Cavalls del Vent Mountain Trip 18 Sep 2020 8:36 AM (5 years ago)
The Challenge
A couple of friends told me they were about to start the Cavalls del Vent Mountain Trip. They asked me to join them and ever since I got excited about the idea from being part of the team.
Gear & Preparation
Cavalls del Vent Mountain Trip
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Photographing in winter in the north of the Iberian Peninsula 27 Feb 2020 3:00 PM (5 years ago)
The Challenge of photography in winter
The weather sometimes gives us gifts that photographers must know how to take advantage of like photographing in winter in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Even if the conditions are adverse it is worth going out and seeing scenes that we can rarely see again.
However, it is necessary to adapt to these climatic conditions to have a good experience. Good shoes, good clothes and make sure the means of transport we use is prepared for what may come. Taking pictures in the winter is often a challenge depending on what area you are in. What’s good for the rest of the year may not work for you in the winter if there’s snow, ice, or just freezing temperatures. If we are driving, it is not a bad idea to bring some food and drink in case we get stuck on a road or a path and we have to spend hours inside the car with the nearest cafe tens of kilometers away. Chains or some system to get out of the snow or mud is not an accessory left over, and I speak from experience!
Camera equipment in winter
If we have to take photos in winter it is advisable to use photographic equipment that is prepared for the most severe weather conditions we may encounter. Both cold and snow or rain can be ingredients of our photo shoots.
On this trip I used a Canon 1D Mark II and Canon L series lenses which in both cases are sealed against water and dust and can work in extreme temperatures.
Take pictures in winter in Huesca
Snowy Loarre Castle
This Romanesque castle, built in the 11th century and located near Huesca in Aragon, is a fantastic example of locations that have made the severe winter unique.
Mallos de Riglos
Often the trees do not let us see the forest. It is a good expression to explain that despite having a spectacular mountain formation like the Mallos de Riglos in front, if we want to take photos, we can look for alternatives to frame this very characteristic place.
To take this photo I explored several nearby roads until I found this abandoned car which in conjunction with the drama of the cloudy sky and snow on some mountains, created a spectacular scene to photograph.
Problems with the car in the mountains
When you go photographing in the winter in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, not everything is always nice and beautiful. Sometimes setbacks arise and this was one of the examples. Leaving this place after taking this photo, I was stuck in the mud with the wheels of the car. Finally, after a long time and not having any tools to overcome that obstacle, I managed to get out. This time I used the swinging technique.
Tips to avoid getting stuck with your car in the mountains in the North of the Iberian Peninsula
Usually, when you’re stuck with mud, it’s because the car’s wheels have entered a hole of more or less length. Instead of accelerating hard to get out of the mud and thus further eroding the hole and sinking further, the method is to make gentle accelerations until you reach the part with the highest rise in the hole and drop the car backwards until it brakes. Accelerate gentily again then. Repeating this action several times creates a swinging effect and we will have more and more momentum to get out of the hole without having to revolutionize the engine and sink the car further. I’ve been carrying motorhome plastic plates for a couple of years now for situations like this, which I haven’t had the need to use yet. Alternatively, snow chains can also do a good service in situations like mud. so it’s a good idea to have them all year round!
Take photos in winter in the Basque Country
The dredge Jaizkibel in Pasajes
No snow but with the drama of the adverse weather to photograph in winter in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. The Jaizkibel dredger is a vessel that was built in 1933 at the Euskalduna shipyards in Bilbao and has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Basque Government’s Heritage Board.
Santa Clara Island and Monte Igeldo
San Sebastián or Donostia is one of the most special cities we can visit in the North of the Iberian Peninsula. Winter offers us a much more gray and dramatic landscape. This is the case of this photograph where I wanted to accentuate the mass of clouds that flew over the city and created this spectacular image together with the rough Cantabrian Sea against Santa Clara Island and Monte Igeldo.
A good friend from San Sebastian told me that local people don’t usually walk near the railing of the promenade and that day I understood. Exactly when I practically fell a wave above me. Luckily no damage to regret more than a little wet clothes I was able to change thanks to having parked nearby. That’s why whether we have clouds or are close to the water, waterproof clothing and boots are a highly recommended accessory. Ultra-thin gloves are also a good complement when the weather is cold. We often don’t think about it but it’s important to stay warm when we take pictures and if every time we have to touch the camera it’s a torment because our hand freezes, we stop enjoying what we love so much.
