Private Photographer in Barcelona

Sessions for couples and proposals, families, and private events — or a day spent learning to use your own camera. Not a booking engine that assigns you a photographer, and not a route locked in before you arrive: one photographer, a plan built for your group, and a car and driver if you’d rather not be limited to what’s within walking distance.

Private sessions — your group only, never shared
We adapt as we go — heat, tired kids, a spot that isn't working: we move
Candid, reportage style — guided, but never posed for the camera
Edited images within 7 days — a private gallery to view, share and download
Founded in 2003 — 23+ years working with visitors here

Rated 5.0 based on 105 reviews on TripAdvisor

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One Photographer, Your Day

Gaston Magrinat is a private photographer in Barcelona and Catalonia, shooting professionally since 2003 — the same year he founded Barcelona Experience — with a 5.0 rating across more than 100 reviews. He photographs couples and proposals, families, and private events, and teaches photography workshops, one-to-one or in small groups, candid and reportage rather than posed. Sessions are priced flat for the whole group by duration, not per person. A car and driver can be added to reach locations that aren't walkable. Edited images arrive within seven days in a private online gallery.

You are booking a person, not a slot. I photograph every session myself, plan it with you beforehand, and edit it afterwards — where to meet, how long, whether a car makes sense, all worked out by message before anything is confirmed.

Four Ways to Work Together

Couples & Proposals

Engagements, proposals, anniversaries, or simply the two of you somewhere you’ll remember. Proposals are worked out with you beforehand — where I’ll be standing, what the signal is — and shot close in, so nothing is lost to distance.

Families

You crossed an ocean to be here together — that is worth more than phone photos of it. Grandparents, teenagers, small children, shot at their pace while you actually enjoy Barcelona, with the day changing as it needs to.

Events & Celebrations

Dinners, awards nights, incentive parties, birthdays, baby showers — for visitors and Barcelona residents alike.

Photography Workshops

One-to-one or a small group, out shooting in the city with your own camera — starting from what you’re already doing and fixing what isn’t working. Also run as a group activity for friends or teams.

Why Book Me Rather Than a Platform

Two things decide how a session goes: who is holding the camera, and whether the day around them works. A platform can only promise the second, and often not that.

23 years shooting this city

Not a photographer who happens to be in Barcelona. I’ve worked here since 2003 — where the light falls at five, which square is empty at nine, which corner is worth the walk.

Reportage, not posing

Read the moment, shoot it, be ready for the one a second later. Unposed work is fast and unforgiving, and it is the whole skill.

Published, and I teach it

Editorial work for Celebrity Homes, Spain Magazine, Everything Spain and others. Enthusiasts book me to learn the craft — the same eye, turned around. See workshops.

Several frames of every moment

Two to six of everything worth having, best of each kept. Someone blinks, someone looks away, someone walks through. No set number delivered — you get everything that worked.

Tickets and entries handled

Ticketed sites need one for me as well as for you. I buy both, in advance, so the site is simply part of the day.

A car, and a plan that can change

Not limited to what’s walkable, not losing light in a taxi queue. Heat, tired kids, a spot that isn’t working — we move. Licensed travel agency GC-002877 is what makes all of it possible.

A recent family session was planned for the Gothic Quarter, then Ciutadella Park. By early afternoon the heat and the kids made the park a bad idea, so we changed it on the spot and shot somewhere better. Everyone went home happy, and no one saw the original plan. Around 170 edited images came back from about 500 taken.

About Gaston Magrinat

I came to Barcelona in 1999 and started guiding visitors in 2003. The camera came with me from the beginning: I was already shooting on the rides and walks, and sending people the pictures afterwards. Enough of them asked for the photographs rather than the tour that it became its own thing.

Before Spain I spent four summers as a camp counsellor teaching orienteering to fourteen-year-olds, then worked in a wilderness programme for troubled kids. That is a longer apprenticeship in reading people than any photography course, and it is most of what I use now.

