Spain- "Sketches of Spain"- Part 4

© Darryll Schiff

After "singing" the praises of Spain and how enchanted I am with the people and the country, I thought it would be time to more directly relate this last trip to my art and photography.  I have talked about the museums, galleries, and the wonderful Eloisa at Art Gallery Tour but now I want to talk a bit about my own art and what comes into play when I travel and shoot.

© Darryll Schiff

It used to be that any time I knew I would be somewhere making pictures, I would pack my latest heavy duty professional Nikon and lenses. I have been shooting exclusively digitally now for over eight years which means I don't have to deal with carrying around rolls and rolls of film, trips back and forth to the lab, worrying  about airport x-ray machines, etc. I don't miss it at all.

© Darryll Schiff

© Darryll Schiff

Now, besides my latest digital Nikon, a D800, I also extensively use one of my older Nikon P6000's, sort of a pro/am point and shoot, and.......my iPhone, of course. The pictures in this blog come from a mix of these cameras, and even my Nikon D300, and older camera that I still use. All the pictures were taken in Spain and are a mix of serious and fun shots - you have to keep the fun and excitement in it.

 

© Darryll Schiff

 

 © Darryll Schiff

© Darryll Schiff

I used my iPhone a lot more than expected, mainly for the touristy snapshots, but if you take time to really compose and time your shots right, the results can be amazing. Also, it's a great little device to do quick "sketch" shots, the way a painter might take a pencil to paper to map out their final image. The following is a shot from my iPhone that I treated as a type of "sketch":

© Darryll Schiff

The funny thing about my P6000s is how the way I use them has evolved.  Originally, when I 

bought my first one, it was going to be my "sketch pad", something I could have with me all the

time, to capture ideas, play around with, and get the occasional serious picture with. As I used the

camera more and more, I found ways to take advantage of a couple of its features that fit right into what I see (examples below). I now have four of them!

© Darryll Schiff

© Darryll Schiff

© Darryll Schiff

Although I print my work in all sizes, most of it is big--40x60, 58x88, even as large as 75x177. The D800 (Nikon's newest version is the D810) is the camera I use for those huge pieces. As I work on my pictures from this trip, I get really excited. I'm sure those big images will be hanging in my studio very soon.

-Darryll

Spain- Art, Food, and People- Part 2

  There's something about Spain, well actually lots of things about

  Spain, that make it irresistible to me.  This was my third trip there in the

  the last nine years.  I was gone for twelve days but could have easily stayed

  another twelve if I had the time.

 Three years ago I visited Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla.  This year, my trip was again
 to Madrid (how could I go to Spain and not re-visit the Prado?!) then on to Barcelona and Valencia.

 There are three basic things that make Spain great - the art, the food, and the

 people. In Madrid alone there are three major world class museums, the Prado,

 the Thyssen, and the Sofia Reina. The Prado by itself, containing El Greco, Velasquez,

 Reubens, Goya and more, is amazing. In the other two museums there are even
more masterpieces to be found, including Picasso's Guernica at the Sofia Reina.

Picasso-Guernica, Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

Goya, Prado, Madrid

Reubens, Prado, Madrid

Barcelona has Gaudi, the Picasso and Miro museums, and more.  Valencia is smaller,

and I was unfortunately only there two days, but there is a lot to explore. On top of

Spain's legendary art museums, there is a multitude of wonderful art galleries, which I will cover in a future blog.

Food. Generally I appreciate fine food but never think about it much, although I remember

from my previous trip that almost anywhere we went, whether it was a local small place or

a fancy restaurant, everything was great. This time around, I was even more impressed.
Seasoned traveler and food critic, Anthony Bourdain, has raved about the food there and
once said that the best young chefs in the world are in Spain.

 

 

My girlfriend and I ate in the wonderful markets, or mercados, as well as small "local" restaurants, hip to traditional tapas places, top notch restaurants, and even a newer "cool" pizza restaurant "la mucca".

In the end, we had a large range of foodie experiences and just about everything was fantastic.

 

Lastly, the people. Madrid and Barcelona, the two biggest cities, can be a lot of hustle and bustle, but

I still remember nine years ago, when I could barely speak a word of Spanish, we were going out

to dinner in Madrid and got completely lost. I stopped an older man in the street to ask him for

help. All I could do was point to an address and gesture that we didn't know where we were.

He ended up walking with us, a mile out of his way, right to the front door of the place.  Is everyone

like that? Probably not... but I have a feeling the generally warm and friendly Spanish disposition has something to do with constantly being surrounded by beautiful art and delicious food...and I supposed the traditional mid-day siestas don't hurt either.

Flamenco Dancer

So if you ever have a chance to get out to Madrid or any of the places mentioned above, definitely take advantage of that opportunity! More to come soon about the galleries we visited in Part Three...stay tuned!

-Darryll