Just Another Manic Tuesday

Port de Barcelona Dawn, #1, 2015

For some, anyway. Perhaps it would be a little less manic for us if we all just took a few minutes to meditate on the miracle of the twilight/dawn light/sunrise sequence before rushing off to start our engines and our daily routine.

The Navajos built their hogans, and continue to build their modern homes, with the door facing the eastern horizon and the sunrise. Maybe we should, too?

OK, compromise. Maybe we could at least have one “sun window” in our abode that faces that way?

From the port bridge, Barcelona, this morning:

The hill in the background is the castle-capped Montjuic. The white stripe on the bridge is from the vehicle of someone coming to work at the port. The ultrawide 14-24mm zoom (full frame) tends to give nice “starbursts” at each point of light, especially at f/16 or so….

Pont del Port de Barcelona, Pre-Dawn, 2015

At dawn, the fishing boats return to port. The low light, with the corresponding slow shutter speed, gives the boats an abstract blur…

The Fishing Boats Return. Barcelona, 2015

Finally, The Event. The sun breaks the horizon–that is, the Earth’s eastward whirl reveals the sun. In this case, for only a few moments before the sun disappears briefly into the clouds…teasing us…

Hotel Vela Sunrise, #1. Barcelona, 2015

Then it reappears. This is would make a classic feel-good, motivational poster, or stock image. Print the poem of your choice across the top and down to the right, or across the bottom in groovy, white lettering…

Seagull Sunrise, #2. Barcelona, 2015

The M/V Berlin is a 139-meter, 9,570 ton, 412-passenger,  “smaller and more maneuverable” German cruise ship, operated by FTI Cruises under the flag of Malta. Those aboard will be–very shortly, nach dem Frühstück–spilling out into the city of Barcelona to explore the myriad museums, Las Ramblas, the parks of Gaudí (pronounced gow-DEE, not GOW-dee), the Roman ruins, the Old City, the concerts, the wonderful Festa de la Mercè, and even the tasteless trinket shops.

Barcelona currently has a love-hate relationship with the Genghis hordes of tourists that invade each season–a season which runs near year round now. On the one hand, it is a HUGE source of revenue. On the other hand, the traditional feel and atmosphere of the city is being buried under an avalanche of carnival-ness (yep, like Carnival Cruises, too!)…

Arrival of the Berlin. Barcelona, 2015