Mallorca January 2013

My first few days visiting the old man in Mallorca have been awesome. The freedom from the dirty city air and stress of work have inspired some new photos. It's great to shoot again without having to do it for a purpose of clients brief.

So we had the usual visit to Palma Cathedral on the way back from the airport. It's amazing here in winter as there are literally no tourists around, giving me so much freedom to shoot.

After having shot this place so many times I felt compelled to try something new.

I was framing an image from the bridge across the parc de mar (path of the sea) and noticed this awesome sunset from behind me. Unfortunately as I am using a free version of Photomatix on my dads laptop, it watermarks the image.

I took this shot after being inspired by Jeff Cable's B&H photo video on night time exposures. His night time style is completely different to mine, so after combining the two I came up with this. 

Without a tripod, I was balancing my almost new D3s on the rock just by the edge of the water, something my dad was none to pleased about. Completely worth it though!

Back in the UK

So after a decent flight yesterday, I arrived back in the UK and was greeted by my old friend Valentin. 

He had been staying at my house for the past few days to study so we saw this as a great opportunity to go over some old photos we took when we were last together.

The image below was taken in the now finished building works on Far Gosford street. Being a very talented musician, he is hoping to use these pictures for his forthcoming E.P.

Mallorca Day 5

Today saw us at Portal Vells caves in the morning and Bellver castle in the afternoon to watch the sunset. The caves we visited, as well a few others, were used as quarries to assist in the building of Palma Cathedral.

The image above shows the three main caves entrances, with the furthest left cave entrance now collapsed.

We drove out to the south west cost of the island to view a group of islands called the Malgrats. The white pole in the left of the image are used as a directional aid for boats and other sailing vessels.

So in the afternoon we went up to Bellver castle, with views across the entire city of Palma, it was an awesome place to watch the sunset.

Mallorca day 4

Today was a much lazier day, spending time with my dad at his apartment, checking his new guitar out. We went around the corner to Costa De La Calma to shoot the ever beautiful sunset. Not having my Mac Pro with me has meant that I am using Corel PaintShop Pro to edit my photos. So please excuse my poor editing, I am missing my Photoshop :'(

We then went to my dad's partners, mothers for dinner. After a lovely roast turkey, my father and I drove up into the North Tramuntana mountains to take a look at the stars. Not only could we see them, we spotted countless shooting stars, and the milky way.

The orange glow at the bottom is the light pollution from Barcelona and Tarrangona over 100 miles away. The stars in the above image are in no way enhanced. 

For you photography geeks settings are:
42 Seconds, f/2.8, ISO 3200. Nikon D3s & Nikon 16mm f/2.8

Mallorca Day 3

Today is "The day of the three Kings" across Spain. It is believed that the three kings bearing gifts arrived at Jesus's crib on this day, and the Spanish present their children with gifts to celebrate it. In every major town their is a large fiesta consisting of floats relating to the story of Christmas.

The Bombers (Spanish term for fire fighters) lead the way lighting flares. This symbolises the star as known in the biblical story.

During the day we visited the small port of Sollyer. The town was raided persistently by pirates in the 1500's with reminders of this all around the ports main town, further inland. Below is a view of the entrance to the horseshoe shaped port. On the furthermost headland is a watchtower famously known as the "Perforated Tower".

Two large lighthouses guide the boats into the port and away from the dangers of the extended headlands. The beautiful blue sky gave such a perfect contrast between itself and the lighthouse.

Mallorca Day 2

Today we spent the majority of the day driving around the islands enormous mountains. Roughly a third of the island is a mountainous region. However, the scenery is beautiful, with colours rich in contrast and amazingly fresh air, it is an invigorating experience.

We spent a few hours down in a small bay, where a small fishing village ticks over, making our way down to the shore to get a look out at sea.

Later in the afternoon, we traveled to the sleepy village of Valledemossa, which again in the summer is a busy tourist location. The village used to be home to Polish composer Chopin as well as French author and Pioneering feminist "Lucille Aurore Dupin" better known as her pseudonym of "George Sand".