Weekend in Madrid

Not too bad, little more than a week since my last post, during which plenty has happened. I spent the weekend in madrid. A feat which turned out to be a very full and tiring weekend. The trip began on friday during which we took a long arduous journey by car from Malaga in the early morn to madrid. I slept during most of this trip. I spent the day just chilling with my cousin and moving around the high street.

The big day though was Saturday. It began with a ridiculously early rise at 6 am, to meet my fellow photographer Hitesh (aka hitkaiser (www.hitkaiser.com)) as you can see in the picture down below



And if you are asking what in dear God's name am I doing up at such an ungodly hour. Well on this very day there was in fact a classic motorbike tour, begining in the little town of barajas between the two madrid terminals of the Barajas airport. ( I was told people there complain about the high noise levels...hmmm). And so we began our fruitfull morning. photographing the various antique wonders and their owners, BUT not before having a fulfilling breakfast at a nearby bar where I managed to capture this lovely little Image.



Once our bellies were full, and our heads caffeinated we then proceded to snap away...





Of course, after morning of intense shooting, the day would be far from over. After separating ourselves from the rest of hitkaisers army of photographers, He, my brother and I proceded towards the jewellry/gift fair to meet our families, hunt for a camera store and theoretically rest up for the long night ahead. Unfortunately this day created an incessant hatred for madrid as I had to run back and forth throughout the city hunting for an open camera store to purchase a charger for my camera, which after having found one in FNAC turned out to be completely useless, ending up with me returning to the venue to find 40 minute queues and thus me endng up having to buy yet ANOTHER charger from el Corte Ingles.

and so the day continued with nighfall bringing madrid's Noche en Blanco, a festive event where the citie's galleries and museum are open all night and the major landmarks are dressed up by famous artists.

just like this field in principe pio turned into a garden of light



I of course also used this oportunity to work on my night photography :)

Manhattan Skyline

Manhattan Skyline
Originally uploaded by sbalani

So after a long absence travelling, working and whatnot, i'm back. I'm currently involved in various projects, and as usual my attempts to be a daily blogger (which is actually harder than it seems)

As I mentioned I have recently been travelling around, but for the most part Its been in the USA. This year I had the oportunity to visit New York, and Los Angeles for the first time, which I of course loved, and cherished every opportunity to work on my photography.

New York was an incredible city to visit. It certainly surpassed all of my own expectations of what the city would look like or be. You see so much of New York in the movies, magazines, Times Square, etc. But its still always that much more when you see it in person. Ive always thought it would be a city similar to that of london, and in some ways it is. And yet so Incredibly different



What I particularly liked about New York was the gridlocked system of the streets making it easy and quick to move around, yet at the same time it creates a certain confusion as to which way you have to head. In Comparison, London or almost any European city for that matter is usually just a mess of streets and lane's giving one a completely differnet experience making it that much easier to get lost and find interesting little nooks and crannies.