More Spanish Nicole

While 2021 hasn’t been the best of years photographically, a trip to Spain with the lovely and talented Nicole Rayner was a real highlight, and was extremely productive and enjoyable largely due to Nicole’s hard work, enthusiasm and creativity.

As mentioned in my previous blog post about our trip to Spain, we were very lucky to be staying with Jan, a fabulous host who took us to various locations for which I am very grateful, including this abandoned village.

I think in the first image Nicole is sitting on some form of animal feeding trough, and in the second we weren’t sure what the alcove was for.

Great pose from Nicole in these doorways.

The next three are also thanks to Jan, and are taken in a dried riverbed, literally a 10 minute walk from the house where Jan takes his dog for a walk.

It’s not of of the well known barrancos, but was perfect for us.

I loved the triangular shapes of these rocks in another of Jan’s gorges. It was a difficult posing rock but Nicole did a great job.

This one was a bit of a timing fluke on some basalt rocks near the sea. Nicole didn’t flinch as she was sprayed with water.

And this one is from the desert, with a really interesting rocky background.

I always try to make best use of buildings as well. The next two show the super view we had from the balcony.

Nicole is very enthusiastic and creative, and I think that shows in the next image of her posing in the barbecue.

And finally the best light on this screen was if the front door was open, fortunately we both work very quickly!

POSTSCRIPT

One of the few exhibitions I enter each year is the prestigious PAGB Masters of Print. This is a print exhibition where 60 prints are exhibited from 60 different authors, so having a print accepted is always an achievement.

I attended the opening at St Martin’s Church in the Bull Ring in Birmingham, and it was good to be seeing prints again. I was very surprised and pleased that the representative of Canon, one of the sponsors, chose my print as their favourite, with a prize of a Canon camera and lens.

Here’s the winning image, one of Nicole from a few weeks before our Spanish trip.