Barcelona Morning and Afternoon Photography Tour
6 hour duration
Photography Tour Overview
Our Barcelona Morning and Afternoon Photography Tours have been carefully designed for the avid photographer who wants to make the most out of their time available while in this fabulous city. An extended duration of 6 hours, this photo walk is a step up in terms of locations and tuition from our regular 3.5 hour Barcelona Morning Photography Tour. We feel that learning and improving on your camera skills while walking the streets, creating candid images of strangers and practicing architectural photography while exploring the city, is something you you simply cannot learn in a classroom. Rather than going to the typical tourist spots, you will discover the most authentic neighbourhoods of Barcelona, as well as the most photogenic locations within the city. A local, professional photographer will instruct you in the art of photography while you wander through the city’s narrow streets, open plazas and wide open boulevards. With more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other city in Europe, a fabulous variety of Gothic, Bohemian, Modernist, and ultra-Modern architecture and a proud people with a strong sense of tradition, numerous photo opportunities await the photographer visiting Barcelona.
Similar to our Morning tour, the Barcelona Morning and Afternoon Photography tour goes further in terms of the sites we will visit, but also in the time available for invaluable, one-on-one instruction. This tour can also be customised on request to become a combined 3 Hour Morning Photo Tour + 3 Hour Post Processing Class at our studio: An awesome way of combining an overview of the city, while improving your photographic skills from the start of the image-taking process all the way up to the final, edited image. With the speed in technological advancements implemented in modern cameras, many photographers can be totally overwhelmed by the amount of functions and variety of settings that are offered. Camera manufacturers offer new features and higher resolution or improvements in image quality on every new camera rolled out, and while this makes for a competitive market, the photographer can often find the whole experience a daunting one. We aim to simplify the photo taking process by concentrating on the most important aspects in photography – composition and the manipulation of light. Likewise, our aim is to help you think as an artist, as opposed to simply taking postcard type shots.
The tours cater for beginners, advanced amateurs and semi-pro photographers. All of our tours are private tours for individuals, couples and small groups as we believe this makes for a more productive and enjoyable experience.
Barcelona Morning and Afternoon Photography Tour itinerary
The meeting point would be on the corner, outside the Zara store in Plaza Catalunya [Pl. de Catalunya 5, Barcelona 08002]. The meeting point can be found HERE.
From Plaza Catalunya, we will walk towards the Gothic Quarter. Here you will step back in time through the small alleyways and courtyards filled with soft light and great atmosphere. The old stone walls, gargoyles, Gothic and Roman architecture are in stark contrast to the busy commercial areas of Plaza Catalunya and the Ramblas. Here we will enter the Holy Cross and Santa Eulalia Cathedral – the church built in the 13th century in the neo-Gothic style. The interior contains the crypt of Santa Eulalia, the young girl martyred during the Roman times and who the Cathedral is named after. On the side of the Cathedral, we will also visit the beautiful cloisters. This beautiful courtyard with Saints buried around an open patio filters directional light on the tombstones with skulls and crossbones. These fascinating tombstones are a warning to keep them sealed closed due to the victim passing away from the Black Death.
Within the Gothic quarter is the old Jewish Quarter and ancient synagogue. This small neighbourhood has some of the oldest habitable buildings in Barcelona. Home to around 4000 Jews during the 13th Century, this small community thrived until their expulsion from Spain in the year 1492. King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella decided that no synagogue would be larger than any church, hence the tiny size of this synagogue. The whole area contains stonework that glows during the morning hours and is ideal when adding texture to a scene. The narrow streets allow shafts of light to enter, adding to the already photogenic surroundings. The Gothic quarter is a perfect district to shoot in when the photographer wants to create a sense of atmosphere.
