Many thanks to everyone who submitted a photo to the Notes from Spain Flickr Group in April (keep them coming in May!) April’s winner is Jan, with Kids at the Sherry, above. Jan explains:

“It was taken at the Feria del Vino Fino last weekend [in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz province, part of the feria season starting in Sevilla] … I made it sepia and blurred the surroundings as I felt it had a kind of timeless quality and if it weren’t for the boy’s trainers, could have been taken way back in the past.”

I agree totally. This is classic, timeless Andalusia, trainers or no trainers!

Do check out all of Jan’s wonderful photos from this event and beyond, on the ‘Jan’s World’ Flickr Stream.

Here are two great photos from two great friends of mine.

First up is a photo taken this week by Ryan Opaz of Spains’ greatest wine website, catavino.net. It shows the crazed Castellers in his home town Terrassa, scaling new heights to celebrate St. Jordi, a Catalan fiesta similar to St Valentines, when people say it not just with flowers, but also by giving loved ones a book. You can see more of Ryan’s great photos here.

Secondly, we have this classic image from Alistair Wood, of Las Cruces in Granada. Where would I be if I could be anywhere in the world this May 3rd? In Granada for this fiesta. The Granadinos dress up to the nines and ride into town on speckled horses to see beautiful crosses made of flowers in the plazas around town. See more of Alistair’s wonderful photos from Spain and beyond here.

The photo above was taken by Alistair when I first went to Las Cruces with him 9 years ago. The two girls in the photo have probably turned into frighteningly beautiful young women by now!

If you could visit any fiesta in Spain this summer, which would it be, and why?

“Photo assignments from two travel guides, plus my day job,” I said to myself. “I’ll be spread a little thin, but I can hack it for a month, no problem.”

It’s time for another ‘Notes from Spain Flickr Group’ Pick of the Month. Or NFSFGPM for short! This month I don’t want to post the winning picture here, because it is more than a picture, it is a story too, and you have to hop over to Flickr to read the whole thing and get the bigger picture, so to speak.

The photo is by Greg Gladman (he has won before), who tells a wonderful tale about a Zen moment in his photographic and working life in Spain. Read the story here (then check out some more of his amazing photos from Spain).

Don’t forget to add your pictures to the Notes from Spain Flickr Group, and our Black and White Steet Photography group, which will have a mid-monthly winner too.

Hi everyone, a couple of things that will hopefully be of interest to you all. Firstly, many thanks to John from Frankfurt who emailed me the following:

‘I thought you might be interested in the article (book? It’s 240+ pages long) “Spain Going Places” by William Chislett. Very interesting and sponsored by Telefonica, which means it is free.’

I certainly was interested, and the book, subtitled “Economic, Political and Social Progress, 1975-2008″ is definitely required reading for confirmed hispanophiles. You can get hold of the mammoth pdf via this direct download link.

Secondly, for all you avid Spain photographers out there, don’t forget to check out, and hopefully join and add your images to, another addition to the NFS Flickr scene: the “Spain: Black and White Street Photography” group. I find street photography fascinating at the moment, and think Spain is a pretty fine place to practice the art!

Photo: Faces of Spain 1, from my La Virgin Dolorosa set.

It never rains in Cordoba. At least that’s what my friend Alistair and I thought when we took 24 hours out of Madrid to photograph the Semana Santa processions there this Easter Wednesday.

By 11pm that night, we were exhausted and soaking wet, having spent the entire day running around town only to discover that there was no way the vigines and accompanying processions were leaving the churches in a little bit of rain. We asked a barman what we’d done to deserve such bad luck. ‘Bueno,’ he said, ‘It’s rained here on Easter Wednesday for the last four years.’

Great. Easter dates change every year, yet it always manages to rain on that Wednesday, Miercoles Santo. Still, there was plenty to photograph - disappointed, damp Cordobans primarily…

… and the odd happy few that were sensible enough to stay in the bars…

For more Cordoba-Easter-Rain street photos from our damp, yet still immensely enjoyable 24 hours in Cordoba, check out my photos on Flickr, and more great images here, from my fellow photographer Alistair.

This winner of best photo in the NFS Flickr Group this month is Luke, with the above, wonderful portrait, “Shepherd near Segovia”. Luke said:

“I took it last summer in a pueblo between Avila and Segovia. He seemed to have the ‘thousand yard stare’ that you don’t get living in the city. In that area of Castilla there are occasionally blue eyed, red skinned people who don’t fit the stereotype ‘Spaniard’. I guess they are from the Celto-Iberian or Gothic/Visigothic gene pool?”

You can check out more of Luke’s great pictures on Flickr.

Keep adding your Spain photos to our Flickr group, every month we display the best image here on the blog!

It’s been a long time since I posted regular photos of the month from the Notes from Spain Flickr Group. It’s time to bring this feature back to life, and we would love it if you have great Spain photos to share.

All you have to do is join the Notes from Spain Flickr Group, and post your best Spain photos there. Every month I’ll take a look at the group and pick the very best Spain photo to post here on the blog. The first new ‘photo of the month’ will be picked on March 1st, so get posting!

No Spain photos? Check out our new ‘Photo of the week’ thread in the forum, and share your best images from anywhere!

The Alpujarras are a magical mountain range beyond Granada and the Sierra Nevada… See more photos here… Podcast to follow soon…

More and more of these are springing up across the landscapes of Spain… I think they are rather beautiful when found in small numbers like this (these are near the vilage of Lanjaron, in the Alpujarras). Marina pointed out that they might be seen as being even more beautiful still, if you consider that they are doing a lot to safeguard the environment as they spin slowly round…

I read a great post about photowalking the other day, and have been inspired to start taking my good camera everywhere with me again (my EOS 350 SLR, as opposed to the wonderful but less dynamic Ixus 700).

I used to be an avid photographer, but in recent times have let it slip - there is just two much extra media to play with (audio, video, writing…) Let’s see what happens. The image above (large version) was taken in Bolonia, Costa de la Luz, one of my favourite beaches on the planet, which thankfully is not winning in the 20minutos.com ‘Best Beach’ competition - please take time to vote for one of the other finalists, to keep Bolonia off the map!

And don’t forget to check out our Notes from Spain flickr group every now and again, there are some inspiring photos on there. Why not add one of yours?