The Trains In Spain

     It's a beautiful spring morning and we are aboard a Renfe high speed train whipping through the Spanish countryside. We are on our way to Cuenca, an incredibly beautiful town about 170 km. southeast of Madrid. Our travel time on the train will be just under an hour. Yup, they're that fast!

    We had caught the train in the early hours at Atocha train station in Madrid. Within a few minutes we had left the city and were cruising along at an average speed of about 280/290 km/h. I can't get on a train without thinking of my Dad. I am the son of a railway man. My Father was a conductor / brakeman on the Ontario Northland Railway. Fifty-one years after his passing, his kid is riding a train in Spain with speeds that reach over 300km/h!  I only wish that he could have experienced this ride. He would have loved it! 

    Early in our time in Spain we had visited the Museo del Ferrocarril (Railway Museum) in Madrid. It is a very cool place! It is located in the former Delicias Station opened by King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Christina in 1880. 

    On the day that we were there, the museum was hosting a flea market with lots of vendors selling a wide variety of merchandise. I thought it was a great idea. It provided a source of interest for those who may not be as interested in trains as railway nerds like me. Also, near the front of the museum, a solo trumpet player was laying down some very cool jazz. Not your typical railway museum! The old station train shed provided some interesting lighting and I had a great time making photographs of a subject I love in both colour and black and white.

    

  My interest in trains and all things railroady goes back to when I was a kid. Quite often I would receive books about trains as gifts at Christmas or for my birthday. Usually these books featured pictures of trains from around the world. I remembered seeing a picture of a Spanish Talgo train in one of them. The Talgo was a very cool streamlined design for its time. It caught the fancy of kid growing up in small town Northern Ontario. It was a bit surreal to finally see the train in a railway museum in Madrid more than fifty years later.

 

     After our day in the amazingly beautiful town of Cuenca we caught a high speed evening train back to Madrid. At the end of the coach was a screen featuring information about the the train, including its speed. I managed to snap a picture as it topped out at over 300 km/h. 

   

As I stepped of the train on our return to Madrid, I noticed a distinctive logo near the doorframe of the coach.

You guessed it . "Talgo."

In the words of the late great Harry Chapin, "All my life's a circle."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yjxWfyxpqY

...more later

Yup! It's Late by Gord Barker

    Okay, I know it's late! For some reason, I thought that I had an extra Saturday to get this post done. Yeah, some day I'll learn how to read a calendar! In addition to that, I discarded the original idea that I was going to use. This resulted in a state of writer's block. After that the demands of the day job interfered and...   Enough excuses! I'm late to the deadline and I apologize profusely.

    That being said, the writer's block is still there and I've got readers who want me to produce something! Okay. Here goes!

............Long pause...............................Very long pause.....................................................

    Perhaps the toughest part of being a photographer and blogger is meeting deadlines. Back when I was a commercial photographer in the dinosaur days of film, I worked under one very strict adage, "Clients don't pay for excuses!" They want high quality work and they want it delivered on time. Period!                                                                                                                      

      A while back I had a conversation with a photographer who operates a local studio. I remember her saying to me, "You're lucky. You get to shoot whatever you want whenever you want." In a way, she was right. I don't rely solely on photography or writing to pay the bills so, to that extent, I guess that I'm a freelancer in the truest sense of the word. 

     But to achieve any success in the creative world, I have to be my own toughest critic. Ultimately, I'm working for the most critical client  of all. Me! 

     Strangely enough, not having a paying client can actually make meeting deadlines more difficult. I mean my deadlines are self imposed. Financially, I'm not paying a penalty for not meeting them. It can be far too easy to tell myself that no one really cares if I'm a little late or if I don't publish at all. I mean, no one is paying me for this stuff. 

    But the reality is that I'm being paid with something far more valuable than money. What I'm getting is real appreciation and loyalty. My readership may be a small one, but they look forward to the blog posts and photos that I put out. I try to consistently publish on the last Saturday of each month. I once wrote and published a blog post on a friend's coffee table when I was out of town for the weekend. Fortunately, I had a pretty good idea and enough photos stashed on my cell phone to pull off that little stunt!

