David Noton On Location
Dodging through the crowd in Spain, David Noton captures the Holy Week parade and shares a moment with a young widow
Travel supremo David Noton points his lens at Spain’s Semana Santa festival
Every Easter throughout Spain people dress up in costumes dating back to the middle ages and parade through the streets. These are the Semana Santa penance processions, and, like most religious ceremonies, it’s certainly a colourful spectacle. Colourful, but somewhat baffling and bizarre quite frankly, some of the costumes have more than a hint of the sinister about them. All of which makes the streets of Malaga at Easter a fertile hunting ground for a photographer with sharp elbows and fast glass.
The sharp elbows are necessary because seemingly the whole of Andalusia is either marching or watching. The crowds lining the streets are teeming, but most people do seem to give way to me as I duck and dive, searching for the best, fleeting viewpoints. I think they assume I’m a pro with a purpose, which is in fact quite true. That purpose is to make the most of the opportunities as the procession passes, and to do that I have bolted on my camera my favourite lens for these shots: the superb super-fast EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM.
It’s an optic that, when used wide open at its gaping maximum aperture, produces lovely bokeh backgrounds, and foregrounds for that matter. The depth of field at f/1.2 is minimal, non-existent really, which makes it a difficult lens to use; my focusing needs to be spot on, particularly when I’m up close and personal to a young lady dressed as a black widow. Why is she so dressed? Who knows? People do strange things in the name of religion. I quickly frame up my shot. She knows I’m about to shoot her of course – big camera, big lens – I’m hardly unobtrusive but I think she quite likes the attention. That’s the great thing about these fiestas: participants expect to be photographed.
I select my AF point, bend the knees to lower myself a touch to her level, activate AF with the back button and shoot. She preens, pretending to be oblivious of the camera, and I manage a few more frames. Half my mind is thinking about the composition, watching her expression and considering the aesthetics of the shot, while the other is considering the technicalities; focus and exposure mostly.
I’ve not time to check my brightness histogram as the moment will have passed in seconds, but I’m concerned about the predominance of black in the frame. I dialled in
-0.3 exposure compensation instinctively before raising the camera to my eye, but will it be enough, or will my camera be lured into overexposing? As usual I’m using Aperture priority. I rarely use anything else.
The procession moves on, taking my widow with it. Quickly I check my histogram; my exposure is bang on. Evaluative metering rarely lets me down. I dive back into the crowd, skirting the procession, looking for my next prey… sorry, subject. There’s the white-gloved hand of a penitent clutching a red rose against his (or is it her? Beneath the hood I’ve no way of knowing!) robe. I kneel in amongst the marchers as it briefly halts. Again negative exposure compensation is needed due to the black backdrop; about -0.7 of a stop I reckon. Focus, shoot, they move on. I check the exposure for my peace of mind, as it’s too late to do anything about it, but reassuringly there are no blinkeys (blown highlight alerts) in the white of the gloves, and the spread of histogram is perfect. Oh yes, I’m on a roll. This is such fun, a world away from the considered discipline of a landscape shoot, but it’s all part of the rich pageant of life as a travel photographer.