MTTL Asturias Special: What John and Ben Saw – The Prison House
This weekend Ben and John, the Making Time To Live founders got together in John’s home ground, Asturias, Northern Spain, to Make Time To Live! The weather did NOT cooperate (we had floods, high winds, and almost non-stop rain from lunchtime onwards every day!), but we still managed to get out and take some interesting photos.
We’ll be showing those here this week, but first, one subject, two photographers, what happens?
We both photographed this old house ‘Casona de la Gotera’ near Arriondas, built on the spoils of a local family that brought riches back from South America, it was used a hospital and later as a prison during the civil war, and now left to crumble. Here are the results, first John, then Ben:
John: “I’ve wanted to take a picture of this building for almost the entire time we’ve lived here but somehow have never managed it. As is so often the way, it takes someone else to prompt you or point out something interesting which you’ve continually overlooked. I liked the slightly de-saturated look of the building but I think Ben ‘horse whispering’ skills got the more interesting shot.
Ben: “I went for black and white, something about the old house and the horses made me want to convert it and add a bit of tone. Or perhaps I’m just going through a black and white phase at the moment, I ended up converting all my pictures from the weekend to Black and White – more to come soon.”
Making Time To Live! 
Ben, I have to admit I envied you with your compact camera that morning. It was raining and uncomfortable and I was faffing around with the car, tripod and heavy camera. 🙂
And I envied your super wide angle lens, so I guess we can call it quits!
Reblogged this on abc Konsulting.
I’ve just reblogged your nice pictures, if you don’t mind. Your work is awesome.
Best regards.
The two horses in the foreground, shaggy and spotted, really make that image in my opinion. They seem to be looking at the other two horses, which leads your eye across the frame and creates a dynamic element. The fact that the other two horses have their heads down, feeding, adds something. The next place point of interest is the house. It looks like a grand place that may have fallen on tough times, but hints at what it was in its day. Very cool, well done!
Both are equally beautiful in their own ways..
Both beautiful images, full of character and depth.