As a professional travel photographer, I constantly face unpredictable challenges: unwanted cranes, historical buildings swaddled in scaffolding, hordes of tourists and, above all, inclement weather.
Indeed, weather dominated my recent trip to Madrid. Unusual Arctic weather blanketed half of Spain with snow and brought freezing temperatures. High winds disrupted my shooting plans, yet they also produced dramatic black storm clouds alternating with sunny spells. As a result, my first destination was Retiro Park — one of my favorite urban parks in Europe.
However, I arrived to find the police had closed large portions of this green oasis due to 90 kph gusts of wind. I managed to shoot a few photos before screaming sirens announced a cavalcade of ambulances and police cars. A falling tree had hit a passerby.
Retiro Park was definitely closed. Consequently, I changed plan and shot pretty views of the majestic Royal Palace from the surrounding gardens. I then headed to a little known metro station. It had been closed for over 50 years and recently reopened as a museum. However, after crossing the city to reach it, I discovered workers had temporarily shut the station for restoration.
Back downtown, I shot some typical street scenes, but freezing winds continued to thwart my plans. Furthermore, by the afternoon, the police had closed all the gardens and parks surrounding the Royal Palace. As the wind finally dropped to a freezing Siberian breeze, I headed to a popular rooftop bar to catch the Madrid sunset.
At the entrance, however, a young security guard stopped me: lo siento, el bar está cerrado por el viento. In other words, the wind had forced the rooftop bar to close. I screamed mentally in frustration. Sunset was coming, so I needed a Plan B — and quickly.
So I headed to the Gran Via to photograph this iconic street with its elegant Metropolis art nouveau building. Meanwhile, street lights flickered on as the golden light faded. Red and orange cirrus clouds sailed above Madrid like a dramatic painting.
I knew the best view of the Gran Via was from a nearby bus stop. It was wide enough for a tripod without blocking passengers. To my horror, however, four other photographers had already claimed my bus stop — each armed with a tripod!
In fact, Gran Via had morphed into a honey-pot location for photographers — like Mesa Arch in Utah or Kirkjufellsfoss in Iceland. Nevertheless, I squeezed in and set up my tripod ready for the urban twilight.
I started talking with the photographer next to me. I always do this at famous locations where photographers gather for sunset or sunrise.
Remarkably, bus passengers stepped around all our tripods without a single complaint. I love the Spanish!
My new photographer buddy came from somewhere in southeast Asia. Specifically, he obsessed over twilight skylines wherever he travelled. We swapped stories about our photographic experiences around the world. After just a few minutes, we already looked like lifetime friends. Once twilight slipped into night, we finished shooting and headed off together for a drink. After such a challenging day, it was finally time to enjoy Madrid’s vibrant night life.