Crossing the old Roman road known as Via Laietana, we leave the Gothic quarter to enter the Borne district. One of our favourite districts to shoot at any time of day, the Borne is exceptional for photographers thanks to a multitude of photo opportunities on offer. From Roman, Gothic and Bohemian architecture, dramatic street art, a myriad of pedestrian streets and likewise, excellent chances of capturing street photography thanks to being an authentic neighbourhood with a strong sense of tradition. We will walk the narrow dark alleyways and visit Gothic churches, trendy stores, open plazas, unusual architecture and other points of interest before we head towards one of the marvels of Catalan Modernism – the Music Palace. This building is one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture in existence and is also one of Barcelona’s World Heritage Sites. A mixture of Modernist and Moorish influences make this building very unique. Another building of note is the Santa Maria del Mar, a Gothic church that began construction in 1329 and would actually be located at the seafront of Barcelona.
In fact, all of the area from this location up until today’s seafront in the district of Barceloneta is actually landfill. Located closeby, after walking the tiny Rambla of the Borne, the former food market was the largest market in Barcelona and plans to create a library here were changed after the Old City was discovered directly underneath. Today it is a cultural centre with an incredible insight into what lies beneath. The Modernist building itself is equally impressive in it’s scale and minimalism. The Borne also has an incredible variety of bars and restaurants. Hip and with a sense of youthful vitality, the Borne offers some of Barcelona’s best dining options, and shoppers will equally love the trendy, independent boutique stores dotted around the neighbourhood.
Continuing through the Borne, we will arrive to the Parc de la Ciutadella, the green oasis that locals and tourists alike visit when in need of an escape from the city. The original site of the Citadel, the park was created in preparation for the World’s Fair and now houses the Catalan Parliament, the City Zoo, Zoological Museum and Geology Museum. This park is decorated with beautifully ornate sculptures, fountains and tropical greenhouses that surround a lake. Heading through the park, we arrive to the boulevard lined with huge Modernist lamps that continues to the Arc de Triomf – the gateway into the 1888 World’s Fair. The shadows caused by trees that cover the bicycle lanes can often yield artistic images of the locals as they follow these routes. Using a panning technique where a slow shutter speed is required can isolate the subject while adding a sense of movement into your images. The arch itself can be used as a focal point or simply add context as a background in street photography. Continuing our circular route, we will now head back to the city centre towards the Ramblas, to enter the Boqueria market.
On entering the Boqueria market, you will notice how the food stalls with their careful displays of fruits and vegetables result in a beautiful range of colours and textures. This market has a mix of ambient, tungsten and fluorescent artificial light sources, and is a good opportunity to try different white balance settings within one location. Displays of freshly prepared fruit juices buried in crushed ice is ideal for this purpose. Market traders hard at work, fishmongers preparing local freshly caught fish and seafood, butchers, vendors of local and imported produce and tapas bars dotted throughout the chaos means that there are endless opportunities for photos, from street photography and environmental portraits to repetitions and macro photography. From chefs to foodies, locals and tourists, it is easy to see why the Boqueria market is renowned as one of the best markets in the world. The Boqueria market lies at the edge of the Raval district, our last location of the tour.
Another of Barcelona’s districts, the Raval is all about street photography. While highly photogenic backgrounds abound, we find that utilising them in context to the authentic subjects that wander the streets are really what makes this district a fantastic choice in photographing strangers on the street. The Raval has it’s own unique character. Unlike tidier, more organised districts of the city, the Raval requires a certain amount of street smartness for the first time visitor. One of Barcelona’s oldest neighbourhoods, there is sense of authenticity here like nowhere else. The locals to the area are made up of working class immigrants, little old ladies returning home with their groceries, tattoo clad skateboarders and small business owners. We will wander through the narrow streets of washing-clad facades, searching for pockets of light that enter. An excellent location for practising some action photography is outside the MACBA [museum of modern art]. Skateboarders come here to practice their skills, and make for dynamic images when photographed in front of the modern architecture. We will end the tour by escorting you back to Plaza Catalunya.
To see our full range of itineraries, you can return to the Barcelona Photography Tours page.