Cuadernos de Campo (Field Notebooks) is a collaborative photography initiative launched by ACCIONA, PHotoESPAÑA, and Patrimonio Nacional to bring the natural heritage of the Royal Sites into focus. Through the eyes of acclaimed Spanish photographers—all recipients of the Spanish National Photography Award—the project explores the relationship between human ingenuity, the landscape, and the urgent need for environmental conservation.
The project is split into three parts: the first curated by Javier Vallhonrat; the second by Bleda y Rosa; and the third and most recent by Isabel Muñoz.
The third instalment of Field Notebooks focuses on Isabel Muñoz, winner of the National Photography Award. In this collection, she trains her lens on the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and its surrounding wilderness, capturing it as a monument to Renaissance knowledge and humanist thought. Titled The Stones of the Sky, the exhibition runs from 4 June to 6 September 2026 at the Royal Collections Gallery and the Campo del Moro gardens in Madrid, before moving to the grounds of the Monastery of El Escorial.
Using photography, video, physical objects, and installation art, the artist examines how nature, technology, spirituality, and human craftsmanship intertwine. Her work looks beyond the sheer scale of the Monastery to explore the physical, cultural, and symbolic processes required to build it.
In this project, El Escorial is presented as the physical manifestation of a vision driven by Philip II, in which architecture, engineering, astronomy, hydraulics, and botany coexisted under a single ideal of harmony and transcendence. Isabel Muñoz symbolically retraces this journey of transforming raw material and knowledge, following the path from the quarries and forests of La Herrería to the final stone laid on the building.
This artistic approach expands the boundaries of traditional photography, treating materials and physical mediums as essential storytellers. This perspective reflects ACCIONA’s own commitment to engineering as a driver of knowledge, innovation, and progress—one capable of meeting major modern challenges with solutions that generate a positive, lasting impact.
The company sees engineering and innovation as essential to delivering infrastructure in harmony with the environment, enhancing societal well-being, and leaving a legacy for future generations.
Through her imagery, materials, and installations, Isabel Muñoz invites reflection on the human capacity to shape natural resources, knowledge, and collective intelligence into a permanent landmark that speaks to time, the landscape, and society.
Bleda y Rosa, winners of the National Photography Award in 2008, produced the second edition of Field Notebooks with their project Hours of the Sun, based at the Monastery of Yuste, the final home of Emperor Charles V.
Through a series of images exploring the Emperor’s fascination with astronomy, botany, and mechanical timepieces, the photographers examine the sun as a source of life and as a regulatory, mechanical, and symbolic force governing the passage of time.
The exhibition was open to the public as part of PHotoESPAÑA in the Campo del Moro gardens, the Royal Collections Gallery, and the museum’s Immersive Cube, as well as at the Monastery of Yuste itself. The display invited visitors to consider the human footprint on the landscape and how sunlight dictates the rhythm of life and history.
How does a hydraulic system designed over 300 years ago still function today? The short film The Wonders of Water explores the network of fountains, reservoirs, pipes, and channels at the Royal Site of La Granja de San Ildefonso, guided by the royal plumber, Luis Vallejo, and captured through the artistic lens of photographer Javier Vallhonrat.
Javier Vallhonrat, winner of the National Photography Award, was commissioned for the inaugural Field Notebooks No. 1 series in 2024 with his collection The Wonders of Water, produced on location at the Royal Site of La Granja de San Ildefonso. His imagery captures the beauty and complexity of a centuries-old water system where human design and natural mechanics blur.
The exhibition opened at the PHotoESPAÑA Festival in June in the Campo del Moro gardens, and moved to the Royal Site of La Granja de San Ildefonso in September.
The exhibition focused on the original hydraulic engineering of the garden fountains, which celebrated their 300th anniversary in 2024 after being commissioned by Philip V. Still operational today, the system reflects the fragile nature of water and the ingenuity required to protect it, illustrating how modern engineering seeks innovative ways to preserve resources and guarantee sustainability.