     I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've got to try a little harder to consistently get the work out on time. I owe it to my readers. And, as someone who enjoys creating this stuff as much as I do, I also owe it to myself.

...more later 

     

     

     

    

   

    

    

     

    

Spain

    It's April 25th and I'm on a United Airlines Boeing 767-300 at about 34,000 feet somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Next stop, the airport at Newark, New Jersey where we have a brief layover before catching a short flight to Pearson International in Toronto. In the seat beside me, my significant other, awesome travel companion and best friend is dozing comfortably. I write a short entry into the travel journal that I've fished out of my camera bag.

    I didn't want to come home. I know, I know. It's a conversation that has been overworked so much that it has become cliché. Friend or work colleague, "So how was your vacation?'' Answer, "Not long enough!" 

    But this time it's different. I really didn't want to come home. I firmly believe that I could happily spend the rest of my life making photographs and writing blogs in Spain. The place is that amazing! It's a profound change for a die hard Canadian boy, born and raised in Northern Ontario, the very heart of this country!

     What makes Spain amazing to me is the inherent beauty of the country. It's everywhere. On my first day there, I felt a bit  overwhelmed. But the longer that I was there, the more I came to accept this beauty as integral to what makes Spain what it is. In order to really appreciate beauty one need not be overwhelmed by it, but come to be at peace with it in a positive way. As I neared the end of my time there, my feeling was not so much a euphoric "Wow! This place is amazing!" (which it is) It was a more of a feeling of profound happiness and  gratitude that I had the opportunity to experience such an amazing place. 

    From the standpoint of a photographer, it caused me both joy and grief. Quite simply, I took too many pictures. So many that, upon returning home, I choked the drive of my laptop and was unable to edit the photos I had taken. For the past month, I've been in the process of editing down all the photos on my overworked laptop and transferring them one by one to a remote hard drive.  A month later and I'm just now at the point where I can open up editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom. That being said, I apologize for the delay in getting these pictures out there. 

Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Spain

Palacio De Comunicaciones, Madrid, Spain

Roman Aqueduct, Segovia, Spain

 

     

Cuenca, Spain

Cuenca, Spain

While touring about in Cuenca, we came across this guy playing some beautiful Spanish guitar and singing. He asked if I played guitar and insisted that I play for him. Trust me when I say that things went from Spanish Flamenco to poorly played Bob Dylan really fast!

   

      Once again, I thank everyone for their patience in waiting for me to start getting some of these photos out there. Needless to say, there will be more posted on social media and in a few more entries to this blog. This is just the small tip of a very large iceberg! Spain is one the most beautiful places I've ever been and its effect on me was profound. There's a lot more to come.

                ...more later 

The Social Facet of Photography By Gord Barker

     I think that photography as a form of creative expression has a strong appeal to the individualist. Fundamentally, the act of making photographs is just me behind a camera making creative decisions within the technical capacity of the tool at hand. Later it's just me in front of a computer screen editing and organizing images. Perhaps some will be printed for display and sale or some will just be posted to social media. Much of the reality of the photographic journey is that of a solitary existence.  

    However, as much as we may admire the romantic concept of the rugged individualist, no one exists as an island. For me there are facets of the craft which have as much, if not more, importance than the simple creation of visual images. One of these is the social aspect of photography. 

     

     I firmly believe that the greatest attribute of photography is its immediacy. The immediacy of creating the images but also the immediacy of sharing them.

     For me, part of the fun of the craft is in sharing and marketing the results of my efforts. It's great to meet people who are kind and appreciative of what I do.

      A friend has suggested that sociability in going for a walk can be achieved with dog ownership. I agree. But a camera doesn't require me to stop at every tree and hydrant and ultimately requires far less maintenance! That's not to say that I won't stop to  pet a friendly canine and chat with its owner while out on my photographic meanderings. 

