Las Palmas

Las Palmas surprised me.

I had imagined something smaller, quieter, more resort-like. Instead it felt like a proper city, layered, busy, slightly worn in places but very alive. At times it reminded me of Thessaloniki. At other moments, especially in the older streets and colours, there was something of Havana in it. Not in a nostalgic way, just in the mix of scale, texture and lived-in energy.

It has a good rhythm. A sense that people use the city rather than just pass through it

This trip was also the first real opportunity I have had in a while to work slowly and deliberately on street photography. No rushing between things. No shooting in small gaps of time. Just walking, looking, waiting.

That mattered.

I took the Fujifilm X-T5 paired with the 23mm f2.8 pancake lens (a 35mm equivalent). It is a simple setup and that was the point. Small and light enough to carry all day and wide enough to work close without distorting space too much. I found the combination worked well for me. The size encouraged me to move more freely. The rendering felt honest, sharp where it needed to be but not clinical.

Using one focal length also forced consistency. It stopped me thinking about options and made me think about position instead. Step forward. Step back. Wait longer.

My approach has not changed dramatically, but I felt more settled. I am still drawn to structure, to lines and symmetry and the way architecture frames people, but I am also trying to allow more unpredictability into the frame. Not chasing dramatic interaction, but not avoiding it either.

Las Palmas gave me both.

There were quiet moments where distance and separation were enough. A person crossing a large paved space. Two people sitting apart on a bench facing the sea. And there were tighter frames where colour, shadow or proximity added more tension.

What I realised again on this trip is that I am drawn to alignment, to moments when light, structure and presence briefly fall into place. But I do not want to stay only in that space. I want to open the work up to more unpredictability, to moments of interaction and energy that are less controlled. Not spectacle for its own sake, but something closer to risk.

It is easy to overthink street photography. I do it often. But walking this city with a small camera and one lens reminded me that it is really about attention. Staying alert. Letting the city present something instead of trying to force

Las Palmas wasn’t what I expected.

It was better.