Nice surprise

I couldn't believe my luck when I discovered that my stay in Córdoba coincided with the city's photography festival. What's more, it's theme is war, with a particular emphasis on the Spanish Civil War (the subject of my own project).

And I was absolutely thrilled that the star exhibition was 'La Maleta Mexicana', featuring the civil war images of Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and 'Chim' Seymour.

I first saw this display in Barcelona a few years ago (and blipped it at the time). I was particularly excited at how the exhibition directors had used contact sheets to give a broader perspective of famous images - showing the lead-up to the iconic picture in question.

It's worth googling La Maleta Mexicana because the story of this collection of photos, their disappearance and eventual rediscovery decades later, is incredible.

Today I also saw a very good exhibition of civil war photos taken in the Córdoba region and an excellent display of photos and videos by the American photographer Susan Meiselas of the Nicaraguan revolution.

All in all, a terrific series of shows. Sadly, no photography was allowed, so although I had a D800 around my neck, I had to do a sneaky phone shot, which is far from perfect.