Hotel Vela (W Barcelona Hotel), #6, Barcelona, 2021
Sony RX100
Lately, on city walks, I have taken to carrying the pocketable Sony RX100 (I have the older version 2) instead of the brick-heavy Nikon D850. Naturally, neither the general image quality nor the dynamic range of the RX100 is as good as what you get out of a full frame 45 megapixel camera, but it is generally good enough to make decent prints up to about 13″ x 19″ (33cm x 48cm)… and it is soooo convenient to carry.
I’ll still use the D850 for specific projects, of course, but for general walkabout photography, the Sony’s package size to picture quality ratio is hard to beat. The newer versions are even more capable than my older model. The only drawback for many will be the price tag–about $1,300 for the latest version, the Sony RX100vii, although you could pick up an old one like mine on eBay for much less (I saw one listed at $200.00, for example).
What follows is a selection of what was hanging out on my Sony’s memory card for the past few weeks which, after much procrastination, I finally processed through Adobe Photoshop Elements and Nik Silver Efex (or Color Efex in the example above).
The Images…
Here we are, right next to Hotel Vela (W Barcelona Hotel). I liked how this one worked out… ominous skies, the lines, the couple on the right, and the head just visible on the left. Possible story line… the new couple is on the right, the ex-girlfriend on the left, separated by much distance:
Hotel Vela, #1, Barcelona, 2021
The light was good this day, as was the sky. And, as you are right on the edge of the sea, you don’t have to wait long for the seagulls–just two, or a whole crowd–to soar by:
Hotel Vela, #6 (W Barcelona Hotel), Barcelona, 2021
Hotel Vela, #7 (W Barcelona Hotel), Barcelona, 2021
That’s the Hotel Arts in the background. The foreground is an advert for one of the popular seaside nightclubs… it sure looks glamorous to be young, sexy, and beautiful, no? It is a persuasive ad, of course, because that’s just what our society values. Meanwhile, a lone “ex-dinosaur” wings away above and laughs at our folly and hubris:
Hotel Arts and Opium, Barcelona, 2021
Another angle on Hotel Arts. Some years ago, a couple of adventurous types climbed up those support beams, zig-zagging their way to the top (sans ropes), then jumped off the roof with their paragliders, making good their escape from law enforcement in a waiting get-a-way car. I couldn’t find a video of that feat, but I did come across a stomach-churning YouTube video of a young immortal Instagram-type who climbed the building barefoot just last year. Oh, what people do for fun and notoriety sometimes:
Hotel Arts, Barcelona, 2021
I have photographed the “Barcelona Bullet”, or Torre Glòries (formerly, Torre Agbar), quite a lot. It’s attractive to both me and my camera in sort of a bizarre and humorous way, especially if the clouds and birds cooperate. What other common “items” are shaped like this building, one might ask, eh? Here are a few more perspectives on this unique structure:
Torre Glòries, #1, Barcelona, 2021
Torre Glòries, #2, Barcelona, 2021
Torre Glòries, #3, Barcelona, 2021
Torre Glòries, #4, Barcelona, 2021
Sort of like a slot canyon in Utah, but not really. Which canyon will still be around in 10,000 years?
Urban Slot Canyon, Barcelona, 2021
A high key treatment seemed to work best in this case, given the ghostly shape and the light-colored exterior beams of what folks here would call the Telefónica building:
Torre Diagonal Zero Zero, Barcelona, 2021
Unfortunate, this. Maybe some day, after COVID, the structure will be rehabilitated back to its original state as a happy-go-lucky beachside bar-restaurant. For now, though, it serves as a huge, ugly(?), graffiti castle, a useful structure for no one, it seems, but taggers and photographers:
Grafitti Castle, #3, Barcelona, 2021
Torre MAPFRE has a new photography museum on its ground floor, with international-calibre rotating exhibits, that is well worth visiting:
Torre MAPFRE, Barcelona, 2021
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