A Dalinian Friend: Portrait

A friend of mine, while we were having dinner at one of those tourist packed terraces in front of Barcelona marina. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, maybe the Rey de la Gamba or similar. The point is that he was sitting next to my daughter, laughing and joking and suddenly gave me this stern look, with his peculiar moustache and I couldn't help thinking of that famous Dali portrait. Portrait photography is not one of my gifts so I try to learn about the light, the focal length, the best aperture and most important identify myself with the subject to trap that inner something. I can't teach you portrait photography cause I have a long way to go myself but I will recommend a good tutorial on how to take portraits to start over with and the work of a couple of modern photographers that serve as an inspiration to me. One is the solid work of Istoica and the other the provocative art in David Lachapelle's collection of portraits.

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Moritz Beer is Here to Stay

Moritz is an old brand of beer still present in the collective mind of Barcelona, in spite of the fact that the factory was shut down in 1978 due to financial problems. Moritz became the first big brewery in Spain by 1864 although it had been founded some years before (in 1856) as a small factory in the Raval quarter by Louis Moritz Trautman, an Alsatian brewer. Moritz company came to life again in 2004 and the 1864 brewery of Ronda Sant Antoni was commissioned to famous architect Jean Nouvel for restoration. The place is to become a new leisure and gastronomic project called “Fábrica Moritz” and is due to open in 2007. As a curiosity you should know that the basement of the building is a wonderful sample of XIX industrial architecture according to experts. The brand is easily recognizable by a blue M on top of a canary yellow background as seen in this picture of a van at the entrance of Fira de Barcelona venue. The company has reinvented itself not long ago by means of an aggressive and clever marketing campaign that associates itself with major Barcelona city assets. Its most fierce competitors San Miguel and Estrella Damm (featured in Barcelona Photoblog some months ago, see Damm Group post here), are still the predominant brands, especially Estrella, but Moritz is squeezing itself into the little niches big brothers neglect such as a more direct relationship with clients, an impeccable efficiency in production (now you can buy it almost at any bar in Barcelona after only two years of relaunching itself), an attractive design and what's more important an exquisite flavor.

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Fountains of Montjuic in Barcelona. A Winter Photograph

This is a winter photograph I have picked up from Barcelona Photoblog archives. It depicts a line of small dry fountains as I am walking down the stairs on my way to Plaza España from Fira de Barcelona venues. In fact, the real Montjuic fountains, those that are illuminated to the beat of the music every September 24th during La Mercè celebrations are the ones you see in the roundabout. But these modest ones always call my attention and now after so much time I notice again the non-polluted light of the winter sun illuminating that perfect diagonal that I had accidentally overlooked in my previous daily publishing. For a bird's eye view of the place why don't you take a look at this Google Earth snap.

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