Images shot on AgfaPhoto APX 100 in the Lomo LC-A
If you’re reading this, which you are, you are blessed. Hear me out. I don’t mean you’re blessed to be reading my disjointed documentations of days gone by. I mean more that you’re blessed to have the ability to read this.
That you were given the chance and were able to learn to do so. That you have functioning eyes. That you have the device that you’re looking at right now and an internet connection too.
On a similar sentiment, I was blessed when I went to Barcelona for a few days. Blessed that I could travel, that I had the time and money to spend even just a few days in this great city, and that I could do some of the things I most like to do while I was there.
I went for a run, I drank some beer, and I shot some film. And it was brilliant.
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When Barcelona blessed me with this budget black and white film
I had travelled to Barcelona with probably enough film for the few days I was there, but I wanted to find a shop and top up my stash and give myself a couple of other different options too.
Unfortunately, the places that had looked good when I’d Googled them turned out to be less so once I got there. Like the Wonder Photo Shop, for example. I hadn’t realised this was a Fujifilm store, and the only 35mm film they had was the US-made Fuji 200.
I left without buying any.
Where I did end up buying this AgfaPhoto APX 100 from though was a small place that does passport photographs and sells photo frames and prints your images on mugs and cushions and whatnot. They had a couple of rolls of this, which I imagine they don’t sell much of.
But I found it, saw it was for a decent price, and bought some. So really, it was Barcelona that blessed me with this budget black and white film.
Starting off at the Plaça de Catalunya
I didn’t have to go far to shoot it either, getting through all the 36 exposures in three neighbouring areas of the city. The first of these was Barcelona’s biggest square – the Plaça de Catalunya, or Catalonia Square.
Covering around 30,000 square meters, it sits right in the heart of Barcelona and connects the old city – Ciutat Vella – which includes the Gothic Quarter, with the newer Eixample district, which is where all those rows and rows of cool square blocks of buildings are.
Depending on when you’re there, you might see a variety of events going on. Concerts, festivals, demonstrations… none of which were happening when I was there.
That didn’t matter though as there was still plenty to look at and shoot.
From the people walking around or chilling on benches to the statues and fountains, Plaça de Catalunya was a worthy starting point for this particular ramble around this part of Barcelona.
A ramble that took me next to a place with a very apt name.
A black and white ramble on La Rambla
A previous blog post I wrote on this site was all about walking around my home town of Mansfield shooting some other monochrome film. It was called A Black and White Ramble in Mansfield.
Barcelona is obviously a little more interesting a place, but I’m a simple man and the way I spend my time doesn’t vary that much wherever I am.
Also, if you’re going to have a ramble, what better place than La Rambla?
Not that those two similar-sounding words are actually connected, however. I’ve just looked it up, and it says the street name here comes from an old Arabic word ‘ramla’ which means ‘sandy riverbed’.
And guess what this boulevard used to be before it grew into the best-known thoroughfare in Barcelona? Not a dried-up stream, surely?
Beyond the entrance to the subway station, which I often find are good for some street photos, you’ll get to La Rambla proper.
Stretching just over a kilometre from the Plaça de Catalunya down to the Christopher Columbus monument, La Rambla is a pedestrianised boulevard full of places to eat, drink, buy souvenirs, and sit and get your caricature painted.
If that makes it sound like tourist central, that’s because that’s what it is.
For some people, that instantly makes it a place to avoid. I get that. For me though, if I’m somewhere like Barcelona, I’m definitely checking sights like this out.
You need to see it for yourself to form an opinion of it. And whether that turns out being good or bad, it’s going to be a decent place for some photography at the very least.
I’m not sure how much time the locals spend here, but I can imagine it’s not a lot.
That said though, even after living in Shanghai for some time I would enjoy the occasional walk along East Nanjing Road, which I suppose is something of an equivalent to La Rambla.
I knew it was a tourist trap but I liked the atmosphere of it being so.
It’s easy to sneer at places like this. Why would you go to Barcelona and seek out the Irish bar? Why would you make yourself a target for the resident pickpockets?
I never went to La Rambla at night so I can’t comment on how that was.
But I will say this – a cheese and ham toastie and a coffee for about five Euros from the places run by the North African gentlemen meant I was sitting there in the morning sun every day for breakfast.
Getting gone into the Gothic Quarter
Right next to La Rambla, the third and final area I shot this AgfaPhoto APX 100 in the Lomo LC-A at was Barcelona’s old Gothic Quarter.
Again, a place full of tourists. But that’s what I was. And it was another place that was wonderful for some photography. Especially the beautiful Plaça Reial, or Royal Square.
The light was fantastic for some high-contrast monochrome images, which is what this rebranded Kentmere Pan 100 – which is what APX 100 is – will give you. I always enjoy shooting archways for some reason also.
As an aside, I’ve heard it said a sign of wealth is going to a restaurant and not looking at the prices.
Well let me tell you this – I too did not look at the prices in the restaurants here.
Elsewhere in the Gothic Quarter, you’ll find a few more famous old Barcelona sights. The next image below is of the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, which houses the seat of the Executive Council and the Presidency of Catalonia.
I didn’t know this when I was there. I just liked the light, and the lights, and thought the overall symmetry in the scene would make a nice photograph.
The two images after this feature the Pont del Bisbe, or Bishop’s Bridge. Although it looks historic, it was only constructed in 1928. My grandparents were older than that.
It is one of the most photographed things in Barcelona though, and I contributed to those imagined figures too – albeit with people in my shots too as I usually do.
We’ll wrap this thing up with a bunch more street shots from around the Gothic Quarter.
The only really recognisable sight in these is the Plaça de George Orwell, or George Orwell Square.
A small triangular square, if you can imagine such a thing, that I thought would be quite nondescript if not for its name, it’s nice that there’s an homage in the city to the Englishman who wrote Homage to Catalonia after fighting in the Spanish Civil War.
For the record though, despite what I’ve read elsewhere, Orwell never actually lived on this square.
Beyond that, we have a bloke on a ladder, a bloke stepping into the light, a scooter in an alleyway, and a mirror selfie I took somewhere along the way too.
Because when you see a broken mirror propped up against the wall like that, you just have to, don’t you?
Wrapping up this budget black and white film in Barcelona
I shot a few rolls of film during my few days in Barcelona, and I’m still getting around to writing about them here. For now, you can read about how the Ilford Pan F 50 went here – and I’ll tell you now, I got some images I really like from that one.
The Ektachrome E100 I shot came out well too, although I’m yet to publish those.
But let’s wrap this thing up by going back to the little film hunt I went on in Barcelona. I didn’t try all the places that Google suggested when I looked, but I had mixed results from those that I did.
However, I was happy with this APX 100 from that little shop that I can’t remember the name or location of now, and thought I wouldn’t be buying any more.
But then I found a place all by myself whilst walking from my hostel at Paral·lel to La Rambla. On Carrer Nou de la Rambla, the same street as you’ll find Gaudi’s Palau Güell, there’s a place called Impresión-Arte.
You can’t miss it. It’s next to My F*cking Restaurant.
Walking past, I just glanced in. Sat on the counter was a pile of about 40 rolls of Ilford HP5 Plus 400.
I didn’t need any Ilford HP5 Plus 400.
So of course I bought some.
And then a few days later, after I’d taken the train to Paris, I shot it. Some black and white in the City of Light.
So yes, I was blessed indeed. Blessed to be in Barcelona. Blessed to find this AgfaPhoto APX 100. Blessed to find the Ilford HP5 400. Blessed to take a really nice train trip from one great European city to another.
And blessed that you’ve taken the time to read my ramblings here.
I thank you for that. 🙂
If you liked that little walk around Barcelona and want more adventures illustrated with film photography, why not have a look at some of these:
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