The Watcher

October 31, 2016

In the spirit of Halloween I decided to do something a bit different this week and post an image I find to be a bit creepy.

This ghost-like, golem-like creature towered over me one day in Barcelona. I have to say, I felt a little eerie looking up and seeing this thing staring down at me. It was easily three times my size and the dark void of its eyes watched me very intently the entire time I was in its presence. Fortunately, it never moved…it only watched…and I was able to escape unharmed down a nearby staircase.

In case you are curious what this really is, it is one of the statuesque chimneys atop the roof of Casa Milà (La Pedrera) in Barcelona, another fantastic building by architect Antoni Gaudí. This chimney/statue/creature greets you when you climb the stairs and reach the rooftop. It is one of a dozen or more functional statues on the roof and was easily my favorite.

Boo!

Happy Halloween! :)

Fingers to the Sky

July 11, 2016

This is the Diagonal ZeroZero building in Barcelona. I think it is one of the most interesting buildings in the city. The exterior of the building features numerous white colored beams that stretch from the ground up to the top. Some of the beams are straight, others are bent, and they help form a unique carapace around the structure.

This was taken at street level, facing the sharpest point of its trapezoidal, asymmetrical shape. From this angle, the beams seem to reach for the sky. There was a perfectly clear, deep blue sky this afternoon which provided some nice contrast to the white building. I knew I wanted the final image to be monochrome…mainly to help emphasize the lines and texture…and the blue sky was easily turned into an almost pure black during processing. No other nearby buildings are visible from this angle, so isolating the building was rather simple.

While Diagonal ZeroZero is a cool name for a building, it has nothing to do with its design…it is simply its address as it sits on the origin of Diagonal Avenue, Barcelona’s main thoroughfare.

Zig-Zag

April 25, 2016

While wandering around Barcelona, I walked past this concrete structure and it caught my eye. It is basically a wall-like structure made of concrete planks that are laid out in a zig-zag pattern. I am not sure what purpose it serves…perhaps it is only there for decoration. Regardless, I found it unique and spent some time walking around it and viewing it from various angles.

It was shortly after sunset and the street lights and city lights were just turning on. As the sky became darker and the city lights became brighter, the dull gray concrete started reflecting the color of the nearby lights. I thought “now this is getting more interesting” and captured a few different compositions.

This view is my favorite…looking in-between the horizontal planks with the lines zig-zagging smaller and smaller in the distance. It seems to me that M.C. Escher may create something like this!

It is a little gritty and dirty, but I actually like that…otherwise it may pass as a computer generated graphic design. :)

Spotted

March 21, 2016

This was captured in the atrium of the MACBA modern art museum in Barcelona. In addition to hosting a collection of over 5,000 works, the building itself is piece of art. It is almost devoid of any color with white walls and black floors, but the various pillars, ramps, stairs, shapes and lines make the interior very striking.

After making my way through various exhibitions, I leaned over the edge of the third story balcony and looked down into the atrium. Immediately this splash of color caught my attention. I didn’t notice the red spot on the floor when I entered the building. Apparently, I was too busy looking upwards to admire the lines and curves and shadows inside the space.

Looking up has become somewhat of a habit for me when photographing architecture. We spend so much of our lives looking straight ahead, that we often neglect the view above us (myself included). This time, however, looking down allowed me to see what I had missed…a perfect combination of shapes and tones and color. Simple, clean, pleasing.

This was not part of any exhibit. Nevertheless, it ended up being my favorite part of the entire museum.