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Afternoon Photowalk in Bilbao 14 Jul 2018 10:05 AM (7 years ago)
Afternoon Photowalk in Bilbao
Following my trip by spending through the north coast of Spain after leaving Asturias Cuevas del Mar Beach I decided to spend an afternoon in Bilbao. The city is a municipality in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, Spain. It used to be a city very involved in the industry but the city has renewed some areas turning the place into something much more beautiful. The tourism has increased too since Guggenheim Museum was created. Nowadays, the walk along the Nervión estuary it’s a really nice place in order to figure out how this beautiful basque city is.
Bilbao photography locations
What the majority of the tourists doesn’t know and worths visiting is the area of Kobetamendi. There is where I started my afternoon in Bilbao before visiting Bilbao’s estuary. Kobetamendi is at a hill next to Bilbao where the BBK Live Festival takes place. From there you will find a beautiful panorama from Bilbao city like the one below. I would recommend going for lunch at “Cervecera Cobeta” where you can have a quite cheap lunch while enjoying the beautiful view this place has to offer. This kind of Bar-Restaurant is typical from Biscay. I promise that I get no money in exchange for recommending this restaurant! It’s just that I did really enjoy the mix of food and the landscape!
Once it was dark I left after spending a beautiful afternoon in Bilbao. I headed back towards Sopelana, where I was staying. My upcoming spot was San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Next post coming soon!
Since it was not the first time I visited Basque Country, you can already see some pictures from there in my Gallery from Spain & Portugal. To be honest I’ve been there about roughly 10 times already and wish to go there again!
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Cuevas del Mar Beach 15 May 2017 1:41 AM (8 years ago)
Asturias
Last 2014’s June I visited Cuevas del Mar Beach located at the north of Spain very near from Nueva. Asturias region was my first stop from the northern area, a region which worths a visit. The landscapes, the food and the people. The population over this region is usually very kind and you may visit both coast and mountains in less than one hour. Picos de Europa, a beautiful mountain range very close from Cuevas del Mar beach, is a great place for mountain hiking. To be honest it’s still on my to-do list! For those who are interested, you can find a few pictures I took from Asturias browsing through my Landscapes Gallery.
Cuevas del Mar Beach
I would strongly recommend not to visit this beach during summer time speaking from experience if you’d like to fully enjoy this beach. I did visit again this place back in August ’16 and got terrified from the crowd I found over there. There’s not even sand at the beach to lay down. You’d better try avoiding the peak season and weekends to enjoy what this beach has to offer. This is for photographers recommendation! I understand those who are looking for beaches, sun and good weather there’s no more chance than getting through the crowd!
In order to take the pictures below I did use a 10-stop ND filter which helps getting this water smooth texture by increasing the exposure time.
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STOLEN. The worst photo trip in my life 1 Jan 2017 9:06 AM (8 years ago)
That is a sad story starting as a beautiful road trip and turned into a 13000€ worth of camera equipment theft stolen from our converted van while we were sleeping in it. Read the full story below. My worst nightmare so far.
The Trip
A few months ago, I did plan a road trip across Scotland from Barcelona with my friend Héctor (@hrf1 on instagram) and his Volkswagen Caravelle converted van. It was supposed to be a 15-day road trip of roughly 6000km starting from Barcelona. Everything was fine even though the weather in Scotland was quite harsh. That is something we were already expecting prior to this trip. What we wouldn’t expect at all was being stolen on our very last night before arriving to Barcelona.
The Theft
On August the 14th, we left early in the morning from my cousin’s place in Bristol (England) who I visited in our way down to Dover (England). We took then the Ferry towards Calais (France). Once in France, we went towards Barcelona until it was dark and decided to have dinner and overnight at Doyet Service Station on the highway near mid-France. We first had dinner next to the main Restaurant’s building and then moved into the truck’s parking area where trucks, a few campers and cars were parking and sleeping too. My travelmate was awake til 1:30AM and then went to bed. We were sleeping at the roof of the van (Westfalia foldable roof).
6:30AM. Alarm clock rang. We had to get up and keep moving. Héctor jumped down to the front seat and said “Hey, the side door is fully open”. Straight ahead we realized something was wrong. I jumped down too and freaked out since I noticed my huge photo&drone backpack was missing, also my orange pelicase. My LowePro beltpack was gone and later on, realized that my Burton Zoom photo backpack was also gone. Our wallets were open and all the cash missing. “Fortunately” the thiefs left our ID’s, credit cards and iPhones. The driver door’s lock was broken. They did get into the van while we were sleeping and took everything they could.
