Barcelona Day One: Airports and Beaches

20192019 / Madison Beach / Leave a comment

Today I set off for the East coast Spanish city of Barcelona. I have been before, but when I was a kid so I was looking forward to returning and exploring more. I am here just for few days during my spring break from university. I am travelling with Alex who like me, lives in Brighton but spent her childhood in Barcelona.

Like any good holiday we spent our morning consuming overpriced food at the airport, loosing track of time and running to our gate. Although we were the last to board the plane, we made it in time to sit onboard as our flight got more and more delayed.

Finally we were off and after watching copious amount of Parks and Rec we landed. Travelling with someone who has spent half their life in Barcelona made travelling from the airport to the city centre stress free. This was helped by the constant stream of reasonably priced airport shuttle buses.

An aerial shot of Las Ramblas

It was a 30 minute bus ride into the centre and then a 5 minute walk to the apartment we were staying in. By the time we had refreshed and unpacked it was early evening. So we decided on a walk along the beach and some food. To get to the beach we had to stroll down the most famous street in Barcelona; Las Ramblas. Its a palm tree-lined avenue leading from the centre of town down to the beach. As I remembered from when I was a child it was filled with tourists and stalls selling everything from souvenirs to flamenco show tickets. If visiting it’s a good idea to keep your belongings close as pick pockets operate in this area.

The beach was beautifully serene and quiet with the sun setting behind it. The only danger here is getting hit by what felt like hundreds of skateboarders- all way cooler than I’ll ever be.

Walking along the beach built up our appetite so we dipped into a side street for some tapas from a recommended restaurant. This was the first tapas I have ever had and it didn’t disappoint. The only negative I can think of, is the broken unisex toilet door which led me to seeing a man in a rather uncompromising position…

With full stomachs a good night sleep was needed so we headed back here to the apartment. Tomorrow we have a full day planned so stay tuned..

Utilising Artificial Light in Night Photography

20182018 / Madison Beach / Leave a comment

Aside from my tasks I undertake as part of my Masters degree I like to keep up with personal projects. This week I set out to photograph low light portraits both inside and out. I have found shooting personal projects keeps me motivated.

For this set of images I was shooting on my Sony A7RII and cracked the ISO up to make up for the lack of natural light..

I sat the model near the window so I could use the light coming in from the street

When I was outside I was always looking for artificial like which I could utilise such as the blue lights of the ambulance, park lights and street lamps.

Also exactly two years ago today I graduated! Its been a crazy two years with lots of photography ups and downs but just scrolling through my blog I can see how my photography has developed. It’s exciting to think about what I might be creating this time next year..

Spending 3 Days on Brighton Pier

20182018 / Madison Beach / 1 Comment

For my latest masters assignments I had to pick one place to photograph. The aim was to capture the feel of the place. I chose Brighton Pier spending 3 days trying to capture the atmosphere. I went into the shoot knowing I wanted to photograph the rides, people and landscape.

Portraits at the Barbican

20182018 / Madison Beach / Leave a comment

I have now been studying for my Masters in Photography for over a month- and I can’t believe how quick its gone! So I thought I’d share with you some of the work I have produced so far, starting with the very task: portraits.

I chose the Barbican as the backdrop as its one of my favourite places in the whole of London. It was an incredibly overcast day so the lack of light made it challenging.

I had to select 5 and these were my picks..

Shooting on Monsoon 35mm Film

20182018 / Madison Beach / Leave a comment

This week I shot a roll of Monsoon 35mm film. The aim of this film is to create saturated blue tones replicating the feel of post-monsoon rain…

Overall i’m not sure how I feel about this 35mm film, I really like the blue tones but the images look really soft which is not normally the effect I go for. But I think it’s only fair to try it out in a different environment so next week I’m going to head to the seven sisters to photograph landscapes.

Street Portraiture in London

20182018 / Madison Beach / Leave a comment

Yesterday I headed up to London to Enrol on my Masters course! The whole process took way less time then I expected, with 3 hours (?!) to spare before my train back to Brighton, I headed out to shoot some street portraits. Personally I prefer to shoot un-staged images of people out and about, since I started shooting street photography around two years ago I have gained a lot of confidence getting closer to people to capture the action on the streets..

Shooting £1 Film at Night

20182018 / Madison Beach / 2 Comments

Earlier this week a fairground rolled into town. I already had a roll of Agfa film (£1!) in my Olympus so I set out to see what I could document. As the ISO of the film (hows sensitive it is too light) is just 200 I used the flash to give the film a chance to capture what was going on.