Dedicated to Michele and the Kids
Madrid is a beautiful city, and while very different to my home town, Melbourne, there are many similarities. So, when a work trip to Madrid happen to coincide with the 2009 Solo Photo Book Month (SoFoBoMo) I thought it would be a brilliant idea to make Madrid the subject of my SoFoBoMo book. Well, that was the eventual thinking... I was originally going to do my book about Melbourne, but that was before my trip to Madrid was shifted to the middle of SoFoBoMo. So... "Madrid - A Melbournian's Perspective" was born out of the mashup of the two themes. I was in Madrid from the 23rd of May to the 3rd of June, 2009, and in that time I managed to take 1356 photos with my Canon EOS 40D... most of these were in RAW format... which equated to close to 12GB of travel pics... plenty of images to choose from for SoFoBoMo right? Turns out it was too many. Having to cull so many images would be hard at any time, me being a bit of a hoarder, but when you combine this with the fact that these images come with stories about my trip, I had great difficulty getting this book to be a "photo book" and not a photographic "travel diary". Yes, it still is a travel diary of sorts, but these images are here not becuase they show where I've been, but because they're photos I like, regardless of whether I'd been to Madrid or not... or that is the hope at least... hard to completely detach yourself from your own photos and you own experiences. SoFoBoMo started in 2008... and we all have Paul Butzi to thank for this here project. Checkout sofobomo.org for more details.
Vlado Kekoc 23rd of June 2009
An American tourist was generous enough to offer to take a photo of me in front of Palacio de Comunicaciones and the beautiful Cibeles fountain when he saw me struggling to take me\y own photo with my camera at arms length... and sure enough, he takes the snap just as the bus goes past.
Copyright Š Vlado Kekoc 2009
On the Streets Madrid, like Melbourne is a very beautiful city, however, unlike Melbourne, Madrid is the capital city of what was once a massive empire. As a result, the streets are littered with monuments to great Spaniards, notable religious figures and to the general greatness of Spain. There is also a plethora of beautifully built buildings, old and new. With all these buildings, plazas, statues and fountains scattered around the city, there is plenty to keep a visitor busy, photography wise, and I made the most of my digital camera during my time in Madrid.
It's extremely easy to get around the city on foot. Madrid is quite flat and there's so much to look at when out and about, and provided you're armed with a half decent map, it'd be pretty difficult to get lost. If you do find yourself tired and kilometers from your hotel, you always have the option of catching a train on Madrid's world famous Metro. Melbourne's public transport system doesn't even hold a candle to that of Madrid, from a coverage, affordability and reliability point of view at least. One main recommendation I have for any visitors to Madrid. Get yourself a good phrase book, and
learn the basics like "Sorry, I don't understand", "I don't speak Spanish", "Do you speak English", "Excuse me", "Please", "Thank you", "Yes" and "No". Also, numbers are a good thing to master, but know your limitations, otherwise, you, like me, may give a taxi driver your address and end up at number 110 on your street instead of 15, and you'll have to walk the 6 blocks to your hotel. If you struggle with the pronounciations, there's always the option to write down numbers... thankfully, numbers are written the same in English and Spanish.
Plaza de Alonso Martinez
Creating Art for Food Disable man (malformed arms and hands, perhaps a Thalidomide baby) sculpts planes, cars and flowers out of soft drink cans for a growing crowd of tourist.
Bear Eating From The Berry Bush The symbol of Madrid.
Plaza Mayor
Plaza de Callao
Plaza Jacinto Benavente (Top Left) Column (Top Right) -at the Ministerio de Agricultura Plaza Santa Ana (Bottom Left)
La Torro del Oro Great cerveceria in Plaza Mayor. Highly recommend it. Order a beer and you'll usually get a complimentary plate of tapas or two. Check out the walls while you're having a beer... they're covered with photos from the bullfighting, and bulls heads mounted on the walls.
Palacio de Comunicaciones Once was the Madrid equivalent of Melbourne's GPO, and is now City Hall
Plaza de la Independencia
Metropolis (Left) Resting In Plaza Mayor (Top Right) -Even the gypsy dressed as Pooh Bear who hands out balloons in Plaza Mayor needs to rest his tired legs.
Catedral de La Almudena Sort of looks like Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building from this angle
Banco Espa単ol de Credito
Palacio Real
Estacion de Atocha (This Page and Bottom Left Opposite Page) - Madrid's main rail hub... a Spanish Southern Cross Station Mercado de Lapaz (Top Right Opposite) Fruit Store on Calle Ayala (Bottom Right Opposite)
Barajas - Madrid International Airport (Above and Right) Beautiful architecture isn't limited to the old buildings. Barajas is just one example. There are design similarities with Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, but Barajas is much nicer... less grungy. These are the only two photos I manages to take of the airport before being approached by two police officers on a golf cart, asking me if I was an architect or an engineer and then informing me that photography was not allowed in the airport. I wonder if I would have been allowed had I answered no to being an engineer, or would I have been taken in for questioning...
