Reflecting on Barcelona.

Silent companions on a walk around the old city.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend some quality time recently in the wonderful Spanish city of Barcelona.

Long enough time in fact, that after the usual running around and around staring open mouthed in wonder at all the rich architectural wonders on display, I found myself with enough spare time to be able to start to prowl around in this most beautiful of cities without having to behave like the tourist I was.

Free time, it's a valuable gift.

One of the things that struck me, while prowling around, was the remarkable light in this city.

Bouncing around and off the surfaces of the inner-city windows and offering a reflective perspective of the busy streets.

I started to photograph these reflections, thinking I'd set out and try to bring something new to a much-photographed city, before long though, I found I was being drawn more and more to the stores with the faceless and featureless gazes of store mannequins.

Why they fascinated me I couldn't say, perhaps the humanoid features struck some long dormant spark of recognition deep in my brain.

Current fashions seem to have decided these mannequins should possess almost genetically engineered features, leaving them neither human nor machine, but somewhere in between.

Among these silent friends of mine I had my favourites, sometimes going out of my way to say good morning to them, asking how their evening was, and once finding myself slightly embarrassed to come across one in a state of undress, a change in the seasons clothing revealing just a little too much.