I had the opportunity to just wander the streets of Malaga on a couple of occasions during our recent trip. Moving away from the busier tourist filled areas soon revealed a whole network of narrow streets and alleyways where I was able to make many photographs.
The heat and humidity were high, but I just felt the urge to walk and photograph; a new scene of interest seemingly presenting itself wherever I turned. Away from the central area and it’s shops many of the streets were largely empty of foot traffic – possibly because I was foolish enough to be out in siesta time. Mad dogs and Englishmen, eh?
I’ll post these in small batches, starting with the three below.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
I’m going for the upbeat option, and will suggest hugging. Although, as the owner of (actually: slave to) two young cats, the other choice might be equally apt!
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
This piece of street art featuring a portrait of Charlie Chaplin made for a nice focal point on this row of apartments and colourful (if closed) shop fronts and awnings.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
On the third day of our visit to Malaga I suggested we take a walk to the Castillo de Gibralfaro, a castle perched atop a tall hill overlooking Malaga and its port. It’s possible to get a bus to the top, but I suggested that we walk. It was a little cooler than it had been the previous couple of days but still in the low thirties. It was, however, much more humid.
While the footpath to the castle isn’t particularly long it soon became apparent that it was pretty steep and we stopped to catch our breath a few times until, eventually my wife decided she’d had enough and to leave her where she was (which was sat on some steps). After telling her that we could return to the bottom she insisted that I proceed without her so, feeling a little bad about it, I carried on. A little further up the path there was a viewpoint with some benches and a guy playing music and then, after a particularly vertiginous section, the final stretch to the summit.
The first thing that greets you at the top, apart from the castle, is the sight of the bus stop that you might have taken advantage of. Also a shop selling refreshments. I wandered around the castle and followed the battlements around its perimeter, taking advantages of the opportunities to take pictures. I also called my wife and told her of the viewpoint and benches a little further up the hill from her position.
The views from the top were expansive and I’ve included three photos below from the the many I made.
The first is a view over the port and, if you look closely, you can probably see a few things that have been the subjects in pictures posted here in recent days, including the lighthouse, the siloes, and the white yacht at centre left. We didn’t visit the harbour area on this day, but I would have liked to see that black yacht up close. Just look at how tall that mast is. It’s taller than those buildings so must be around 14 storeys tall!
At the foot of the hill and just east of the port area lies Malaga’s bull ring. I’m not a supporter of blood sports at all and would never visit these venues to witness the activities that take part, but the structure made for a striking and possibly thought-provoking image.
Looking over to the west and north from the castle gave views over the city of Malaga itself, one of which can be seen below. I think I can just make out the roof of our hotel in this one. 🙂
After walking around the castle, I descended back down the path, met up my wife, and we then returned to something closer to sea level. After all the climbing (there were lots of slopes and steps within the castle grounds to be navigated too) my head was the colour of a tomato and my t-shirt was a sweaty mess, so we decamped to a cafe for very welcome cold drinks!
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus (third picture on Portra 400). Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
Here in the UK, at 2am this morning, the time switched over from British Summer Time at 2am this morning. This means that, for most people, you put you clocks back an hour before going to bed on the Saturday evening and benefit from an hour longer in bed. Unless, that is, you forget.
This morning I awoke at 9am, which is pretty late for me. During the week my alarm usually goes off before 7am and so, even when I have the opportunity for a lie-in at the weekend, I still tend to wake around 8am or so. So 9am was a particularly good night’s sleep, I thought at the time.
My wife had already gotten up before I woke and I could hear her downstairs in the kitchen, preparing some meals (and yelling at the cats, who were making a mischief of themselves). Glancing at my phone I was saddened to hear of the passing of Matthew Perry, the actor most famous for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the sitcom Friends. We are fans of Friends in our house and, while I don’t tend to watch it purposefully any more these days, my wife and one of my sons have it on regularly, so it’s part of the fabric of the place, which made news of his death more poignant.
As my dad visits on Sunday mornings, I got myself out of bed, made some breakfast, and got ready for his arrival. When he was about ten minutes later than usual I wondered if something was amiss as, although he sometimes misses the bus and doesn’t come, he always calls me to le me know. Glancing at my watch showed that is was just gone 9:50am, so I looked at my phone to see if he had sent a message or I had a missed call and was confused as to why my phone’s clock said it was an hour earlier than I though. I even went so far as to check the time settings to see if something was set incorrectly. And then I realised what had happened and the reason my dad wasn’t here yet…
And then, about 45 minutes later my dad did call to let me know that the bus timetable had altered and he had missed the bus!
What this meant was that I now had an extra hour or so of free time this morning. I’d already planned on developing some sheets of large format film but now, I thought, now I might also be able to develop a roll of 35mm film too! I rarely develop more than one set of negatives on a single day unless they can be developed at the same time in the same tank, so this was an unusual thing for me (and, I think, a first!).
So, the end result was that I got both sets of developing done and dusted, which I’m happy about. I don’t particularly enjoy developing film. I find it to be a chore, even if I listen to music or podcasts while doing it, so having the second lot out of my hair is a nice feeling.
Today’s photo wasn’t developed by me (as I haven’t yet dipped my toe in the waters of C41 development), it was done by a lab, and shows a fancy yacht moored at the harbour in Malaga. It was another of those photos I caught at golden hour, and the colours have rendered very nicely.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
It’s quite unusual for me to make photographs during golden hour. Most of the time I either need to get ready for work in the morning, or I’m too tired to bother with going out in the evening. So it’s only when I’m on a holiday or something that I tend to take advantage of the soft, warm light it presents.
My wife and I had been out for something to eat in one of the harbour-side restaurants, and the sun was setting when we finished our meal, so I managed to get a few pictures. I also took a digital shot of this same scene which, if I’m honest, I prefer to the film version (traitor!). You can see this at the bottom of the post.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
Here’s the digital version, shot with my Ricoh GR III.
Sometimes when you look at a photograph it can be difficult to get a sense of scale. But then you notice the figures in the scene and you think, wow, that’s really quite big, isn’t it?
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
The hotel we stayed in in Malaga was very nice, but it was a city centre place and didn’t have any sort of outdoor relaxation options such as a pool or terrace, not even room balconies, so when we weren’t out, the only place to sit (other than in the bar or reception area) was the room.
City breaks are great, but sometimes it’s nice to just chill with a book or newspaper or something in a relaxing location. As a result, we toyed with the idea of going to the beach one day and hiring a couple of sun loungers and a beach umbrella. Unfortunately, all the umbrellas on the part of the beach nearest to us (and maybe the entire beach for all I know) were fixed into the sand with canopies made of palm fronds (as can be seen in the second picture below). While these are fine to an extent, they are limited by the movement of the sun and also of the position of fellow beach users, both of which will result in times when you’re unable to make use of the shade. As the temperature was in the mid thirties while we were there, and as my skin fries like bacon given half a chance, we decided to forgo the idea.
I still took these couple of pictures of the beach one evening though.
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
The ship shown in today’s post is the German navy corvette, Oldenburg, moored at Malaga.
I know little of naval vessels and had to look this one up online to make an identification, but it is of the K130 Braunschweig class and was launched in Hamburg in 2007. The ship is 292 feet in length, displaces 1,840 tonnes, and has a speed of 26 knots. She carries a crew of 65. Info courtesy of Wikipedia. 🙂
Nikon F80, Nikkor 28-80mm f.3.5-5.6 AF-D & Kodak Colorplus . Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro
Steel City Snapper photography 