     So one of the often overlooked aspects of the craft is its ability to get me out the house and associating with people. One of my photographic heroes, Gary Winogrand said "It's about the work. It's always about the work." While that's a good slogan to ensure continuous improvement in the pursuit of the craft, I would argue that it's also about the people. Without they're kindness and support, the practice of the craft is almost meaningless. 

                                 ...more later

     

     

Let's Take A Walk by: Gord Barker

     Having an editor can be hard. I had started a blog post about authenticity in photography and the arts. I thought it was pretty good. (Pretty ain't good enough!) I got my son Greg, photo / video/ copy editor at Barker Imaging, to take a look at it. His thoughts were that it was too abstract. It presented my philosophical take on the creative process, but did little to involve my readers in the actual nuts and bolts of the craft. He suggested that I try to present a more real-time account of what it's like to be out actually making photographs. He referenced the style of Ernest Hemingway. (his favourite author) Hemingway involved his readers in the scene in a very first person way. A little less about thoughts on the process, a little more on the action itself. Let the readers make up their own minds! 

    Well, I'm no Ernest Hemingway, but I kinda dug the concept. That being said, I decided to take you, the reader, on a little walk about town while I attempted to make photographs. The idea is to not only give you what's going on in the camera, but also what's going on in my head.

    It always begins with gear selection....Always. I have too much gear. Wait... Did I say that out loud? I sometimes envy my colleagues who have one camera and perhaps one or two lenses. They don't begin their adventures by staring into two camera bags deciding what they're going to take for a simple walk about town. Often I opt for my Fujifilm X100F. It's a very well appointed simple camera designed primarily for street and travel photographers. It doesn't take interchangeable lenses. It just is what it is. It's a great camera to grab when i just want go take some damn pictures!

My Fujifilm X100F
In my opinion, one of the best street photography cameras ever made.

https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-silver-camera.html

       However, today I opt for the X-T cameras. I've got an X-T1 and an X-T3. I haven't used them in a while. They are the heavy hitters in my arsenal. They're both extremely well made , weather resistant, reliable as hell and just good cameras to use. I take the 35mm lens off the X-E3 and mount it on my X-T3. Arrange a few things in the Domke F2 camera bag and I'm good to go. Today I'm also bringing my little Olympus voice recorder. The idea is to record my thoughts while I'm doing this little walk and taking the photos. We'll see how it plays out.

My Fujifilm X-T series cameras

    I cross the street and start heading up the trail to the dam. I photograph the dam far too much. It's at the point now where friends in my photo group jokingly apologize when they shoot it! "I took some pictures of the dam in Paris today.... Sorry Gord!" I extend the joke further. "Okay, but next time pay the access fee and fill out the application forms in triplicate!" I don't really own the dam. It's just that I've photographed it so much it feels like I do!

    I start up the trail to the dam. The trail is a little muddy today. We've had some rain and the ground is also wet from snow melt. Typical spring conditions. I see some tracks in the mud made by a very large dog. It reminds me of seeing wolf tracks on the trail to Barth Lake in Northern Ontario. There was a line cabin on the lake that a kindly retired trapper allowed a friend of mine and I to use whenever we wanted as long as we took care of it. My mind starts reminiscing about times spent at the cabin. You can take the boy out of the North, but you can't take the North out of the boy! 

    Enough about the past. Photography is a human activity that is purpose driven. If I'm carrying a camera, my purpose, in that moment, is to make photographs. It's about capturing moments. To capture a moment I have to BE in that moment! It's about the here and now. It's about the stuff that is right in front of me. Perhaps that's what I was trying to get at when I wrote posts on this blog about shooting with intent. I can reminisce about good times spent at the old cabin later.