Later on we found two cleaners working at the parking’s toilettes and told them what happened. One of them called the police since it was easier for a french speaker. In roughly half an hour the police showed up and requested us to follow them to the nearest toll’s police station. We reported the theft and police staff told us we’d better overnight just next to main restaurant’s building. Later on this week I did call the french police man and told me some other thefts happened these days from mid-france down almost from the spanish border.
The One and only “good point”
Other than we were “safe and sound” after the theft with no personal damage and the scary fact the thieves were inside the van while we were sleeping. We were not stabbed or even worse and I managed to keep most of the pictures from the trip. Since I’m a backup paranoid, I could keep 90% of the pictures taken in Scotland and my 11’7″ MacBook Air. I decided bringing 2 hard drives to my Scotland Road Trip. I couldn’t buy a brand new high capacity usb powered drive before leaving so I just brought one of my 1TB 3’5″ AC powered usb drive as a slave backup drive. My workflow was downloading every night all the pictures taken during the day to my master backup disk, a 2TB 2’5″ usb powered drive. Every time we were in a camping (1 out of 2-3 nights roughly) I had the chance to plug the 3’5″ drive and copy from the master to the slave drive. During the theft, I guess thieves didn’t realized where my laptop and the slave backup drive were stored. Fortunately, I still keep them. They didn’t get our iPhones nor credit cards. It’s obvious that taking them would have pointed where and and when they were.
Stolen Camera equipment List
Bags & Cases
– Backpack LowePro Computrekker Plus AW
– Backpack LowePro Inverse 200AW
– Hardcase PeliCase 1560 orange
– Backpack Burton Zoom Photo Backpack
Camera equipment
– Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark III (S/N 203020000998)
– Lens Canon 17-40 f4 L (S/N 00063260)
– Lens Canon 24-70 f2.8 L (S/N 2051931)
– Lens Canon 70-200 f2.8L (S/N 00136605)
– Lens Canon 135f2 L (S/N 00123751)
– Camera Panasonic Lumix GH4 (S/N WE4JD001137)
– Lens Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40 f2.8 Pro (S/N AC5266136)
– Drone DJI Phantom 4 (S/N 07DDD490A11028) + transmitter+ proppellers + ND9 filter
– Camera Canon 100D (my travelmate’s camera)
– Lens Canon 18-55 Kit lens (my travelmate camera’s kit lens)
– Lens Adaptor Metabones Canon EF to Micro Four Thirds S Speed Booster (S/N 09A01727010)
– Benro Filter Kit Pro Master (Filter Holder Benro FH100, Benro Circular polarizer SHD CPL-HD ULCA 82mm, Benro Master ND16 filter 100x100mm, Benro Master Graduated Filter ND GND8 Soft 100x100mm)
– Filter B+W 77mm ND 10 Stops 1000x
Photo Accessories
– Hard Drive Western Digital MyPassport 2TB 2,5″ USB3
– Remote trigger Canon TC-80N3
– Memory card reader Kingston FCR-HS3 USB3
– Calibration chart X-Rite Color Checker Passport
– 2 memory card compact flash Komputer Bay 64GB
– 1 memory card compact flash SanDisk ExtremePro 32GB
– 1 memory card SD-XC Transcend U3 de 64GB
– 1 memory card SD-HC Sandisk Extreme U1 de 32GB
– 2 memory cards microSD SanDisk U3 de 64GB
– 1 memory card microSD Sandisk U3 de 16GB
– 1 memory card microSD Sandisk Classe 10 de 32GB
– 1 original battery Canon LP-E6 for Canon 5Dmk3
– 2 original battery Panasonic BLF19 for Panasonic Lumix GH4
– 2 original batteries for DJI Phantom 4
After this long equipment’s list, I have to say they wouldn’t stop me from taking pictures. Already from the first moment I noticed the loss, I wished more than ever to get a new camera and keep doing what I love.
The Mistakes
Despite we could say we were absolutely unlucky, I can tell you some points that wouldn’t make this theft a nightmare. Now it’s too late for us. Maybe not for others who still are on time to avoid a theft.
