PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. ANOTHER HERRING GULL

They are called Larus Argentatus in Latin. It is the species of gull that has colonized Barcelona. They are big, aggressive and very beautiful. This is a very rare photo. I shot this kind of seagulls sometimes to the series from my window, but they very rarely drop below the tops of the trees on the Gran Via. This is one of them and I could catch the moment. Light is important, the causeway of the street is in shadow but sunlight gives full in the bird.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. THE "VOYEUR"

It seems that to observe what is happening in the street, it is becoming very popular. It looks very clear that I am not the only "Peeping Tom".

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP

Usually I do not plan the photos. Suddenly, I am struck by an image and I photograph it, as in this case. I was watching the World Cup held in South Africa when I saw that the television was reflected in the glass of my window. It also coincided with dusk, known as the blue hour. The technical conditions were complicated because there was very little light. If it were a professional assignment I would have used a tripod. But I decided to opt for the benefits of new technologies. I used a Nikon D90 with 18-55 VR zoom, at the 30 mm position and at an aperture of 5.6 at a speed of 1 / 10 of a second. With the stabilizer I could shoot handheld at such a slow speed. I photographed in raw format with an ISO of 3200, forcing a bit the possibilities of the D90. But in this case the noise does not bother me.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. MORE SWIFTS.

I could be watching TV or trying to land a F-18 on an aircraft carrier in a simulation program, but I decide to shoot, again, swifts.

It's a beautiful day and the swifts fly very low. They pass right in front of my window. This means that due to atmospheric pressure, flies and other flying insects from which they feed are at that height. They pass, time and again, at full speed, shaking with their shrieks.

When I became interested in photography, someone told me that a famous American Life photographer coached his photographic reflexes by throwing a tennis ball in the air and photographing it with an samall telelens. Of course, at that time was very complicated: there were no motor drives and you had to focus manually. I imagine him as a kind of Buffalo Bill who had replaced the Colt .45 and the silver coin by the camera and the ball.

Photographing swifts could be something similar. I used a 18-55 mm zoom, at 55 mm, shooting at bursts.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. THE GREEN CARPET

It's not a photo taken recently, but I saved it for the series from my window. It hapenned through this time of year. A strong storm left Barcelona's Gran Via like a green carpet.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. HÉLÈNE'S RAINBOW

I was talking to Hélène by phone when suddenly I said:"Hélène, I see a rainbow from my window. I have to leave you. I must take the picture" and hung up. I was a little rough, but I don't see rainbows every day.

Sorry Hélène. I dedicate you the photo.

By the way, talking about Photoshop changes, you can see here the rainbow's raw.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. WHEELS

It's Saturday and it’s a lovely day. People have left their coats at home and goes out. I decide to resume the series from my window. But this time I fixed a goal after taking a few pictures: the subject unit will be the wheel, without doubt one of the most important inventions in the history of mankind. I spend more or less half an hour to take pictures. This is the result.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW . LIGHTNING

NIKON D80 NIKKOR ZOOM 18-70. 10 SECONDS F:8 100 ASA

A few drops of rain and lighting over Barcelona’s Gran Via. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were the beginning of September rains announcing the summer’s end

/ PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. MERCÈ'S RACE

DOMINGO 21 de SEPTIEMBRE 2008 9h 15'

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. AUTUMN IN BARCELONA

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The autumn arrived to Barcelona in the calendar and in the meteorology as well. You can see, emerging from the mist, the Tibidabo church, on a hill 512 meters over sea level, from where there is a fantastic view over the city of Barcelona.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. THE IMPORTANCE OF LIGHT

A spectacular light reflected on the building in front at breakfast time. I can spend days and months without seeing a light like this. A light that can disappear in a few seconds. So I change immediately the cup of coffee for the camera. For this kind of static images we only have the frame and the light. And in this particular case only the light, because I’m shooting through a window and I cannont change the frame. For all this light is so important. The great images we see in magazines like National Geographic have been taken because the photographers spend lot of time in their assignments and take profit of lights like this one. Of course, you have to notice it and apply the right technical solution. In this case, I took a punctual light measurement on the building, to saturate the overall image, plus a polarizer filter.

It is not a bad way to start the journey.
Do compare the same building on a day with poor lighting.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. THE IMPORTANCE OF LIGTH 2

Really impressive. It’s on top of the building. I just have to wait for a special light. As it is in front of my window I can wait, with no hurry at all, working in different things. Finally the perfect light comes with the last afternoon breath.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. RAIN

No hace falta entender mucho de metereología para preveer que, como en la canción de Bob Dylan, está a punto de diluviar.

Desde mi último post "Rayos", del 12 de septiembre, hace más de un mes, no había vuelto a llover con fuerza en Barcelona.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. NORMAN FOSTER'S COLLSEROLA TOWER

OCTOBER 29 2008. RAIN AND FOG IN BARCELONA

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. RAIN AGAIN

GRAN VIA CC. BARCELONA 31 OCTUBRE 2008

BARCELONA'S BICING .PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW

This is a BICING stop, the system that allows you to use bikes between a net of stations, in front of my house. I’m a BICING fan; if I can, I always use one of its bikes to go to places in Barcelona. Although many times, I imagine that because of the BICING great success, that caught everyone by surprise, (There are already 130.000 people registered) we go in opposite directions. If I try to pick up one bike the station is empty and, when finally, after waiting for a while or searching in several other stations near by, I get one, the problem comes when I try to leave it because, as in the photograph, the station is full.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. THE END OF THE PHOTO NEWS?

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I don’t really mean the end of Photo News, it will always exist; I mean the end of the photographer specialized in this kind of pictures. Here you can see two pictures I took from my window: a fire in the house in front of mine and a motorbike accident. In the same way I took them, any of the several neighbours with camera, (I’m sure there are plenty) or pedestrians with a mobile phone, could have taken them. Not so long ago there were photographers specialized in this kind of images, with a scanner connected to the police radio, that always were the first to arrive. Not today. There will always be someone with a camera closer to the accident; and in this kind of situations to be fast is the most important thing.

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. TRAFFIC LIGHTS

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. RAIN ON BLUE

NIKON D700, 300 mm, 1/60, f:4 ISO 3.200

PICTURES FROM MY WINDOW. FULL MOON