Park Güell, in Color

Park Güell, #24, Escales de l’Entrada, Barcelona, 2021 (I hate blue sky. Unfortunately, the clouds were not cooperating at the moment…)

Any trip to Barcelona ought to include a stroll through this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with the Sagrada Familia Temple and the Picasso Museum, Park Güell is the most likely pick to round out a Top 3 of the most visited corners of the city.

This mid-pandemic visit, two weeks ago, was unique in that there were probably more Park and security employees strolling about than actual foreign tourons. It was very easy to photograph things with nary a human bean in sight.  Consider the above photograph, for example… once COVID recedes and the cruise ships and the nuclear-powered tour buses return, I challenge you to make the same image without including in the frame at least 50 people from 10 different countries, all scrumming to get their selfie with the dragon lizard.

So, it is very, very weird to see the “Drac” so terribly alone (and relieved, perhaps???), without the teeming masses churning about.

Park Güell… Then…

A few years have passed since I last spent time photographing in Park Güell, and things there have changed–and for the better, I would say.

In the past, anyone was free to enter the Park and at any hour. Consequently, trash and grafitti would appear now and then, and the grounds were not kept up as they should have been. By day, the buses and taxis vomited out thousands of tourists… who then set about trampling every square inch of the Park and its gardens.

Something definitely needed to happen.

Park Guell… Now…

In 2013, the City finally stepped in and started charging admission and limiting access in order to soften visitor impact and to fund upkeep, renovation, and improvements. (Locals can still get in free with the appropriate ID card, though.)

With the $$$$$, the heart of the Park, the entry stairway with the dragon and the 88 columns, the entry mosiacs, the esplanade above, and many other areas have been restored and look very happy now. 

Before you visit, I would highly recommend that you consult the website for all the details about access and also to pre-purchase your tickets (timed entry). 

Photography rules, thoughts…

According to their website, “it is not permitted to film or photograph for professional or commercial purposes without express authorization.” So, consider that.

Apart from this, I have not seen much specific guidance. It says nothing about tripods, for example–I brought one and used it, and no one told me to fold it up. I would exercise some judgement, though, and I probably wouldn’t set it up on the stairs by the dragon with hundreds of people milling about. Be considerate and don’t draw attention to yourself.

You might want to carry several lens options, from wide to telephoto. In my case, the 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm were all put to good use on my D850. Of course, it all depends on your vision–after all, you could make some nice images here with just a plastic Diana camera.

Finally, I would opine that an overcast day (the giant light box effect!) would be best for shooting at the Park since, with clouds, you won’t have to deal with that monstruous gap between highlights and shadows that happens under a brilliant and unfettered Mediterranean sun. However, with an overcast, in those darker spaces (like among the columns), you may need to dial up your ISO to get a reasonable shutter speed–or discretely use a tripod.

Some possible perspectives…

Here, I’ll offer up a virtual tour of what you might see at Park Güell… remarkably, sans humans.

Once through the main entrance, and up the steps, you’ll find yourself facing one of the most iconic (and Instagrammed) sites in Barcelona–the famous Dragon (which seems more like a lizard to me). Normally, one has to jostle for position to get a picture here, but there was just one lone Park employee in the area on this pandemic day:

Park Güell, #22, Escales i Drac, Barcelona, 2021

Just above the dragon/lizard/salamander is a nice mosaic alcove (a giant hamburger bun???) for resting your fanny horizontal and contemplating the Gaudí craziness that surrounds you:

Park Güell, #20, Sofá de cerámica, Barcelona, 2021

At the top of the steps you enter the Room of 100 Columns–although there are actually only 86 (some say 88, but I didn’t count them). This is the “Hypostyle Room”, which Gaudí envisioned as a local market place:

Park Güell, #2, Sala de les Cent Columnes, Barcelona, 2021

The intricate mosaics in the ceiling were created by Josep M. Jujol, one of Gaudí’s assistants:

Park Güell, #7, Sala de les Cent Columnes, Barcelona, 2021

It is very difficult, in these heavily photographed places, to discover something new that has not been photographed. Perhaps this is a new angle?

