Learning To Take Proper Photos In Barcelona

February 12, 2009 at 12:46 PM | by juliab | 1 Comment

Jaunted contributing editor JuliaB gives us the low-down on snapping experts pic in Barcelona.

If you�ve been to Barcelona, you already know it�s a lush place for photos. And for those first timers, here�s why � it�s got beach, it�s got mountain, and it�s got unabashedly photogenic architecture, from medieval streets to thoroughly modern towerblocks with Gaudi�s M&M-coloured buildings thrown into the mix.

My problem is (or was � because I shoot pretty mean these days) that I�m not a natural photographer. Luckily for me, British expat Dan Rose is, and two years ago he set up Barcelona Photographer, which teaches the likes of me how to take a decent picture on a three hour walking tour of the city.

Dan assumes that you�ll already have seen most of the main sites, so his official group tour goes round the less touristy parts of Barcelona, like the Raval district (one of the city�s more gritty areas, so feel free to flaunt those piercings and hold tight to your bag) and the backstreets of the Gothic Quarter. If you�d rather get crack tuition in shooting your top ten, though, you can hire him on a private tour and go where you like. But bear in mind that you�ll probably spend the first two hours queuing to get into La Pedrera.

Most people who take the tour bring their own SLR. If you don�t have one, he can either show you how to get the best use out of your compact, or lend you a brand new SLR for free (doing this means you can square the cost of the tour off against your postcard fund).

I went for a private tour because I wanted to tick off the locations for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which just came out in the UK. Secretly, I wanted to look like Scarlett Johansson as she prances round, snapping the local streets and prostitutes. (Disclosure: I was also doing a feature on this for The London Paper so I was able to get a comp instruction.)

We started in the Rambla de Raval, a lengthy square built a few years ago to jazz up the district, and Dan showed me how to make a huge statue of a black cat look interesting, other than pointing and shooting. He also ventured that my photos might look better if I took the camera off automatic and started setting my own aperture, exposure and shutter speed. It took a while (and a lot of blurred, over-exposed and pitch black photos) to get results, but now that I have my first photos worthy of a Facebook album, it was definitely worth it.

In little over three hours we whipped round the Raval, La Boqueria food market, Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter, and even had time for a coffee break, where I quizzed Dan on aperture, exposure and what he was doing in Barcelona, and he pointed out that we were sitting next to the Spanish David Letterman. I refrained from taking a picture of him.

Overall, it was a brilliant way of touching up my photography skills (which should last me a while) and seeing parts of Barcelona I hadn�t ventured into before (going down the Raval�s main red light street wouldn�t normally be my cup of tea). In fact, I could have done with it being a bit longer. He runs courses that last a whole weekend, too, but they�re a little more hardcore, and include things like studio work, which wouldn�t interest me if I�d made it to Barcelona. If you fancy clapping eyes on some pretty Catalan ladies, though, you know which one to book.

Group tours cost �45 ($58) and start again in April. Private tours cost �128 ($165), though you can share the cost between up to eight people.

Related Stories:
· Barcelona Photographer [Official Site]

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