Fractured Worlds

"After the sun sets, let the healing begin..."

Story:

This photo was taken on the coastline of Alvor, a village in Algarve in the south of Portugal. My parents used to live nearby, so I explored this area quite a lot back then, when I was still a Medicine student, and photography was still a novelty to me. This is one of the places where I started my photography journey, 18 years ago…

No one paid much attention to this place in terms of aesthetic appeal, but I became very fond of this abandoned wooden hut, probably used by fishermen to keep their supplies in the past. I witnessed its erosion as time went by, and quite often tried to photograph it with a suitable light that would make the place justice. This is quite a minimalist location, but I knew I could make it work with the right elements.

After several tries, and many years later, once again I found myself venturing into this place, recovering the memories of those innocent times when photography was an absolute novelty. Sea tides had been stronger than usual and there was a much higher amount of water in this area. A natural pool of still salt water had formed right by the hut, creating a very captivating reflection of it. The clouds in the sky were quite promising, and this area is well known for extremely colorful sunsets when the conditions are right, so I just hoped I would finally be able to create my long desired image of a place I loved.

As it is usual in my photographic endeavors, I always try to remove barriers between me and the capture of the image I envision, so I had to enter the water, up to my waist, with the tripod serving as an anchoring point.

The next hour was filled with experiments with composition and hope that Nature would show its colors at the end of the day, as the mirrored reflection looked perfect and just needed some captivating tonal range. As you can see by the final result, not only did I receive the visual gift of a lifetime, it also came with the bonus of beautiful wing shaped clouds and their respective reflection.

Not too long after I made this photo, I got the news that the hut had fully collapsed. Photography is constantly revealing to us the surprise and the tremendous truth of “impermanence”, as all of a sudden a photo of this place would no longer be possible, turning this capture into something even more precious to me.

Collectors will get a large format print of this image upon request, as well as a higher resolution file of the image also upon request.

Conservation efforts: 10% of all profits of my images are donated to Reforestation Projects, in this case to "Give Back to Nature". Donation certificate can be provided.