This is one photo from a series I took 2 years ago of some houses that aren’t there any more. They were in an area called San Isidro very close to Málaga Airport – too close, they have now been demolished and in their place is the new runway. I’m not saying whether this is a good or a bad thing, I saw the houses covered in graffiti and decided to take some photos before they disappeared to record a moment in time. I haven’t published the photos before now, I wasn’t sure if the people that lived there would like them, but now I think enough time has passed. I don’t want to publish them later when the runway is about to open as I don’t want to be accused of a publicity stunt!

I had seen these houses on the way to work. I took these photos in June 2008 when the majority had already been demolished. At that time all the houses that were still there were covered in graffiti as in this photo. All the messages were similar: the people were saying that AENA (the Spanish airports authority) were stealing their homes.

When I started taking photos of this house I didn’t know there still people living there! This house was the most intact, with the most interesting graffiti, so I took a lot of photos of it. After 5 minutes a car appeared with a woman and a teenage boy. The boy asked me why I was taking photos and I explained that I was interested in the construction and its effect on the houses and families living there. He appeared to be happy with my answer and reported it back to his mother. Then I saw an old lady (his grandmother I suppose) who had come out of the house. I think she had seen me and called her daughter for help!

Taken with a Nikon D1X and a Nikon 18 – 200mm lens at 35mm, shutter speed 1/500 sec, aperture f/10

See the rest of these photos on my Facebook page: Richard Thomas Photography

You have probably noticed it has been a while since my last blog entry. There are a couple of reasons for that, I’ve been busy with other stuff and also I’ve been steadily translating all the old entries into Spanish (which you can see if you click where it says “Español” on the right). That task is now complete and I’m working on a small set of photos I took 2 years ago. The blog entry for those is the first I have written in Spanish first (or it will be when I finish it!) so it’s taking a little longer than usual but it should be published within the next few days.