Urban Archives - Page 27 of 48

November 23, 2015

Pink Clouds Above Barcelona

Pink Clouds Over Barcelona — Pink clouds above the rooftops of Barcelona Obtain fine art print

I was amazed at these clouds above the Barcelona rooftops as I stood atop a downtown hotel. Those two buildings on the right are the tallest buildings in the city, yet millions live here in these apartments that have much more character than glass towers ever will, especially when you consider the mix of architecture and design displayed throughout the city. I took this from the rooftop bar at the Grand Hotel. We’d come up here after a day out and relax to ambient music with a Sangria as we watched day turn into night. This was one of those times, just chilling at the rooftop lounge.

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015

Saturday Sunrise

This morning I managed to get out to capture these clouds over the Manatee River at sunrise. Sometimes I wish I lived somewhere closer to nature, but mornings like this can help make up for that. There really is quite a lot of beauty all around, I just have to put myself in the right spot at the right time. Nothing good comes without a little effort and so it was today. But I still need to get out of the city, maybe a walk on the beach is in order.

This is my first image using AuroraHDR from Trey Ratcliff and Macphun. I found it really easy to use. I don’t recall all that I did but I started with Trey’s “Soul Asunder” preset and then just started playing around. Finally I pulled it back into Lightroom for a few minor tweaks. I’m really happy with the way it fits into my workflow, and since I use all the other Macphun products it has a nice familiar feel to it. I’m pretty excited to have a new, intelligently designed product to help amp up my creativity.

November 18, 2015

Coqueta

This is one of the bars we passed along the Embarcadero on a Saturday night. I was on a photowalk in San Francisco with Trey Ratcliff and about three hundred other friends. Little did I know that some in our party were not making it past the bars along the route. And here I was busy taking pictures, silly me, I need to get my priorities straight. Well, I did see a bunch of cool spot and made a mental note that I would surely stop in these watering holes next time I come here, they really look fun.

November 17, 2015

By the Fountain

One of the best places to stand if you want to watch the world go by is by a central fountain in a european city. I stood in front of La fontaine des Trois Grâces in the center of Montpellier and no matter which way I looked there was something to watch. Sometimes quick, sometimes slow, but a lot of activity on all sides. Next time I should just stand there all day, stopping only for the occasional cappuccino and croissant.

November 17, 2015

Palavas Harbor

The harbors along the French Mediterranean are full of sailboats. This is in Palavas but in another town further south we watched children learning to sail on rough seas which I though was pretty amazing. But that probably explains why so many people along the coast love to sail. This is just a small section of the harbor, there were many hundreds of boats moored here, many more than I’m used to seeing in our small Florida harbors. This was the scene as the sun set last week and I walked along the docks taking it all in.

November 13, 2015

Casa Batllo Stairway

This is another image from inside Casa Batlló in Barcelona, a home designed by Antoni Gaudi and designated a world heritage site by UNESCO. As I wound my way though the house I was presented with unique design at every turn, nothing is repeated. Even the very last stairwell to the roof is an exquisite expression of art. It’s as though the house was constructed by an artist, which of course, it was. Antoni Gaudi was a rare soul who elevated architecture and design into an immersive expression of artistic mastery and this house is just one of many examples.

November 12, 2015

Small Streets of Barcelona

Coming from America I just love the small streets of European cities. Of course they were built in the age of horses but they are now busy pedestrian thoroughfares with shops and cafes at every turn. This is in Barcelona near the main cathedral. People are walking around at all hours of the night, it feels quite safe. I could walk around all day and all night here and get delightfully lost. It was not problem at all. If I ever got worried I just looked at the map app on my Apple iPhone and it guided me back to my hotel. I wonder if horse riders ever got lost in these streets? They probably fed the apple to the horse and let it found the way out. Kind of ironic.

November 10, 2015

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

This is a small village in southern France that has maintained its medieval state through the centuries. In one section I notice construction on a home, the builder was building walls of stone as perhaps no differently than ages ago. It’s nestled in a gorge along a river which was nothing more than a stream when I took this. It was incredible walking through the narrow streets and it was easy to imagine I had been transported back in time.

November 9, 2015

Sagrada Familia Ceiling

The Sagrada Familia has been under construction for a hundred years and it is perhaps the most compelling example of design and architecture on the planet. This ceiling rises maybe two hundred feet from where I stood yet it’s impossible to convey the enormity of the interior. The detail in the craftsmanship and artistry overwhelms your sense to the point that you just have to stand in one spot, look in one direction and try to take it in. So this is one little corner as I stood staring straight up doing my best to take it in.

November 8, 2015

Cloudy Beach at Dawn

Its safe to say the beach was quite deserted this morning at dawn when I showed up to get a few pictures. This is in Carnon along the Mediterranean in the south of France. But, just like back home in Florida, there are still people showing up to walk or run the shoreline. As well there were a few fishermen plying their trade. Some things, regardless of the location, seem to be universal. Beaches are places were people come to play or work along the shore.