Architectural Photography In Salamanca, Spain

Arriving late afternoon by car into the stunning city of Salamanca is certainly an experience to be savoured; as an architectural photographer, I was enchanted by the golden light that bathed the UNESCO world heritage city, animating the incredibly carved sandstone churches, reflecting from the palaces into the lively plazas below.

Originally founded in the 4th century BC, Salamanca was at one time under Roman rule, however it was the establishment of the university in the early 13th century that defined its future. Now regarded as the ‘Oxford’ of Spain, this ‘Golden City’ or La Dorada as it is also known due to the light dancing off the sandstone buildings is in my opinion a destination worthy of any bucket list. Sadly we did not have more than a few hours in which to explore, so after checking into a hotel near the main Plaza Mayor we set out to discover the city carrying the usual arsenal of lenses. The vibrancy of the city is attributable not only to the architecture, but also to the mix of native Castilians and the many international students who come to learn Spanish, filling the many  lane ways  and plazas with an interesting mixture of languages.

The following images were capture over the few brief hours available to us on our itinerary; certainly not enough time to really explore such a beautiful city, but an afternoon and evening followed by a few hours the next morning that served as an introduction to a city that I definitely plan on returning to. As will be obvious, there are a large number of images in this post, consequently I have compressed them all quite heavily which may be noticeable as some banding in the sky, but which facilitates faster page download.

Salamanca is blessed with two cathedrals, appropriately named the Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral of Salamanca…

The Canon 11-24mm f4 L for architectural and travel photography

I have been very impressed with the coverage and file quality that the 11-24 combined with the 5DSR offers. While I normally shoot a number of panoramas to cover such a wide scene, in this instance I relied upon my new ultra wide angle to deliver the images I was looking for. Certainly the files need to be cropped, but the incredible distortion free angle of view that the lens produces (if kept perpendicular to the subject, no tilting up or down!), makes capturing such expansive spaces a real pleasure.

All of the above night images were taken using my trusty Really Right Stuff carbon fibre tripod. Of course it means more to carry while traveling, but for an architectural photographer wanting to shoot dusk or low light images it really is an indispensable piece of kit.