How and Why

I came across this group of people making Castells (derived from the Catalonian word for castle) purely by chance while visiting Barcelona and had to react quickly to make the most of the brief opportunity. For this image I took up a position close to the base of the Castell to get the same perspective as those at the base of the human tower among numerous other photographers and video cameras. This viewpoint created a strong dynamic composition and had the benefit of removing unwanted clutter and distractions in the frame.

I framed to maintain the angle of the human tower with the far pillar of the building in the rear.

The sun was almost creeping into the frame at the top right and I had to use a hand in addition to lens hood to prevent flare - in a couple of pictures my hand has crept into the corner of the frame - an omission due to the 95% finder coverage of the D200.

I would have liked the scope to frame wider but at 17 mm the perspective was good regardless.

The heat of the day gave me a lot of issues using the camera, sweat and sun screen, dust and the confined space created by the crowd meant I was regularly checking the front of the lens with such high potential for flare.

Background

The building of human towers or Castells is a Catalan tradition, the person at the top of the tower is a child who salutes the crowd to signal the completion of the tower.