# 1: No Insurance
No camera insurance nor home insurance at all. I might have paid for a 250-300€/year insurance (for 10.000€ worth of equipment) plus home insurance in order to cover the theft. Some insurances are very tricky. Just find out what does cover and what not. You might need an special insurance for professional equipment as such. Mail me if you need any further information.
# 2: Parking in a not surveilled area
We didn’t want to park in a busy area not to bother other cars stopping by at the service station’s restaurant. We decided to park near there, surrounded by trucks where their drivers were sleeping in. They didn’t see a thing. You’d better have awake witnesses arround in order to let the thiefs avoid breaking in. If you have the chance to, not sure how to do it in a van, but a motion detection hidden camera might be useful in order to record the action and catch the thieves.
#3: No alarm system
The van we were travelling with had no alarm at all. We might have installed some sort of tech device as an alarm system but we didn’t. We never left the camera equipment unattended. We did always carried them on while away from the van. A friend told me a friend installed a switch that connected the “opendoor” light trigger to the horn during the night. The thieves and us would have been alarmed by the loud van’s horn once they would open the door. Also a slack between the two doors might be useful. Every safety measure might help. Also we’d better sleep getting the most worthy items inside our sleeping bag. Not comfy but safer. Also a blinking red light might be good to prevent them from breaking in.
I hope to have helped someone and also spread my stolen equipment list and their serial numbers in order to avoid you buying stolen equipment. I’d be happy to know if someone tries to sell or repair any part of the equipment, get reported and capture the thieves.
There are a few GPS trackers which might help locating the equipment. Maybe inserting them in a secret pocket or hole into the camera bags.
Other Tips
I do keep all my camera equipment boxes which has the serial numbers which helped in order to provide them to the French Police. Do not last any longer writting down somewhere. Dropbox, Google Drive, wherever. The only chance you may have for recovering your equipment some day is providing the serial numbers.
Once I got my camera equipment list I sent them to Catalonian Police (Mossos d’Esquadra), some photography shops and some official brands’s services like Canon and DJI. Also registered at Lenstag.com in order to upload all my serial numbers into an international database. So far, no news about the stolen equipment, but fingers crossed some day I might receive a call or a mail.
Crowdfunding
Once I suffered the theft, some friends asked my why not doing some sort of crowdfunding. I did some digging and found out that others photographers did that before. After some time figuring out what to offer, how and creating all the contents required, I started a CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN.
ENTER HERE IF YOU WISH TO COLLABORATE.
My last tip: Visit Scotland. It is amazing.
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Irma & Fernando Wedding 5 Jan 2015 4:37 PM (10 years ago)
A few months ago I was invited and requested to take several pictures as well at Irma & Fernando Wedding. Fernando and I became friends almost 10 years ago at the time we were both in a Caborian photographers meeting in Mallorca. He was born in Pamplona (Navarra, Spain) and still living in this area. Irma, his wife, is also from Pamplona and their children Marcos and Andrea. That being said it’s quite obvious where the wedding was about to take place. Once I prefer the role of an alternative wedding photographer I did ask to Fernando not to be the one and only photographer when we both and him has a number of photographers who could show up eventually. I do love the pursuit of aesthetics you can find in a wedding but the time and the chance to do so. I’ve realized guests have fun by taking part of a jam photoshoot even using studio lights and letting some to be photography assistants for a while.
The wedding took place at Mutilva’s council (a village right next to Pamplona). The ceremony was quite intimal, less than 50 guests and the couple tried not to perform these classical weddings but quite contemporary. The ceremony’s room mainly decorated by wood and glass had a special “guest”. Irma & Fernando Wedding took place 2 days right after Felipe de Borbón became King of Spain although the ceremony’s room had still a picture from Juan Carlos I, the former King of Spain.
Since I was just a guest with some tasks assigned I did not cover the whole event in pictures in order to enjoy the event.
The gear I used on this Irma & Fernando Wedding was a reflex body and the two standard zoom lenses 24-70 2.8 & 70-200 2.8L. The lighting equipment was a 580EXII Speedlight, a small 30x40cm Profoto Softbox, a Profoto Speedlight Speedring and a 5in1 reflector.
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Melania & Max Wedding 26 Nov 2014 3:32 AM (10 years ago)
The couple
Last June had friends who got married and I did offer them to take several pictures from Melania & Max Wedding. They are a very creative couple who also work together on interesting projects like La Casa Abandonada. In this case, them collects, restore and sell unique vintage furnitures. From their collaboration they came up with a small book called “Mi abuela Isabel”. It’s a limited book edition written by Melania and the illustrations by Max.
