Morning Practice

[Rob C]

It's my practice to cheer for the bull.

I  notice that even in the small bars many of the local guys turn their backs to the killing on tv and ogle the barmaid instead. Quite rightly so, in many cases.

Rob C

[Ray]

It's the PIGS that are of most concern in your part of the world, Rob.

Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.

[Rob C]

It's the PIGS that are of most concern in your part of the world, Rob.

Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.

But are they worth a hill of beans?

Rob C

[michael]

My house in San Miguel is right across the street from a circa 19th Century bull ring. Mostly used now for wedding receptions. But, I've been to a couple of fights here. Not my thing, and I doubt that I'll go to any more. I always find myself rooting for the bull.

Back in 2004 I did a piece on attending a bull fight in Seville and the shit never stopped for months. So even though I've done some very interesting bull fight photographs since, I never publish them here anymore.

Michael

[Rob C]

Ernst Haas did some pretty definitive slomo ones of fights; think it's the only way I'd stomach one. I've never been to see one and know I'd end up being sick and/or assaulted for my views; they do present quite a lot of them here on tv, but the best shows on the topic are the street theatre ones where ladies who object paint themselves in 'blood' and lie in topless heaps in the streets; delicious! It doesn't happen (street demos) in my little neck of the woods, though, but perhaps Fred will have more opportunity of catching such a lovely spectacle on camera in Madrid...

Rob C

[fredjeang]

The first, and last, corrida I've seen in my life was in Nîmes, France, in the roman arènes during the fiestas: it was a butchery ! No thanks.

Is there a horny spectacle to catch in Madrid's street today Rob?  All I see are depressed people talking about Moody's, Merkel and Sarko leading Europe etc...but if you like I could shoot in the street hundreds of thousands of "se vende" (on sale) flats, in all possible colors and font styles, after the great speculation. Of course, with a model it would be much more attractive and provocative but generally there are some policemen trying to fire the people who can't pay anymore the bankers, then people from 15M movement trying to empeach them...very sexy atmosphere indeed, for a photo-reporter or a war photographer.

[PierreVandevenne]

It's my practice to cheer for the bull.

I used to as well.

But then, I was charged up-slope by a wild board while relieving my bladder and that deeply changed my perspective on human-animal interaction.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera. Fortunately, neither had the boar...

(edit: fixed typo)

[Jeremy Roussak]

Back in 2004 I did a piece on attending a bull fight in Seville and the shit never stopped for months. So even though I've done some very interesting bull fight photographs since, I never publish them here anymore.

I remember that article, Michael. It was among the first I read here on LuLa and it was what got me hooked on the site. I didn't frequent the forums then, so I hadn't realised it had caused grief.

It prompted me to buy a Minolta A2, as well, which proved a nice introduction to digital photography.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

I used to as well.

But then, I was charged up-slope by a wild board while relieving my bladder and that deeply changed my perspective on human-animal interaction.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera. Fortunately, neither had the boar...

(edit: fixed typo)

Pierre, what did you expect? One must always pee downwind and, with luck, downhill of any other creature. (Corollary to Newton's First Law of Gravity.)

Thanks for the best giggle of the day so far!

Rob C

[Rob C]

The first, and last, corrida I've seen in my life was in Nîmes, France, in the roman arènes during the fiestas: it was a butchery ! No thanks.

Is there a horny spectacle to catch in Madrid's street today Rob?  All I see are depressed people talking about Moody's, Merkel and Sarko leading Europe etc...but if you like I could shoot in the street hundreds of thousands of "se vende" (on sale) flats, in all possible colors and font styles, after the great speculation. Of course, with a model it would be much more attractive and provocative but generally there are some policemen trying to fire the people who can't pay anymore the bankers, then people from 15M movement trying to empeach them...very sexy atmosphere indeed, for a photo-reporter or a war photographer.

Ah Fred, perhaps the anti-fight ladies were all demonstrating (?) in Barcelona? There, they won.

If you want to see Se Vende signs, try Mallorca! Many estate agencies have closed; most are not shooting pics with real photographers anymore either; must be just the right time to invest in a set of TS lenses! Joke. Oh, and Thomas Cook's in deep poo-poo too. ¡Viva el turismo!

