Beyond the green curtain

September 19, 2013 11:41 AM

Salva Lopez is a Barcelona-based photographer whose work shows Barcelona and its surroundings with a cool melancholy. Flickr stream here.
posted by klangklangston (5 comments total)

Oh man, these are some gorgeous photos. The ones from Barcelona really do make me miss living there. Lopez really nailed that borderline-bleached quality of light/texture one finds there.
posted by Ravneson at 1:21 PM on September 19, 2013

This is high-quality work.

"Cool melancholy" perfectly captures this aesthetic, which has been prevalent in photography for some time. Lonely buildings isolated against the sky. Flat expressions in portraits. The backs of people's heads.

I'm not sure what this style says about our modern age. I'm frustrated by it, though. I'm tired of "cool melancholy" I guess. Where's warmth and vibrancy? Pain or anguish? I want my art brave and powerful and this style ends up feeling easy and anemic.

To me.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:20 PM on September 19, 2013

"Where's warmth and vibrancy? Pain or anguish?

In HDR. Which, to be fair, wildly outsells anything cool and melancholy.
posted by klangklangston at 2:31 PM on September 19, 2013

(Or for HDR done fairly well: Dayv Matt.)
posted by klangklangston at 2:33 PM on September 19, 2013

Wow, these are lovely, evocative and consistent images. When I was living in Barcelona, studying architecture I undertook (unconsciously - it's just kind of what I like to do) a similar project, avoiding the popular sites and instead exploring the everyday places and the squalid and dangerous places, and venturing out to the surrounding suburbs and countryside.
posted by Flashman at 3:19 PM on September 19, 2013