I was poking around on Twitter (me here) recently, and found a link to Stuck in Customs, which has some amazing HDR photos on… which rekindled my interest in photography. Wonderful how the web can do that. Above is a first new HDR experiment (bigger here). Great fun!

We were meant to be in Asturias today, checking out places that we might want to live one day, but energies dictated otherwise, and we’ve had to put it off for now. But we’ll get there in the end, to that quiet mountainous province in the north, where the landscapes are so beautiful they just make you want to dance…

(Click pics to enlarge, a bit)

To celebrate a change in the blog decor here at NotesinSpanish.com (and the fact that I can now display much bigger photos!), here’s an old favourite from the archives, does anyone know where it is, and what this town is famous for? Hit the comments link above!

And the very best photo from the Notes from Spain Flickr Group for June, was, in my humble opinion, Celebración, by Mirall, showing revellers in Madrid’s Fuente de Quevedo, celebrating Sunday’s European Cup win:

Do check out the rest of Mirall’s photo’s on Flickr.

Meanwhile, as the Independent claims that Spain are actually the Champions of nearly everything (thanks Parubin and Margot for the link), I wonder, how much does a major win like this actually do to boost a country’s moral, and image in the eyes of the rest of the world?

Hello from …. ? We are away for a few days fishing for beautiful places, sites and sounds to post here upon our return, but in the meantime, here is a very little quiz for you…

The above photo (large version) was taken yesterday afternoon on the second stop on our trip, where is it?

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.