Melania & Max Wedding
The event took place within El Dalmau, a countryside stone-made house near Vic (Barcelona). Beautiful fields and woods were the surroundings of Melania & Max Wedding. None of the details from the celebration were there by chance. Every single part was carefully choosen by them prior to the event. I should emphasize when I say “carefully chosen” and I can even say all pretty much handmade. Not only them but their family and close friends has a wide variety of creative skills with great sense of taste who helped at creating every detail.
Ceramic made by Max’s mum, pillows sewed by Melania’s sister, rings designed by Max’s aunt…Everything merged in perfect harmony and made their special day unforgettable.
Once a photographer is invited to a wedding has this feeling about what he is supposed to do against such event. Since no special mention about pictures or equipment underneath my wedding invitation I just sighed. That being said, I was happy to offer them a pre or post wedding photoshoot. Situation where they both could have been more relaxed with no rush and also a better lighting setup could have been made. Finally they decided not to, so I asked them permission to carry my camera along during the celebration and take some casual pictures. I did also request to let them tell to the official photographer who was hired not to get angry by me standing and taking also pictures. I’m really conscious on how does photographers concern on doing their best in such jobs. My first intention was not to disturb the one who really had to show results.
Have fun!
The only downside from my decision of taking some pictures in Melania & Max Wedding is that I couldn’t just bring a tiny camera and took along some lighting gear as well. Anyway, I have to say that was not a really bad idea once I started a guests portrait photoshoot while the official photographer was taking the pictures from Melania & Max once married. We all had fun. Afterwards things got complicated already at the dance floor which was actually beside the swimming pool. One guest was playing right next to the pool edge until he felt into them. What a photographer does it’s just grabbing a strobe, a transmitter and help myself by letting someone hold the strobe while framing a few other guests who decided as well jumping and dive into the pool.
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Miss Bikini swimwear photoshoot 30 Aug 2014 2:50 AM (11 years ago)
Miss Bikini swimwear photoshoot was one of the biggest challenge I have had so far. The mission was taking pictures from Nash Brown who won the Miss Bikini 2013’s Spain edition contest. She’s also brand image from the Australian clothing and swimwear company Seafolly.
The location for Miss Bikini swimwear photoshoot
Shooting swimwear portraiture at the beach
I have to say you always have the doubt what’s going up before you start the photoshoot when you are up to take pictures outdoor in public places. Fortunatelly, as I mentioned before why I decided to do the photoshoot during May, I found it was definetely a good idea. Despite Nash is a spectacular model who takes your breath away we didn’t have major issues during the photoshoot. Everything went smooth and we finished the photoshoot exhausted but happy.
The chapter for swimwear photoshoot photographers
Lighting Gear
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Noelia studio photoshoot 4 May 2014 9:11 AM (11 years ago)
Noelia studio photoshoot took place just one week after Adrien’s studio photoshoot. Same studio and pretty much similar lighting setup. They are actually flatmates and was actually fun to know them were checking each other preview pictures since I sent them in order to make a selection.
Shooting Pre-production
The model is a model from Madrid who has been living in Barcelona so far. We had been talking about a photoshoot for long just finding a right place to make it. As a personal feature from Noelia, she has a number of tattoos which gives her more personality. Since it’s easy to go straight for a grunge look that match with a tattooed girl my purpose was just to avoid this. I did like to make it more elegant and finally found a way to combine kind of elegance, glamour and sexy outfit for that Noelia studio photoshoot.
At the studio
Noelia and me were on that just for a test and may use a few pictures for our portfolios. She did the make-up and we decided not to change it for the whole photoshoot despite a few small changes.
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Adrien Studio photoshoot 26 Apr 2014 9:39 AM (11 years ago)
Adrien is a french friend of mine who I often go skating with. Yes, I do skate or I’d rather say I go longboarding and while my friend skates inline. This occasion it was not the first time that I took pictures from him although it was the first one in studio. He asked me for a few corporate portraits wearing a suit for professional purposes and that’s why we arranged that Adrien studio photoshoot.
Sometimes I have some fun experimenting new ideas. Looking for a James Bond look was actually a pretty good example as elegant look but maybe not that “corporate”. A black background and lighting from the sides it did create a more dramatic effect and shadows.
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