The Thin Line between Calm and Chaos.
A few days ago I uploaded a panoramic view of this same place and today I bring this capture in which I focus on the hermitage of Virxe do Porto.
The idea was to capture the exact moment in which the water passed over the rocks and generated those "circumferences" in the well on the right side. After a few unsuccessful attempts I got the moment I was looking for!
I really like the contrast between the rough waters on the left side and the stillness on the right side, they are almost like two worlds interconnected by that small waterfall that would be like a connecting link.
What do you think?
I like this image a lot, Álvaro, as I've said in your portfolio page.
There is a quirk in the scene which forms a distracting stripe from edge to edge for me. Its lower edge is the sea horizon, and the upper edge the underside of the middle-distance cloudbank. The lower edge of the roof of the hermitage coincidentally almost aligns with the cloudbank edge, and the bottom of the building with the sea horizon, so there is a degree of continuity across the whole image, magnifying the effect. So essentially this stripe is the distant cloud mass running from edge to edge and incorporating the building to a degree.
I didn't notice at first, but having done so, I can't "unsee" it! I don't know if anyone else will find the same effect. Some may like it.
It could have been ameliorated by moving the camera up or down, but this would have to be by a metre or more and may have been totally impractical. In post I guess I'd play with the contrasts in the clouds to minimise it, but I don't know if that would work.
Do you see what I mean at all? Curious.
I had not noticed that detail until now and the truth is that it does not capture my attention at all.
I think the image has much more weight in the area of the "circumferences" of silky water and from there it guides our eyes to the hermitage through the stairs.
At least, this is the way my attention and my eyes interpret this photograph.
It is curious that my view hasn't stopped in the detail that you comment at no time.
It is fantastic to see how each person sees each photograph in a completely different way!
The shapes in the water are wonderful, Álvaro, but my eye goes straight to the building as it is so different to the rest of the scene.
I realise that getting the waves to look just right would have taken patience and, I suspect, much experimentation. The resulting variety of shapes, tones and colours from this and the sky lifts this image out of the ordinary.
Indeed, I was at that point for quite some time until the perfect wave arrived!