     I get to the dam and make a couple of perfunctory shots of it. The day is dull and grey. Not my favourite kind of weather for shooting. Unlike many photographers, I like hard light. I like contrast. Either visual contrast in the photo itself or subjective contrast such as an abandoned pair of ladies shoes vs. the wheel of a hot car in the background. If you want to get a handle on what might laughingly be called my style, look for the contrast. I like pictures that pop out at you to make you take notice

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 At the dam I make a couple of shots of the train bridge reflected in the water behind it. I'm shooting through a steel railing of the patio area close to the dam. I like how the reflection in the water is made abstract by the movement of the water itself. That contrast thing kicks in again. I wonder how it would look against the hard steel of the railing that I'm shooting through. I try it. It's not an award winning shot, but at least I'm thinking creatively. Perhaps I'll try the shot again sometime with a different lens or a different approach.

 

    I leave the area by the dam and walk up to the boardwalk that borders the river near the train bridge. I had done a nice shot of the boardwalk on a foggy morning about two months ago. I had photographed it from the perspective of looking toward the train bridge. Today I wanted to try the opposite approach, shooting it from under the bridge looking towards the town. It's the reason I brought my 16mm lens (Thanks Dean.) coupled to my Fujifilm X-T1 camera. (Thanks Tom.) As I'm getting that camera out of the bag, I'm startled by a train rumbling across the bridge overhead. Anyone who knows me knows that I like trains. I was practically raised on them. But DAMN they're loud when you're standing right under one! 

     

                                                                                                                                                                                                         Anyway, I take the shot I had in mind. I love using the wide angle lens whenever I want to emphasize depth in a photograph. Stop down the aperture (in this case f11) , focus on something in the foreground and let the damn thing stretch out!  Very cool!

    Leaving the area by the dam, I decide to go downtown for a coffee. With the exception of a quick street style shot that I did of a young couple walking in front of me, I really didn't see much downtown that caught my attention. I wandered over to the coffee bar at Wincey Mills, had an Americano and came home. That's it. That's all. It wasn't the best photo walk I've ever done. The New York Times isn't leaving me messages offering to send me to exotic places.  But, hopefully I've provided a little insight in how I do what I do. 

And I love what I do.

       ...more later 

As usual, if you like what you see here, don't be afraid to hit "Like" , subscribe or share to your favourite media platform  

  

    

     

   

    

February Update by Gord Barker

     So it's the end of February, possibly the most uninspiring month of the year. I mean let's face it. The only good thing about February is that it's the shortest month on the calendar. But despite the cold and gloom of being in the dead of winter, I have to admit that some cool stuff has been happening in the photography aspect of my life.

    To begin with, I've started displaying my photos at Under the Oak Tree in The Gem Marketplace here in Paris Ont. (The Gem, 51 Grand River St. N. Paris, Ont.) Under the Oak Tree is a small studio/gallery operated by my friend, artist/photographer Rachelle Laurin. It features an eclectic blend of artwork by Rachelle and others as well as art supplies and photography by both myself and Rachelle. If you're in downtown Paris, check it out if you can.

Rachelle Laurin and myself opening my display at
Under the Oak Tree, Paris, Ont.

      

My photos at Under the Oak Tree

     In other news, my son, Greg has been working hard at mastering the new masking tool and other features in Adobe Lightroom. So much so, that he has been hugely helpful in passing on some his skills to his aging, somewhat technophobic father. It has resulted in major differences in how my images are finished before presentation and/or printing. For me, it really is a game changer. Now I want to go through my back catalogue of photos and do some major upgrading on my images. As I commented in a Facebook post on the subject, "Sometimes when you acquire a new hammer, the whole world starts to look like a nail!" 

Old bank building in Hamilton before Lightroom processing 

                                                                                                                            

Same photo after Lightroom processing by Greg and myself

                                                         

 

    Greg has also recently acquired a new iPhone 14. The camera on that phone is amazing! He has been shooting some video content with it and has recently acquired Adobe Premier Pro to further advance his video editing capabilities. I intend to put his skills in video editing to work as I branch out into that realm of image making myself. Greg has been promoted to head stills / video / copy editor for Barker Imaging. The blog that you're reading right now was not  posted until he spent some time on it, suggesting changes and checking things like, spelling, format and punctuation. (My father is correct on this) The job doesn't pay much, but I'm keeping a roof over his head! We've got a few ideas in the works for upcoming projects. Interesting times ahead!