On theVentas Streets Las On my second night in Madrid, I was presented with the option of going to watch the bullfighting in Madrid. Now, this was never something I considered doing, but I thought, "When in Rome". So, the following day, I attended my first real bullfight. The tradition involved, with the pomp and ceremony, the significance and roles of the different people involved, from the picadors, matadors, banderilleros, and all the others... absolutely facinating. That said, the actual slaughter of the bull is extremely disturbing, and having now experienced Las
Ventas, I'm unlikely to ever go again. One of the greatest surprises was the affordability of the tickets. For â‚Ź4.50 one could get a seat in the "Sol" (sunny) section... the seats in the shade are supposedly dearer, but the view is great and for a couple of euros extra, you hire a cushion so you don't get piles sitting on the concrete. While it's not something I would recommend for the squimish, or the animal activists, the experience and atmosphere made it well worth the effort and money, but be prepared to have some of the locals (those not attending Las Ventas) look at you with surprise and perhaps
disgust when you tell them you're going to Las Ventas. Closest thing that would come to this experience in Melbourne might be attending a footy match at the MCG. While soccer is more popular than the bullfighting in Madrid, and would be a closer parallel to footy than bullfighting, the cultural significance of the bullfight for the locals is where the similarity is. Thankfully, the AFL players don't plunge a sword into the heart of their opponents... but I wouldn't put it past the AFL to trial that in a pre-season competition at some stage.
Greeting the Matadors, Picadors and Banderilleros (Above) El Torro Enters the Arena (Right)
Picador and His Horse Fall The picadors role is the start the bull bleeding, and these entry points provide a enrty point for the matador to target when the time comes. However, the horse is a large target, and one that the bull seems only too willing to engage with, and sometimes, the bull manages to exert some pain on his torturers.
Matador - The Killer Once the bull has been run to exhaustion, stabbed, bled, stabbed a few more times, and tired a little more, the Matador is summoned. He struts out and tries to win the crowd love by getting the bull to pass as close to him as possible before he kills the bull... and when he fails to kill it with a sword through the heart, he has to finish the beast with a blade between the eyes, and "Silencio" from the crowd.
Final Disrespect - Dragged Out of the Arena(Top Left) Pink Caped Matador's Assistant (Top Right) Matador II (Bottom Right) Banderillero (Bottom Left)
Don't Hurt Me Please (Top Left) Extreme Arrogance (Top Right) Cruelty?! What Cruelty? (Bottom Right) Matador III (Bottom Left)
Toledo A weekend to myself in Madrid, no work and no plans, so I thought I'd treat myself to a day trip down to Toledo. Toledo is a beautiful ancient city which is a short 30 minute train ride from Madrid on the high speed train.
While it is indeed a wonderfully photography friendly city, a warning to anyone thinking of visiting, you'll be climbing some steep hills during your explorations. I spent close to eight hours walking around Toledo, taking in its history, and
taking many photos... only stopping twice for a drink, and in one instance, a complimentary plate of tapas.
Toledo (viewed from the North)
Toledo (viewed from the South)
Puerta de Bisagra
San Ildenfonso
Catedral de Toledo - Exterior (Above) Catedral de Toledo - Interior (Right) Photography in the main section of the cathedral is not allowed (no signs telling you this at the entrance or at the ticket counter.
Monesterio de San Juan de los Reyes
Puenta de Alcantara
Puerta de Cambron
Toledo Train Station
Fiestas in Toledo
Calle de Comercio
Panoramic Vista from the top of San Ildefonso
Parque del Buen Retiro I liken Madrid's Retiro to New York's Central Park. A large park in the centre of a densly populated metropolis. The closest Melbourne has to the Retiro might be Albert Park, but it's not the same. The Retiro is full of people, running, walking, roller blading, rowing, or just enjoying a drink at one of the cafes. It's the living heart of the city, and given the lack
of other parklands in Madrid, and the high density of the city, it's hardly surprising that the locals utilise the space. In addition to providing an open space for the locals to get out and about, it also serves as a area for festivals... while in Madrid this time, the Retiro hosted a massive festival to books... thousands of stalls, on all topics, with authors
signing their books etc. Then there's the art, scattered throughout the park, getting the locals, both young and old, closer to art. This appreciation starts with the sculptures and monuments in the park, and progresses to a deeper love, thirst if you like, which can be quenched in Madrids famous museums such as the Prado and Reina Sofia.
Monumento a Alfonso XII and the Estanque
Palacio de Cristal
Palacio de Cristal II
Art in the Park
Art Appreciation