I just spent this past spring in Valencia again, my first extended stay there since before Covid. Although I was also there last year, it wasn’t for as long as I would have liked, with my time split between Valencia and Barcelona in 2025. So it was good to be back for a proper stretch this year. I also visited Madrid on this trip, but the bulk of my time was spent in Valencia.

The city has a quality that’s difficult to name precisely: the light, the pace, the climate, the architecture that sits somewhere between worn and magnificent, the parks, the skies, the fresh markets, and the feeling that you’re standing somewhere between a small village and a major city. It earns its reputation.

On the photography side, this trip felt different. I know the city well now. I’ve walked most of the old quarters many times over, and that familiarity changes how you see a place photographically. The urgency to shoot everything through fresh eyes fades over time. As a result, I wasn’t hunting images or going on nearly as many photo walks as I did in the past.

What still holds my lens’s attention in Valencia is the opportunity for impromptu black-and-white street work: textures, geometry, and the way old façades interact with the people moving through them. The city wears its history beautifully, and that gives the camera something to work with even when the photographer no longer feels quite as inspired.

About ten of my favorite frames from this trip are below.