Photography: Light Leaks and Photography Galleries in Spain

The above image is no result of a freak accent. Nor is it some ghostly apparition that waved into frame and was captured in that moment. Nope, it is something far worse: a light leak. There's a level of irony here, however, since this light leak made itself present during the visit of a photography gallery, also based on the film format, in Barcelona, Spain.

A light leak is something every film photographer will at some point experience, but it's typically a rare occurrence: did you open the back of the camera? Perhaps, instead, the camera itself is at fault and light is entering the camera and exposing the sensitive film. In my case, it was the former. I unknowingly exposed the roll of film to subway station light thinking I had managed to roll the film back into the cartridge beforehand.

It's safe to say that the above image, compared to the first image, is utterly destroyed. Too much light managed to reach the film and it holds almost nothing to it. It's ruined. But the first image, at least, has this wavy emotional feel to it still. The light leak, for some reason, is the only part of the image to hold any colour.

In the first image, we can see some of the photographs up on display: a series of black and white, absolutely beautiful images each with their own theme and narrative within. Fortunately, I did manage to snap a few shots of the architecture within the building which managed to survive.

The name of the gallery is Fundación MAPFRE, a beautiful building that shows the marvellous architecture of the Spanish.

Each of these images was shot on a Canon AE-1, with a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 lens, on Kodak Colorplus 200 film. I think the film really managed to capture the excellence of the architecture, and the gentle colours and tones that came alongside it. It blended beautifully with the photography on display. Each room filled with something different and focusing on more personal matters to the photographer: the strange shape of the human body, almost twisted and contorted. Others with perfect composition and shadows to tell a tale over the viewing course of several minutes as your eyes roamed the image.

I highly recommend any fans of photography to attend it. I believe it was free, or at the very least two Euros for entry. Incredibly cheap given the price of other things to do around the city.