Hot air, burning light, dark shadows, strong contrast of colors, that is summertime in Barcelona. This magical city transforms completely from spring to winter, August being especially hot, busy, and loud.
To me, the streets of Barcelona always mean a new photographic challenge. This is why, I never say no when I have the opportunity to photograph couples in this amazing city, my hometown, Barcelona.
Gill and Chris brought their friends and families all the way from Scotland to celebrate their wedding day under the blue skies of Spain. And they hit the bull´s-eye! Everyone was amazed with the venue Casa Felix, the food and with how stunning the bride looked. It was one of those weddings where everything goes as planned and exceeds expectations. On top of that, it was Sant Joan, the longest day of the year and a magical night of celebration here in Catalunya! If that was not enough, it coincided with Chris’s birthday! Que vivan los novios! Lang may yer lum reek!
Gill and Chris
If getting married in a forest has always been your dream, La Garriga de Castelladral is a wedding venue to consider.
Light colours, trees and flowers played an important role at this wedding. The romantic atmosphere could bee sensed in every corner. Vanessa, the bride, wore a flimsy, silk wedding gown and kept her long hair loose. Pastel tones of the bridal bouquet matched her delicate make up perfectly.
The wedding dinner was held in the garden where hundreds of verbena lights softly illuminated beautifully decorated tables. A big advantage of destination weddings in Spain is that they can be held entirely outdoor. Surely, nothing sets the party mood better than a summer garden wedding.
“Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food, I am into Champagne
I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape
At a bar called O’Malley’s, where we’ll plan our escape”
Escape by Rupert Holmes
This beautiful couple came all the way from Illinois to celebrate their elopement in the heart of Barcelona. Their intimate ceremony took place in a secluded park known to locals as Laberinto de Horta. This green paradise is located 15 minutes drive from Barcelona´s old city center and if you visit it before noon, you can hope to have most of it to yourself.
The park with its mystic and dreamlike atmosphere was a great location for the bride and groom to exchange their private vows. After the ceremony, the newlyweds opened a bottle of Champagne and it was time for the rest of their Barcelona adventure. The main attraction of the park- an authentic labyrinth garden- provided an ideal scenery for a warm up photo shoot.
Angela and Joshua felt like celebrating their marriage in the streets of Barcelona, so we quickly visited the nearby Park Güell for a few epic Barcelona shots. Then we moved on to the Gothic Quarter, where we joined locals and tourists in a busy urban environment. We took photos while we walked the streets of a beautiful central neighborhood called El Born. Eventually, we stopped for a quick snack and a refreshing beer in La Boqueria, the central food market of the Rambla.
Eloping is a perfect way to explore Barcelona. If this sounds tempting, do not hesitate and ¨plan your escape”!
“Wow the photos are amazing, thank you so so much Andreu! We want to relive that day over and over again and with these photos we basically can. Enjoyed spending the day with you all and celebrating. “
Angela & Joshua, USA
This Elopement was organised by Love Gracefully
You never get bored of this city. Barcelona is both, visually attractive and extremely photogenic. It is a city with personality. To a photographer, it offers a multitude of backgrounds, textures, and an unusual light that changes completely throughout the day. It is modern and traditional, busy and intimate. It reveals an eclectic mixture of old, historic monuments, vibrant day life, multicultural habitants, and the most impressive Art Nouveau architecture (here called Modernisme). Moreover, you can easily change your perspective and admire the city from above by climbing one of many viewpoints (here called Miradores). Barcelona is surrounded by mountains: Montjüic and Tibidabo and some neighbourhoods were build on hills: El Carmel, Horta, Guinardo. If that was not enough, there is plenty of green in Gaudi´s Parque Güell and plenty of salty water at Barceloneta´s beach.
With this unlimited variety of locations, photographing couples in Barcelona is never the same, even if I get to return to the same places. For me, each session is a completely different experience, because every couple has its own energy and style and they interact differently with the surrounding. My idea is to capture those differences and to reflect the essence of each couple in the photographs.
I met with Fu and Chen early in the morning, to photograph them in the old Gothic quarter, before the city fully woke up. Most popular areas tend to get crowded after breakfast, but we got lucky and had some parts of it to ourselves. Beforehand, we planned together a very intense schedule for the day. We decided to photograph in 4 different locations, but also wanted to change outfits and the stylisticks. Parque Güell was our second location, and Chen wore her wedding dress for this occasion. To complement the day, we wondered around the busy streets of Born. The strong afternoon sun and the red dress set perfectly against the old walls of the city. At the end, we moved down to the beach, to end our session bare feet on the sand.
A wedding day should be about celebrating love. Pedro and Jessica found their own, perfect way to spend it – they took a mountain hike together.
As a destination of their Elopemen, they chose the national park of Aigüestortes in Catalan Pyrenees, and they both agreed it had to be in autumn.
They woke up early, in a beautiful mountain village Erill La Vall and this is where Pedro took a “first look” at his bride.
Afterwards, dressed as bride and groom, they both hiked all the way to a magical spot they had chosen to exchange their vowels.
The ceremony took place right next to the waterfall – Cascada de Sant Esperit. It was an intimate moment they designed together and shared, facing the breathtaking valley – Planell d’Aigüestortes.
At this time of the year, the park astonishes with warm colours and soft light, but most importantly, it is almost deserted. The couple crossed their paths with few determined hikers, but it felt as if they had an exclusive right to be there. The Elopement was witnessed by families of cows, almost immersed in this landscape, and a herd of goats enjoying their last days of worm weather before going down to the barns for winter.
There was also time for a picnic-style, candlelight dinner that the newly-weds shared, admiring the sunset. They prepared it earlier and brought it in their backpacks.
There was not a single thing that went wrong that day. Hopefully the photos will help preserve their memories and emotions for many years to come.
Como fotógrafos de bodas, siempre estamos en búsqueda de una autentica emoción. No hay mejor oportunidad de encontrarla, que en un casamiento.
Felicidad, nostalgia, sensación de pertenencia, orgullo son entre otros, los sentimientos que acompañan a los novios, sus familiares y amigos durante el día.
De nuestro punto de vista, cada emoción es bella. Su manifestación en las caras de la gente es algo que fascina y dice mucho más, que podrían decir las palabras.
La preparación del novio y la preparación de la novia son dos mundos completamente distintos. Algo que cada uno tiene que hacer solo antes de encontrarse en el altar.
Cada hombre lo lleva a su manera, pero una cosa no cambia nunca. Siempre hay electricidad en el aire, casi como en el vestuario del teatro, donde el protagonista se pone el maquillaje antes de estrenar la obra.
Este día no hay tiempo para improvisación. El papel es: ponerse el traje, la mejor apariencia y esperar…
Lo mas importante es, que en este día, ningún novio tendrá que estar solo! Le rodearán caras familiares y mucha alegría. Recibirá el mejor apoyo y una fuerte inyección de coraje de sus amigos.
Empieza el espectáculo!
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http://www.andreudozphotography.com
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Since I first discovered street photography I started asking myself where the limits lie between artistic photography and documental photography. Now that my professional work is inseparably connected with documenting people and their important life moments, I think about it even more.
Can we, as wedding photographers, also identify as artists?
Or is it our duty to honestly show the reality and withdraw ourselves from interpretation and judgment? Is it even possible to separate those two processes?
And finally, how big our role as chroniclers is in writing collective memory for our society?
I have picked some of my photographs that may or may not be considered wedding photography. I hope this to become an invitation to a broader discussion.