Rob C

[David Sutton]

This is a really interesting composition. I like the balance between the man lunging and the chap in the foreground having a pee. Though if I were to face a wild bull I wouldn't need to have practised emptying my bladder.
David S

[paulbk]

>It's my practice to cheer for the bull.

re: Guardia Civil, Cadiz, Spain 1972
In another life I was a reactor operator on a ballistic missile submarine (599). In the early '70s we operated out of Rota, Spain (on the Atlantic, north of Gibraltar). Francisco Franco was still running the show then. On the rare day off we'd go Cadiz to get off base and see a little bit of Spain. One time we went to a bull fight, and as you say, we cheered the bull. But not for long. Two Guardia Civil came over to us and pressed the muzzle of his Thompson into my neck. Said something in Spanish, like, "Don't cheer the bull."

We were not in uniform, but it was clear we were gringos from the Navy base. And unwanted, but for the huge rent the U.S. was paying for use of the base.

While the government was oppressive, Spain was beautiful under Franco. With the economy still stuck in the 1930s it appeared pristine and undeveloped.

[Rob C]

When we came here to live thirty years ago, the 'old people' used to tell us that during Franco's time they never felt the need to lock their doors when they left the house.

Round about that time, topless swimming was all the rage. One day, my wife was at a beach here with our alsabrador - a great swimmer herself - when she was beckoned forth by the guardia civil doing a beach patrol (or just admiring the view - who could tell?). Oops, she thought, topless must still be illegal! So, setting the example for the famous two-handed Janet Jackson image, she left the comparative safety of the sea and approached the guardia. Turned out that topless wasn't the problem; the problem was the dog, because dogs had recently been banned from beaches, but nobody had seen fit to tell us.

I can understand that, if you allow your pooch to poop there, but ours was better educated than that. Educated but not very bright: you could fix her lead to a twig in the sand and she'd sit there, ignorant of the fact that she could have ripped it away without noticing. Oh well, at least she was an excellent guard dog: nobody bothered my wife for long. One display of an alsabrador's set of teeth is all it took for unwanted conversationalists to eff off with haste.

Those were indeed the days; miss them all the time.

Rob C

[RSL]

Instead of cheering for the bull, which isn't in the picture, I'll cheer for the picture. There's a touch of surrealism there that makes it a really good street shot. Bravo, Michael.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Instead of cheering for the bull, which isn't in the picture, I'll cheer for the picture. There's a touch of surrealism there that makes it a really good street shot. Bravo, Michael.

+1.

[Rob C]

Wot? You think an invisible bull ain't surreal?

Oy veh already...

Rob C

[John Camp]

The combination of violence, ritual, color and action (peak moments) make bullfights almost automatically compelling for a camera, but I simply got too old for them. I was in LA during the Occupy Wall Street hassle, and felt no urge to go look at it, though it had most of the qualities of a bullfight. Maybe if you've seen 100 riots, or bullfights, you've seen them all. I'd rather sit in a comfortable chair, with maybe a lemon-drop at hand, or a G&T, and a sketchbook to doodle on, or maybe a GH2 and manual to play with, and some kids around.

JC

Edit: Oh, yeah, I like the photo quite a lot. 

[RSL]

Right, John. That's exactly why, when I was in war zones, I avoided war pictures and made pictures of people. War has been wrung out in photography until it's become a cliche. Same thing applies to the photographic coverage of the Occupy fiasco. Same old crap we saw over and over and over in the sixties. If you're working for a newspaper or news magazine you have to cover that kind of meaningless garbage, but if you're a happy amateur you can avoid it and make pictures of things that matter.

[michael]

Like imaginary bull fights.

Michael

[RSL]

Exactly, Michael, but it's not the bullfight or lack thereof that matters. It's the picture. You caught something in that picture that's significant and that can't be put into words. It's a hard thing to do. When you try, no matter how good a photographer you are you end up with a massive collection of failures, but every once in a while you grab something like that. But I know I'm preaching to the choir.