro 2 or Silver Efex Pro by Nik Software/Google.

Thanks to www.HoliBarcelona.com for organising the festival!

The Fuji X-Pro1

Like most photographers, we love our gear. It’s definitely not essential for beautiful Barcelona pictures, but a good camera can change the way you photograph. We’ve been reviewing the Fuji X-Pro1 and X-E1 (Sexy One) separately and thought we’d make a video comparing the two to see how they compare.

The Beauty of Light

 

 

Plaça del Rei, Barcelona in the Blue Hour

 

 

A big thank you to Marian and Fujifilm Spain for the loan of their cameras!

Perhaps thankfully, it can be quite difficult to find for the first-time visitor. This gives an initial impression of serendipity, usually at the end of an enjoying walk through the Barri Gotico’s (Gothic Quarter’s) narrow streets.

For the best pictures of Barcelona, it’s important to know not just how to get there, but also the best time to visit for the right light. The sun can be harsh at some times, giving the hard shadows necessary to capture the textures. At other times, the square is lit indirectly through the foliage of Acacia trees and the light is softer, often requiring a tripod or higher ISOs.

Flowers in the Fountain

At night, the street lights are LEDs which can burn out the highlights if you’re not careful. Don’t worry – if you want pictures of Placa Sant Felip Neri for your portfolio while you’re here, we’ll work with you to make sure you get them.

It’s as well to say something of the troubled past of Placa Sant Felip Neri. It was built on a mediaeval cemetery, the Montjuic del Bisbe. Antoni Gaudi, the famous Catalan Modernist architect was coming here when he was hit by a tram.

But most obvious are the pockmarked scars on the walls of the Baroque church, ‘San Felip Neri’. It was built in the 18th century, but sustained the damage in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War after a bomb was dropped on the square. Tragically, 42 people, including 20 children were killed in the bombardment.

Unmentioned by most is the living history of this horrific past. Brave judge Baltasar Garzon, who had Chilean dictator General Pinochet arrested in London, has attempted to look into the villains and victims of the Franco era.

For his efforts he was put on trial in 2012 for violating the 1977 ‘amnesty’ in which the past of Franco-era unexplained disappearances was locked up and deemed irreproachable. Tellingly, someone has written ‘Always Remember The Victims Of Fascist Regimes’ on the the church wall, and a memorial plaque has been put up in 2007.

The square feels charming however, and is certainly one of the most attractive locations in the city. It’s fountain is calming, and the temperature is generally warmer in winter and cooler in summer than elsewhere.

There’s now a Catalan school in Placa Sant Felipe de Neri, and playtime is incredibly ‘lively’. The little square fills with laughing, running children who play football and splash one another with water from the fountain.

Children Play In Sant Felip Neri

It was redesigned in the Fifties by an architect called Adolf Florensa, who sought to create an ancient-looking square. The city’s Museu del Calçat or Barcelona’s Shoe Museum is here.

If you’re planning a photoshoot in the square after seeing the Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, bear in mind that the umbrellas in the little cafe (Hotel Neri H&R) which used to be red are bright blue now.

Placa Sant Felip de Neri also has a merry cast of local chaps who like to play football, argue amongst themselves and occasionally sing boisterously after drinks. I’m grateful for one such fellow for this photo, made completely in-camera (no Photoshop).

Enjoying A Bath

Address: Plaça Sant Felip Neri, 08002 Barcelona

Eligibility: Professional Photographers

What: ‘The relationship between man and the environment … in a sequence of a minimum of 10 up to a maximum of 12 images. Entry submissions must be a self-contained series of images (about) the interaction between man and the environment with acute vision and contemporary visual style – creative, groundbreaking and unintrusive.’

Prize: A Leica M camera and a lens worth 10.000 Euros and a cash prize of 5,000 Euros.

When: 15 January and 1 March 2013.

How: http://www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/

Fresh for 2013, Barcelona Photography Courses has been redesigned. We’ve got more pictures of Barcelona, a greater focus on what we teach, Holistic Photography, instead of where we teach it, and a blog to share what we’ve been up to. We’d be interested to hear what you think!

Oh, and if you can find a mistake, we’ll give you a photography eBook as thanks!