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One of the things I enjoy the most about landscape photography is to be out of the house before dawn in search of good quality light. During the summer months this is more challenging, because it means waking up early. Such was the case of this photo, which was made a few km from the village of Odemira, in the southwest part of the Alentejo province in Portugal.
My plan was to photograph the full Moon before sunrise, as it went down in the western horizon. However, luck dictated that on this morning, the region would be covered in fog, so I barely glimpsed the Moon. Not to wanting to come home empty handed, I took a walk in the vicinity, looking for other possible interesting subjects. The river Mira runs nearby, and after a short walk, I found myself on the edge of a hill overlooking the river valley, which was covered in mist. Looking east, the first light of day was appearing, with beautiful pink and purple colours. These would provide a nice background for a simple subject with strong and clean lines.
These hills are covered with the typical cork oak trees, so I looked around trying to find a suitable tree that I could frame against the sky. I was lucky and soon found an appropriate one. I placed my tripod and selected a 50mm lens, which in my APSC camera is equivalent to a 75mm angle of view. I chose this lens because I wanted to include only one tree, placing emphasis in its skeletal branches and shape. In the background, the sky was showing two bands of colour, one gray (the fog at the bottom) and one pink/orange (the first light of the rising Sun). Sometimes, we must adjust our plans according to mother Nature, and just open our minds (and eyes) to the other many subjects that are probably just waiting for us to see them.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor