I was there too
I was watching the sun set in Tenerife when a family approached and walked by. They were silhouetted by the sun, but instead of the usual black shadows, I wanted to try something different. No doubt the purists will be scoffing at the bright vignettes. Well, thanks. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 122mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |
A hand raised in greeting, with a smiling face, or is it a hand raised in anger?
Luckily, it was the former, with the smiling face of a friendly man just out of the shot greeting his friend in the plaid hat.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1500s |
If you don’t like crowds, you should avoid Valencia during the Fallas festival. I rarely saw any trouble. The crowds were almost always in good mood or, at the very least, resigned to not moving very fast. It appears that moving fast can be accomplished if you hire someone in a high-vis vest who will barge through the crowd, dragging a well-dressed family behind them to the front of the crowd. I saw that once as I waited for the Mascletà one bright sunny day last week.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 10 |
| Shutter speed | 1/230s |
If you visit Valencia during the first 19 days of the month of March you’ll be bombarded by the loud bangs of bangers going off, and fireworks every day. You’ll also come across elaborate Falla, or statues, dotted around the city.
In the past, they were built of papier mache, but these days the main construction material is styrofoam. On the 20th of the March, all the Fallas in the city are burnt to the ground, with only one item from each saved.
The best Falla in 2025 was the one built at Jerusalem Convent-Matemático Marzal, and luckily, I was staying about 100m away. In reality, that didn’t help much because the crowds visiting there during the day meant it was almost impossible to walk past it quickly. The only time the streets were nearly empty was at 5am one morning when I was going to take sunrise photos.
Here’s only a small selection of photos from that area. There’s more to come, mostly of crowded streets, but the Falla will feature again, probably.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 7.9mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Wikipedia says, “A mascletà (pronounced in Valencian: [maskleˈta]) is a pyrotechnic event characterized by the achievement of a noisy and rhythmic composition that features, particularly during daytime, in street festivities; it is typical of the Valencian Community (Spain). It gets its name from the masclets (very loud firecrackers) that are tied by a wick to form a line or firework display. These are usually fastened at a medium height with ropes or raised by cannons.”
They are LOUD. The sound reverberates around the city centre, and you can feel it shake your body, and even into your legs. Quite an experience!
I did try to protect my ears, but it’s two days later, and there’s a remnant of the mascletà still ringing gently in my left ear since this morning when I woke up. Only time will tell if that is permanent.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
A little dog enjoys the sun streaming into a shop in Malaga a few years ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
I spotted this little character on the streets of Malaga, pulling its owner along with an enthusiasm that only a dog can muster. There were another 2 dogs nearby, so I think that’s what was distracting him. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A customer in the food market in Malaga talks to a vendor before filling his order for olives.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 31mm |
| ISO | 5000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Sitting on that bench must be awkward, or you’d have to be very friendly with whoever you’re sitting next to.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
In July 2022, I was in Llafranc and wondered if I’d be able to photograph the Milky Way. Dark skies maps of the area showed glowing lights all along the coast, and it seemed unlikely, but I wandered down to the beach one night to try. I was pleased with the result because there was no way I could see anything like this with my bare eyes! There was too much light around.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 6400 |
| Shutter speed | 20s |
I spotted this stunning Siamese Cat in the town of Garachico in Tenerife recently. He was wandering across the street near the Plaza Juan González de la Torre.
Despite my calling him, he just walked on up the street, ignoring me, but he did give one look back as he walked past some rubbish bins, and out of sight.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
