Besòs-Diagonal, #5. Barcelona, 2018
A New Project
It appears that I have found a potential new short-term project: photographing the lesser-known (but tall) buildings of Barcelona. These are structures that are generally ignored by the tourists and travel photographers and I thought, perhaps, I could find a way to create some interesting imagery with their unique forms. Perhaps even make them come alive?
Chances are you have never seen any of these steel and glass “erections” in any Instagram feed from Barcelona visitors, after all, they aren’t tourist attractions.
But, to me, they attract my hairy eyeball all the same.
In many of these pictures, the contrails from high-flying jet liners add to the composition as well as a bit of narrative–earthly human engineering juxtaposed with celestial human engineering, if you will. (Maybe it’s the ex-aviator in me that doesn’t mind including these vapor plumes in the picture when others might do everything they can to eliminate them.)
Here is a selection of images from my first attempts at interpreting these buildings…
Lets start with an image that includes the Catalan independence flag along with a chaos of lines and angles.
Besòs-Diagonal, #1. Barcelona, 2018
Nothing like a dead horizontal line to stabilize a photograph, no?
Besòs-Diagonal, #4. Barcelona, 2018
Yes, contrails can actually contribute to the composition–at least I think so. Having two of them was a bonus. I was also happy to have just enough high cloud activity to give some texture to the sky.
Besòs-Diagonal, #5. Barcelona, 2018
On this day, it wasn’t always all about looking up. When you see something like this cross your path, it just begs to be recorded for posterity. Apparently, they were headed out to their assigned locations for a unique ad campaign for a shoe store.
Besòs-Diagonal, #10. Barcelona, 2018
Alone on the balcony of his luxury apartment. Contemplating his mortgage? His investments? The view? The irksome photographer below with the long lens?
Besòs-Diagonal, #11. Barcelona, 2018
The structural engineers surely used up a few yellow pads with their calculations for the one on the left! The base of the balancing building is home to the Departament de Treball, Afers Socials i Families and the sensual walls of the International Convention Center is in the foreground.
Besòs-Diagonal, #12. Barcelona, 2018
Once again taking a break from looking up, I peered down from a curvy pedestrian bridge and found this nice abstract. An odd face, perhaps?
Besòs-Diagonal, #13. Barcelona, 2018
Four main elements and a bit of cloud.
Besòs-Diagonal, #15. Barcelona, 2018
Sculptural chaos near the Barcelona International Convention Center.
Besòs-Diagonal, #17. Barcelona, 2018
I liked the layering in the sky with the “lollypop contrail” and the higher, fluffy clouds. Unfortunately, from where I was standing, the foreground building was the best I could do.
Besòs-Diagonal, #18. Barcelona, 2018
Lots of nice shape, line, and texture in this one at the International Convention Center.
Besòs-Diagonal, #19. Barcelona, 2018
Contrasting the new with the yet-to-come…and, wow, can those graffiti artists climb–that’s maybe 15 floors up to the base of the crane!
Besòs-Diagonal, #21. Barcelona, 2018
In this one, it’s about the rhyming between the shape of the building and the implied shape of the two contrails. Serendipity.
Besòs-Diagonal, #23. Barcelona, 2018
Not sure if this one will eventually stay in the keeper file, but here it is for today.
Besòs-Diagonal, #25. Barcelona, 2018
Can you find the fun little treat in this one? Scan for a human shadow in one of the sunlit passageways on the left.
Besòs-Diagonal, #26. Barcelona, 2018
I liked this image because it is a bit disorienting upon initial view–after a few seconds the different surfaces begin to make sense.
Besòs-Diagonal, #28. Barcelona, 2018
Contrail with reflection.
Besòs-Diagonal, #29. Barcelona, 2018
Does it make you shudder just a bit to see an airliner apparently aimed at a tall building? I know it does me.
Besòs-Diagonal, #30. Barcelona, 2018
Torre Agbar, or Torre Glòries as it is now known, is the one iconic Barcelona building you might recognize in this series. Still, I tried to show it from a slightly different perspective here. Of the two photographs that follow, I’m still undecided about which to put in the “keeper” file. The first is cleaner, but the opposing airliners in the second is a bit different.
Besòs-Diagonal, #34. Barcelona, 2018
Besòs-Diagonal, #36. Barcelona, 2018
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