Capturing sketches of Spain with a Leica Q3

I have taken holidays in Spain several times in the past and visited Madrid and Barcelona for work. But those trips were many years ago. I probably had my old Olympus OM2 with the standard 50mm f/1.8 lens and that was it. What could I capture on this trip in one fairly small province to give a flavour of what it’s like there? I’m calling the article “Sketches of Spain” because you can never fully capture a country in one broad brushstroke and one colour.

Miles Davis was inspired by Spain and its musical heritage. At the centre of that inspiration was Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”. It encourages him to explore where the roots of that musical piece came from. From that exploration came what experts call the “Third Stream” and the marrying of Jazz, Traditional Folk music, and Classical. The album “Sketches of Spain” was released on 18 July 1960 to great acclaim. That cultural “third stream” lives on in Spain to this day and continues to mine its roots and evolve.

“You’ve got all those Arab music scales up in there, black African scales that you can hear. . . There was a little bit of the same thing, the same kind of voice that I played on the trumpet in ‘Solea’ [on Sketches of Spain]. ‘Solea’ is a basic form of flamenco. . . It’s close to the Black American feeling in the Blues. It comes from Andalusia, so it’s African-based.”

Miles Davis

Travelling light

Could I capture my own Sketches of Spain with just one camera? Sadly, I do not have the equivalent of Gil Evans to help me orchestrate my shots. I could have taken more kit, but I much prefer to travel light. I can’t remember the last time I checked a bag for a flight – there’s always a launderette somewhere that provides both humour and a new cultural experience.

One camera and one lens that suits the destination is what I try to practice. The Leica Q3 is that essential, minimalist tool that forces you to think about what you want to convey and how you need to shoot it. And less about worrying whether you have the right or wrong lens on the camera.

Keep moving

I cannot sit on a beach and read another 50 pages of a predictable Robert Ludlum book. I have to be doing things — like exploring by getting off the main drag, digging into history, experiencing different food and art, and watching someone else’s world go by. Once my breakfast chocolate and churros have been guiltily consumed, I’m ready to explore.

I have set up my Q3 28 with several profiles to match the shooting opportunity. For most of this trip the profile was Landscape with single focus, highlight weighted exposure, adjust the histogram to suit, and set a minimum shutter speed of 1/125. If I wanted to change it, a one button press orchestrates all the changes I needed to quickly get to Street or Portrait.

So where did I go?

My friend Colin invited my wife and me to his home in a small town called Rojales in the Alicante province. If you go to see a standup comedian in Britain, then at some point they will likely mention the names of the most famous towns in the region. Those mentions will create titters in the audience. The Alicante province in Spain has become home-from-home for Brits, Dutch, and Germans, and probably many other national groups. But, beneath the Fish and Chips and English spoken here signs, are layers of history that form part of my Sketches of Spain.

A bit of Guardamar potted history

History is written by the hands of the victors. Or, as Paul Simon sang it in more contemporary times, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.” The name of this town means “Protect from the sea” and its roots date back to the 8^th century BC. Guardamar was built at the mouth of the Segura river as a port city for trading and also for fishing.

It was originally called La Fonteta and was established by the Phoenicians who crossed the Mediterranean from city states in what today would be Lebanon, Syria, and parts of coastal Israel. The surrounding area is semi-arid, and dedicated to agriculture, with lemon and lime groves employing planned irrigation. (Dig out a map or go online to see the area.)

Layers of history

Guardamar has layers of history built upon this start. In the tenth century CE, Islamic settlers took over the area and one of their gifts was the Rabita Califal prayer centre, whose remains are still being excavated. The castle on the hill in Guardamar was built over generations by Phoenicians, Iberians, Romans, Moors, and Christians, between the eight century BCE to the nineteenth century CE, to protect the town and river access from invaders. It was a classic cultural melting pot and embraced a thriving town of merchants and trades people.

The earthquake that changed everything

Sadly, the year 1828 CE would prove to be its literal downfall when it was destroyed by an earthquake. Parts remain and some of the ramparts have been rebuilt. It would have given an amazing 360 degree view over the Mediterranean to the north and south, and over the interior down to Murcia and inland further to Albacete.

Babilonia and shifting sands

In the late nineteenth century, nature became the new invader. Changing weather patterns created shifting sands that threatened to turn the town into a desert.  Thankfully, environmental engineering, led by Francisco Mira, planted thousands of pine trees to stabilize the dunes.

Playa Babilonia, the name of a street of fisherman’s cottages, existed for more than a century. The homes were passed down within families from generation to generation. Now because of the encroaching sea, and shifting dunes, the Mediterranean comes right up to the doorsteps of those homes.

Spanish law creates broken hearts

Strict Spanish coastal laws (Ley de Costas) have made the cottages a public maritime domain. The government has ordered the demolition of the homes, which has led to public protests and legal battles from the residents.

Because of these challenges, some homes have been abandoned by their owners, some have been condemned and declared as uninhabitable, others simply left empty, while the remainder have had their utilities restricted. It gives Babilonia the feeling of a ghost-town. What remains are emotional murals, love notes and eulogies to family history, left by residents that show how they feel about being forced to leave their homes.

Another sketch from Spain: La Rabita Califal

La Rabita Califal was a communal Muslim prayer retreat centre, dating back to tenth to eleventh century CE. The word Rabita in Spanish comes from the Arabic ribât, which means a frontier post that could be for military purposes or a monastery, usually on the borders of the Islamic world. The site had been lost and forgotten in the shifting sands of the Guardamar coastline over the centuries, but rediscovered during the reforestation project of the shore.

As it continues to be excavated, more of the centre has come into view. We know there were 23 prayer cells, a mosque and two complementary rooms. Each prayer cell is less than eight metres in length and three metres wide. Some of these cells still show signs that they were originally decorated with geometric patterns. You have to pinch yourself to remember that most of Spain was an Arabic/Muslim country from 711 to 1492 CE.

Footprints

There is so much more that could be said, but for that, you would need a much more detailed account of La Rabita Califal, how it was created, developed over time, and eventually abandoned as Spain returned to Christianity.

Throughout all this heat, glare, high contrast, risk of sand, and blindingly blue skies, the Q3 continues to deliver. So far, I’m not missing another lens or wishing I had another camera with me. I think it’s easy to become reasonably proficient with the Q3, much as people do with musician instruments. It has a broad “footprint” which allows you to shoot beautiful landscapes on one setting and performers on another. You quickly know what you require in terms of where your feet should be and what settings should be on the camera to get what you want.

Sketches of street art in Guardamar

If you follow the theme, Guardamar offers more “Sketches of Spain” with street art in the Parque Reina Sofia and the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. It’s not the flashier organised street art of cities like Miami, or even Chicago, but it shows a vibrant culture that keeps evolving.

This is hopefully the first of a two-part series. The linking idea is that they all contain “Sketches of/from Spain” Sadly this relatively small province is often dismissed as a cultural desert, or the butt of a standup comedian’s jokes. You can begin to see the truth lies in many layers beneath that clichéd surface.

Conclusions

Did I succeed? Could this first set of sketches have been done differently? I’m no photographic pro, so maybe I missed many ways to do it better. Did I have the right kit? What would you have taken to improve these shots, or find better ones?

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More:
Street Art: You’ve got to look up to see what’s going down	Canvas City: Street Art in Berlin
Paris captured in 15 delicious bites	The Pocketable Ricoh GRIIIx HDF – good enough?
On the road to Santiago de Compostela with a Leica M9	The Leica Q2 takes on Gaudi: A sui generis showdown

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