I taught myself the craft from Ansel Adams — The Camera, then The Negative, one technique at a time, shoot it, look at what came back, shoot it again. I still work that way. It is also what I teach.

I like to treat travelers like friends or family coming to visit. When I meet clients I want them to relax and enjoy their time here — the photographs come from that, not the other way round.

Every photograph on this site is mine, taken here. Nothing on these pages was bought from a library.

How Pricing Works

Sessions are priced flat for the group, not per person — a couple and a family of six pay the same for the same hours.

Looking for figures? Each session type carries its own prices, alongside what’s included — couples and proposals, families, events, workshops.

Couples, proposals, families	Three session lengths — time is what moves the price
A car and driver	Addable to any session, priced by how long it’s needed
Proposals	Planning beforehand, and a little more besides
Events	How long it runs, and daytime or evening
Workshops	One to four people together

Anything not covered here, ask — most sessions get shaped around what you actually want to do that day.

Booking and cancellation

Paying

All prices include VAT
Your date is held once the session is paid in full
Booking more than 60 days ahead? A deposit holds the date, with the balance due 30 days before

Cancelling

21 days or more before — refunded in full, apart from any deposit
20 to 8 days before — half refunded
Inside 7 days — no refund
Entry tickets and anything else bought for you are non-refundable

Good to know

Sessions run for the time booked, from the agreed start
Images may be used in my portfolio and on this site unless you tell me otherwise beforehand

Photography FAQ

Is the price per person or for the group?

For the group. A couple and a family of six pay the same for the same length of session — what changes the price is how long we're out, not how many of you there are. Proposals are the one exception, because they take planning beforehand and only happen once. Prices include VAT, so the figure you're quoted is the figure you pay.

Who actually takes the photos?

I do — every session, every time. There's no roster and nobody is assigned to you. The person you message is the person who plans the session, shoots it and edits it.

How long should we book for?

Longer sessions buy variety rather than just more time — a second or third setting, a change of outfit, the light shifting as the afternoon goes on, and room for children or older relatives to take a break. An hour or so suits a couple who want a good set of portraits in one place. Longer makes sense if you want more of the city in the pictures, or simply a less hurried pace. Tell me what you're hoping for and I'll say honestly what fits.

Can we visit more than one location?

Yes, and how many depends on how far apart they are and whether you add a car. On foot we stay within a walkable area. With a car and driver, the range opens up considerably — that's the main thing it buys, along with not losing your light to a taxi queue.

What about tickets to places that need them?

I buy them in advance, for you and for me — a photographer needs their own entry like anyone else — and they're billed alongside the session. It's one of the things most photographers can't do for you, and it's why sites that need booking simply become part of the day rather than something you sort out yourself.

How does booking and payment work?

Sessions are paid in full when you book — that's what holds the date. If you're booking more than 60 days ahead, a deposit holds it instead, with the balance due 30 days before. Cancel 21 days or more out and you're refunded in full apart from that deposit; between 20 and 8 days, half comes back; inside 7 days there's no refund. Any entry tickets already bought for you sit outside that.

When do we get the photos?

Within seven days, usually sooner. They arrive as a private online gallery you can view, share with family, and download at full resolution — yours to print at whatever size you like. I keep every frame worth keeping rather than delivering to a set number.

Where do we meet?

Wherever suits you — your hotel, an apartment, or the first location itself. We'll agree it when we plan the session, along with the time, and I'll tell you honestly what the light and the crowds will be doing at that hour.

What if the weather turns?

We shoot anyway, and it's usually fine — overcast light is kinder than midday sun, and rain in Barcelona rarely lasts. If conditions genuinely won't work, we change where we go rather than cancel: somewhere sheltered, somewhere the light works. That flexibility is the point of having someone with you who knows the city rather than a fixed route booked from home.

"When I meet clients I just want them to relax and enjoy their time here."

Tell Me What You Have in Mind

Send me the dates you’re here, roughly how many of you, and what you’d like photographs of. I’ll come back with what I’d suggest and what it costs — no obligation, and no booking form to fight with.