Barcelona: Perhaps atypical photos at Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia

[Mike Buckley]

Almost all photos I've seen of La Sagrada Familia show the height, interesting architecture and direct shots of the stained glass windows, so I'm intentionally not displaying photos of that ilk unless they are explicitly requested. Instead, the photos displayed in this thread display some lasting impressions of a different sort from my highly enjoyable visit.

Photo 1



Photo 2



Photo 3



Photo 4



Photo 5

[John 2]

I'm a bit diverted at the moment but I had to find time to comment on these Mike. The quality apart, you have demonstrated such a good eye. Superb shots and the ideas incorporated in 2 and 4, are just exceptional.

[Ziggy]

Different and enjoyable, well done.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Mike . I really like #2

[James G]

Hi Mike, I'm lucky enough to have visited La Sagrada Familia several times over the last fifteen years. My first ever visit induced tears. Much as I enjoy architecture it is the only building to have ever affected me that much.

Your images take me straight back and reflect very much my love of it as a building of light!
#1 and #2 are particularly relevant for me. Thank you

[Donald]

Why did I miss this thread?

That is a very impressive set of images, Mike. My compliments.

I also salute your decision not to present the same views as have been presented thousands of time before, but instead show us images that represent your impressions. Far, far more valuable and important.

I finds I am running exactly the same issues through my head as I prepare for my trip to Yosemite in September. I hope not to return, for example, with 'that picture' from Tunnel View. How many million pictures are there of that view? Yes, I have ideas of what I'd like to do in that location. Whether I manage to pull ot off or not will be dependent on a number of things, the weather being the most obvious. But NOT 'that view' again.

So, I'm giving a lot of thought to the images I want to come away from Yosemite with. I see it as pointless going just to do what hundreds of thousands of people have done before me.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Binnur, James and Donald!

Considering the interest in my specific approach to this thread, I'll expand on that a bit.

The first three images are examples of the wash of color that one experiences in the church without ever looking directly at a single stained glass window. Though those windows are stupendous not just on their own but also in the context of their relationship to each other and the rest of the space, it is the colors they cast on other surfaces of the church that impressed me so much. Using the third image as an example, though I'm passionate about classical music and always notice organ pipes, I've never seen a rank of pipes positioned so low as these and I've never seen any rank of pipes reflecting so much color. Similarly, though it would be natural to assume that I digitally pumped up the color on the floor in the second image, I actually had to do exactly the opposite to prevent the red channel from being seriously overblown. So when James describes the church as "a building of light," that is the characteristic that also impressed me the most.

Even so, the church is also a building of height. Indeed, immense height. (And at least from the outside, it's going to become much taller once it is completed.) I noticed the large number of people looking up regardless of the part of the church they were viewing. It became important to me to capture that affect of the building on people, so I made several images of people looking up, mostly to photograph the church's height.

Not one person (other than my wife who posed for me) knew I was photographing them. I showed every image I took of a person looking up to that person and every single person was very pleased that I had made the image. One image not shown here is similar to the fourth photo shown above except that it includes a man and woman in the cell phone's LCD. When I showed that couple my photo of them appearing in the cell phone, they absolutely loved it. When I displayed the photo shown above to the photographer holding the cell phone, her immediate reaction was to apologize, thinking she had accidentally gotten in the way of me taking my photo. When I explained just the opposite, she was both surprised and happy.

The last photo is representative of another theme of the church that I wanted to depict: large amounts of text displayed on a pair of very large slabs and on some of the doors. The photo shown above is a small detail of one of the doors.

I actually disagree with Donald that it is pointless at least to me to do what hundreds of thousands have done before me. For me, to document a scene that is so important that millions of people have gone so much out of their way to see is a very worthwhile endeavor. That's partly because (perhaps very selfishly) reviewing my own image of such a scene is more enjoyable than reviewing others' images of the same scene. That's also partly because I remember my now deceased aunt asking me to take a picture of her wading in the waters of the Grand Canyon to prove to her family that she really had done that and to prove that she really had been in such a beautiful place. I feel much the same way in that my photos of iconic scenes throughout the world remind me of how lucky I have been to personally experience those very same scenes. Even so, when I'm sufficiently inspired and am full of vim and vigor, the artistic and creative side of me pushes me to make photos that perhaps others wouldn't make at least not on a regular basis.

Your thoughts, whether to the contrary or not, are most welcome!

[Wavelength]

Excellent set of images.... i am seeing other genres from Mike, am so glad

[tbob]

Thought provoking series (and commentary) and something to bear in mind the next time I go out. I can see presenting this with one 'standard exterior' shot to give context and then your shots.

As for shooting the same shots as a million others ( for the Eiffel Tower maybe several billion). "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he is not the same man" Heraclitus.

I am a firm believer that a photograph is an interaction between the viewer, the photographer and the image. No one duplicates an image. The scene changes, the viewer changes and the photographer brings skills, ideas and preconceptions that are unique to the individual and that millisecond. And besides, it's mine and that is the trump card.

[Donald]

A wise man once sad:-

I am a firm believer that a photograph is an interaction between the viewer, the photographer and the image. No one duplicates an image. The scene changes, the viewer changes and the photographer brings skills, ideas and preconceptions that are unique to the individual and that millisecond.

So maybe I (no, I do) need to re-think my previously stated position. What I said is crude and clumsy and needs refinement.

I don't want to make the image that several million have made before me. I've got to find my 'take' on that scene.

[tbob]

I don't want to make the image that several million have made before me. I've got to find my 'take' on that scene.

I have seen your work and your 'take" , You won't make the image a million have. And if you do, how fortunate, it is a one in a million shot.

[Mike Buckley]

I can see presenting this with one 'standard exterior' shot to give context and then your shots.

Agreed. However, the standard exterior shot in this case would include at least two cranes and lots of netting and plastic stuff around one of the four towers due to construction and restoration going on. Worse yet, entrance tickets are for a particular time of day which in this case was not conducive to good light. Even worse, the plaza area around the base of the church is so small relative to the immense height of the church that it's not possible to get a decent shot from the ground of the entire exterior.

[Mike Buckley]

You [Donald] won't make the image a million have.

Amen to that!

[terrib]

I love these shots, Mike. I like that you are presenting unique views of an oft photographed place. I especially like the first because I have no idea what I'm looking at but love the colors, light and lines draw me in anyway. I also like the shot of the cell phone because it's so "today". Great work.

[Kaye Leggett]

MIke - I have just caught up with this thread and your others of Barcelona. So glad you had a great time and took some great photos to remember the trip. It was the light in the interior that wowed me last year, I have several like your first image (The Sagrada Familia) but none of the second or third - they are superb, particularly the second. I love the fifth image too - another one I tried to capture, but I think yours is better having picked out the gold.

Looking forward to seeing some of the pictures of Provence

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Kaye and Terri for your detailed responses!