The day after New Year Celebrations in Barcelona, I walked around a silent Barcelona, and there was one image that really stayed in my mind.
This man; a few hours after thousands of people have surrounded him, cheering in champagne, launched fire crackers and so on, this man rested against a door. Alone.
He had his open can of olives, his shoes and a bottle of water. I just wondered, how did he end up here? Our world is getting better all the time (yes it is), and I really hope that no one, in a future not so distant will say there wishes for a new year, in conditions like this.
This year I spent New Years in Barcelona, a town that I’ve visited many times before, but it seems like I never get tired of it. I love the pace, which is like half the pace of Stockholm, which is perfect pace for spending spare time and relax from work.
What I haven’t experienced before was going to a home game with Barcelona, which was an awesome experience. In Barcelona football seems more like a religion, a way of belief, rather than a sport, and you sure can feel that in the arena. Barcelona had a really good night and beat Real Betis big time. However there are these “small” pieces of flavor that makes watching Barcelona so great.
The Spanish people are really good at living their life in the present, and New Years Eve isn’t any different. The party held on during the night, and many people went to sleep between 6 and 8 in the morning. This is what the streets looked like at 10 AM. 🙂
Isn’t it strange that sometimes the most ridiculously small task can feel like moving a mountain, but another really heavy one just feels like a swift? Some years back I had a CEO that always told me the quote in the subject of this post, because he was so sure, that if you’re not really enjoy your work you can’t be really good at it.
Of course there are many degrees of that saying, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense. This quote (in the picture) is almost the same one. But I think this quote is more focused on actually finding what we believe in, and through that find interest and energy, both in our professional life, as in our private dito.
I hope you all have a great Wednesday, a day that’s sometimes called “little Saturday”in Sweden.
@ Pedro Hansson – Leafs over our open roof while going on a sightseeing tour in Barcelona – Nikon D7000
Almost every time I visit other towns I choose one day to get up really early in the morning to experience that particular town waking up.
Last week I was in Barcelona for work and I decided to try to portrait two areas that felt extra important in these hard economic times for Spain; people that we might not see otherwise during our hectic days, those that live their lives in the dark and have nowhere to go. The other topic was to show the town getting ready for a new day.
The first photo is from the first category. This is a woman I came about while walking over Plaça de Catalunya, and I really felt for her. A woman, without almost anything besides her stroller; but still she quietly stood there and shared her bread with the birds.
The moment really did have a mix of emotions. Sadness for her situation, compassion for her willing to give but also calmness since she, a few moments after this pic was taken carefully smiled at me and then continued to feed the birds. But most of all she made think of how she ended up there.
I couldn’t imagine how it must be, to have a life like that, and moments like this always brings perspective of the differences in the world. I’m really thankful of how Sweden have tackled this recession that has hit southern Europe so badly (even though there are things that also can and must be improved in Sweden as well).
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
– Marian Wright Edelman
At the moment I’m in Barcelona for work. While being here I’ve tried out a new photo app – 645 Pro. This is quite different iPhone photo app than many others due to it’s layout, and ambition to be a “close to professional” iPhone app.
Screen dump
I really like the graphical layout and the feeling in the app, but sometimes the adjustments are a little bit tricky due to it’s tiny buttons. On the other hand I wouldn’t (like one of the comments indicated in App Store) like to have a smaller preview screen either so I guess it’s just a matter of priority.
Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona
At the moment I’ve just used it for essentially B&W-photos which I think are really good. I especially like the feeling the B&W pics get. On the other hand I think that one of the best strengths is the quality and control factor (like the focus handling and live preview solution), but I haven’t explored all the possibilities yet. I can comment on that in a later post.
Arlanda Airport – With 645Pro
This is an app that I think I personally will use more and more often because there are continuously things to explore within the app, and sometimes – as other things in life – the best things are the one’s where you don’t see it all on your first look.
Saarimner.com 