Paul Smith
December 2025 - Priest at Gaudi Cathedral
About the Image(s)
Our travels in western Europe, last summer, included a few days in Barcelona. We made a special effort to tour the Gaudi Cathedral and nearby buildings. What we found was a group of locals who did Not appreciate tourists! Taxis would not take us near several sites for fear of getting mugged? From the image nearby, one can see that we were allowed to enter the Cathedral, and to photo shoot the outside. I had not been there. Without our cameras, this architecture is difficult to describe. Canon 90D, Canon 17-85 zoom, SS 800, ISO 400, NIK s/w for b/w conversion
5 comments posted
You folks traveling around Europe make me envious! I like the subject a lot. The granite really lends itself to Monochrome.
The composition you have chosen tells a real story. I am not certain if the half of the body on the left is helpful. I would want the viewer to focus directly on the Priest. I might also add some contrast by adding some black to the dark areas. Perhaps darken the edges a little to further guide the viewer to the Priest?
Very nice image! Posted: 12/08/2025 19:40:22
The composition you have chosen tells a real story. I am not certain if the half of the body on the left is helpful. I would want the viewer to focus directly on the Priest. I might also add some contrast by adding some black to the dark areas. Perhaps darken the edges a little to further guide the viewer to the Priest?
Very nice image! Posted: 12/08/2025 19:40:22
I understand your comment. At first, I cropped out everything, leaving only the "Wise Man". But without the broader view, which included these two partial figures, the image itself did not reveal the story of the building...the Cathedral! Posted: 12/10/2025 19:19:22
Paul - first re your image…..excellent! You took this at the perfect angle for his tilted face to look at you and the quirkiness of this one statue really comes over. I can understand the dilemma as to how much background to exclude - but I would certainly do doming on the left (the bits top right are fine in my view). Options include cropping enough to remove the bright fingers, cropping it all out (making left side very clean), removing just the fingers or darkening them, plus putting a shadow effect on the left side.
I had just a few hours in Barcelona in September and spent some of this at the cathedral and enjoying other Gaudi masterpieces. This cathedral is so unlike any other anywhere, but inevitably it attracts thousands daily, with tickets for tourists to enter inside like gold-dust! The outside though is amazing. Posted: 12/13/2025 10:15:17
I had just a few hours in Barcelona in September and spent some of this at the cathedral and enjoying other Gaudi masterpieces. This cathedral is so unlike any other anywhere, but inevitably it attracts thousands daily, with tickets for tourists to enter inside like gold-dust! The outside though is amazing. Posted: 12/13/2025 10:15:17
That is a beautifully carved statue and it does sit so well on the corner of that building. The light is sitting on it nicely and is very pleasing to view. For my taste I would like the figure on the left in fully as they are the onlooker and falls nicely into that position. So a touch more of them would tell more. Posted: 12/16/2025 14:54:42
Paul, nice subject to photograph and use black and white. My only suggestion is to add a bit more contrast. The figures on the periphery do not bother me. We were in Barcelona a few years ago and saw this cathedral...it is fascinating. I did hear that locals throughout Europe are tired of tourists because housing has been geared to tourists and leads to housing shortages/expensive living for locals. Posted: 12/17/2025 21:17:08