Futuristic architecture in the Pyrenees Mountains

By Jim Zuckerman

Andorra is a tiny country nestled between France and Spain, and recently I spent a couple of days in this wonderful place in the Pyrenees Mountains. I spent the time around Escaldes-Engordany, a beautiful city that is immaculately clean. I discovered that in the center of the city there was the most incredible public spa, and not only did I enjoy swimming in their huge indoor pool with fountains, terraces, stunning lighting and music, but I photographed the futuristic architecture as you can see below.

For this shot, I used a tripod (fortunately no one objected) and my 16 - 35mm wide angle lens. I had to have complete depth of field so all of the incredible detail was in focus, so I chose f/22. At ISO 200, this forced my shutter speed to be a full six seconds. I used a daylight white balance to get the yellow/orange color out of the tungsten lights because the contrast with the blue was so dramatic. The camera was only about 18 inches above the floor at the base of the stairs so I could exaggerate the perspective in this amazing place.