    And last but not least, I've been spending a fair bit of time in Hamilton, Ont. That city is a street photographer's paradise. You get architecture that includes everything from Victorian and Classical Revival to Art Nouveaux and Modern. The scenery can be anything from beautiful tree lined streets to the grit and grunge of a tough industrial section. For the most part, The people are kind and usually amenable to having their picture taken. It can make for some interesting street portraits. and general street photography.

                                                    The city has a great arts community with quite a number of private galleries and cafes exhibiting interesting work. It also has the Art Gallery Of Hamilton where I have viewed  several photography exhibits including the current exhibit ''Chai'' by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. https://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/exhibition/edward-burtynsky-chai/ 

      

So, overall, I would say that I've managed to beat the February blahs rather well. I'm enjoying my time and making as well as presenting photographs that I like. Ultimately that's what the love of this craft is all about.

            ...more later

          

     

THINK! by Gord Barker

      In some ways, photography is too easy. These days, anyone with a cell phone or a half decent digital camera can make a reasonably good photograph. Knowledge of the fundamental, technical  aspects of the craft is almost unnecessary. I mean there are full time professional photographers walking around who don't know an f-stop from a bus stop!

    There was a time when I would have been appalled at this situation. (and, to a minor degree I still am) However, I think that I have somewhat mellowed with age. Photography is fundamentally about creating beautiful and/or interesting visual images. It has always been a results oriented endeavor. If I'm creating images that grab peoples' attention, no one (with the possible exception of other photographers) really cares about how I achieve the results.

     What brought this home to me (literally!) was a recent conversation I had with my son. Of late, Greg has been doing a lot of video and still photography editing. He shoots most of his content with an Iphone but occasionally uses a Canon EOS M3 camera passed on to him by yours truly. I have offered several times to walk him through basic camera operation but he is content to just leave everything on automatic (program mode) and get the images and video footage he needs. In his words "I'm an editor first. As long as I can get a shot that I can work with, I'm fine." He is the diametric opposite of his father whose approach is "Get it right in camera!" Where he is happiest playing with imaging in post, I am happiest behind a camera trying to reduce the time I spend in front of a computer. Two very different approaches to image making, but ultimately the goal is the same. Produce good work that is visually interesting. He has a good eye and a solid knowledge of composition. As I said earlier, photography/videography is results oriented. Ultimately the, imagery speaks for itself.

Photo of me by Greg Barker from a blog post he wrote here as a guest author.   https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2022/06/living-with-photographer-by-greg-barker.html

Photo taken and edited by Greg Barker

     One would think that the simplification of the technical aspects of the craft would result in better images overall. I mean, if you don't have to be overly concerned with exposure settings, focusing a lens, and other technical details, you should have more time to concentrate on things like composition, various aspects of your subject and the overall message or mood that you want the photograph to convey. Sadly, I often find the opposite to be true. In various online and social media feeds, I find that a lot of the pictures tend to be pretty lackluster.

    I kind of touched on this subject in a piece that I wrote a few years ago. https://refractivereasoning.blogspot.com/2019/06/shooting-with-intent.html

   

     If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone who wants to create better photographic images it would be this. 

    "THINK!'' 

    Take a moment to think about the photograph BEFORE pressing the shutter button. Ask yourself, "Why am I taking this?'' "What message or mood am I trying to convey?"  "How do I want the final image to look?" "What tools / equipment do I have on hand to make that vision a reality?" "What compositional tricks (rule of thirds, leading lines, S curves etc.) can I use to make a more interesting composition?" "Would it help to change my viewpoint and move around to get a better view or composition of the subject?" Simply raising a camera or imaging device and pressing a button will invariably lead to a nicely focused, correctly exposed, boring photograph. 

    C'mon! You're better than that! Take a little pride in your work! Work the scene and get a better shot!

    Just because the photographic process has become automated, doesn't mean that your vision should be.

                    ...more later