Park Güell, #10, Sala de les Cent Columnes, Barcelona, 2021

Above this beautiful ceiling is the main square of the Park, which also serves to collect rainwater, which is filtered via conduits down through this columned room:

Park Güell, #17, Sala de les Cent Columnes, Barcelona, 2021

There was a lamp on inside the building next door, which helped make this image be a bit more interesting. This reddish structure was originally designed by Gaudí as a country residence for Count Güell, but is now a public primary school, the Escola Pública Baldiri Reixac:

Park Güell, #11, Sala de les Cent Columnes, Barcelona, 2021

Above the room with the “hundred” columns, you will find yourself in a wide plaza with some nice city views. Sit on the mosaics of Gaudí’s famous curvy and undulating bench and contemplate Life and the Mediterranean Sea:

Park Güell, #33, Plaça de la Natura, Barcelona, 2021

Telephoto compression:

Park Güell, #34, Plaça de la Natura, Barcelona, 2021

I have to admit that there was a security guard talking with a friend on the left side of this image that I felt compelled to clone out in Photoshop. Apart from those two, though, there was no one here. Normally, the plaza is packed with tourists… but thanks to the 2020-2021 COVID-19 effect, we have… crickets:

Park Güell, #39, Plaça de la Natura, Barcelona, 2021

A gargoyle perspective of the back side of the benches, and the tower from the Porter’s Lodge by the main entrance, with seagulls above:

Park Güell, #41, Plaça de la Natura, Barcelona, 2021

Detail of the roof of the Porter’s Lodge:

Park Güell, #47, Casa de la Conselleria, Barcelona, 2021

A full portrait of the Porter’s Lodge, contre-jour. This is where a quality camera, and shooting in raw, come into their own–I was able to bring up the shadows and draw down the higlights in post-production enough to make it work. An iPhone, and even many small cameras, can’t handle these extreme contrast situations. Note the classic Gaudí fencing on the left:

Park Güell, #49, Casa de la Conselleria, Barcelona, 2021

This is the Porter’s Residence (on your right as you come in the main entrance), again, shooting against the sun. This time, I chose to use the sun’s disc to my advantage. You can get this effect by shooting at a small aperture, like f/16.

Park Güell, #52, Casa del Guarda, Barcelona, 2021

Detail of the roof on the Porter’s Residence:

Park Güell, #53, Casa del Guarda, Barcelona, 2021

At the base of the stairs, to the right, is a small “waiting area” that reminds me of an elephant in some ways:

Park Güell, #57, Entrada, Barcelona, 2021

This is the Laundry Room Portico, just above the school. Note the typically organic Gaudí design, combining sound structural design with the forms of Earth and Nature… the “Washerwomen” an added touch (why not a “washerMAN”?):

Park Güell, #31, El Pòrtic de la Bugadera, Barcelona, 2021

The Park is replete with verdant and tranquil nooks and crannies. As he so often does, Gaudí blends Nature with the Human-made:

Park Güell, #62, Walkway Greenery, Barcelona, 2021

Agaves and benches on one of the “viaducts”. In the distance, you can just make out the Three Crosses at one of the high points of the Park. Again, note the lack of humans… an unusual sight

Park Güell, #67, Viaducte Escales, Barcelona, 2021

There are only four completed buildings in the Park–five, if you include the school. The two entrance buildings were built for the administration and guard service, then there were some 60 lots surveyed for what was hoped to be a small community of luxury homes with all the latest bells and whistles. Only two of the 60 planned units were actually built, and this is one: now the Casa Museu Gaudí, originally the architect’s residence from 1906 to 1925:

Park Güell, #69, Casa Museu Gaudí, Barcelona, 2021

From one of the viaducts above, you’ll have another view of the Gaudí House Museum as well as of the City, Montjuic, and the sea:

Park Güell, #77, Casa Museu Gaudí, Barcelona, 2021

Another perspective on the Gaudí House Museum, this one via telephoto lens from the high point at the Three Crosses:

Park Güell, #91, Casa Museu Gaudi, Barcelona, 2021

Going underneath… the structural members under the viaducts are the the very definition of “Gaudí organic”:

Park Güell, #71, Viaducte de Dalt, Barcelona, 2021

Bring a pad if you have a boney butt… but a nice place to meditate or read a book:

Park Güell, #73, Viaducte del Mig, Barcelona, 2021

Ma, Pa, and Baby agave:

Park Güell, #78, Viaducte de Dalt, Barcelona, 2021

More agaves:

Park Güell, #79, Viaducte de Dalt, Barcelona, 2021

The only other completed house in the Park is this one, the Casa Martí Trias i Domènech (1905), and currently occupied by real human residents going about their daily lives. With a normal, non-pandemic tourist count, this would be impossible to photograph without including the entire United Nations parading through the rectangle: 

Park Güell, #86, Casa Trias i Domènech, Barcelona, 2021

From the Three Crosses, a telephoto view of Casa Martí Trias i Domènech:

Park Güell, #90, Casa Trias i Domènech, Barcelona, 2021

The Three Crosses and three ex-dinosaurs:

Park Güell, #93, Tres Creus, Barcelona, 2021