Friends and Neighbors, L’Eixample, Barcelona, 2018
According to the World Health Organization (2015 data), Spain is tied for 4th among the countries of the world in life expectancy (the USA ranks #31).
Could it be because folks in Spain have excellent access to medical care? Could it be that public transit and pedestrian-friendly cities and villages make it easy for them to get together with neighbors in the local plaza and chat?
Or, could it be that they just like to talk and they tend to express their feelings quite openly and directly?
Or, is it that famous “Mediterranean diet”?
Or all of the above?
Who knows…?
I normally am very shy about asking folks for a picture. In this particular case–a couple of days ago–I walked right on by even though I was just dying to photograph this bench scene near where we live. I simply didn’t have the courage to try. It was my wife who broke the ice–she just walked up and started a conversation with the elegant man on the left.
A few minutes later I had my picture–along with a number of great stories and gossip (some of it only 80% understood by me) from these folks who really are our neighbors. They live just a block away from us and can be found on this very bench every day (except Sunday and bad weather days) in the late afternoon. They have lived on this street by Hospital Clinic for decades and were filled with humor and joy.
I made some 9×6 prints on 11×8.5 paper (Epson Ultra Premium Luster), titled and signed them like I usually do, put them in clear plastic sleeves, and returned today to hand them out. They were pleasantly surprised and boy did they have fun making jokes about each other and how they appeared in the photograph!
Today, there also happened to be other friends and neighbors present who weren’t there when I took the original picture. So, that means–in the name of inclusion, of course–that I’ll need to make some regular visits in the late afternoon to this bench for more photography…and, of course, more stories.
Tip o’ the Day (my lessons learned):
For street photography opportunities like this, consider these things:
- Double check your settings (ISO, shutter speed, aperture), then take a number of pictures–as many as you can, actually. There will be some shots with eyes closed, others will be blurred, still others with poses you might not like. By taking a number of shots you’ll up the odds of getting one you like. And,
- Shoot from the waist, assuming you have a reticulated LCD (Not a problem if you shoot with a Mamiya 645 or a Kodak Brownie!). That way they can’t really tell when you are tripping the shutter. You can hit the button both well before and well after they think they have to pose thus upping the chances of getting a more candid shot.
I’m not 100% satisfied with what I captured above, but it was the only image that actually came out reasonably well out of my six or so “takes”. I should have followed my own advice and shot at least 20 frames in the minute or so I had.
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