In this essay I return to one of my favourite places in the Alentejo coast of Portugal. The Cabo Sardão is a rocky promontory that juts into the Atlantic ocean, about 10 km south of the village of Almograve. Its lighthouse was built more than 100 years ago, and has since then been providing a beacon for a busy shipping lane. The coastline in this region is characterized by tall cliffs of 300 million year old rocks, where many seabirds come to nest and live. The white stork is conspicuous in the Spring and Summer, whereas the peregrine falcon is a bit more elusive.
I come to Cabo Sardão quite often to photograph, either around sunrise or sunset, when the light is more interesting. I planned this visit to coincide with the day before July’s full Moon, when our satellite would rise more or less at the same time as the Sun would set. Immediately after sunset, the lighthouse comes on, so I was hoping to frame it with the rising Moon slightly to the side. I arrived 30 minutes earlier, and walked to a nice viewpoint facing the cliffs. Some viewpoints are difficult to get to, especially when it is windy, so it is important to exercise due care and to be vigilant, to avoid incidents with possible falls. I selected a small natural platform in the ground to set up my tripod, and composed a few shots with my wide-angle lens, framing a large boulder in the foreground. This provided a good leading element into the rest of the scene, with the lighthouse and scarp in the distance.
I stayed in the vicinity of this viewpoint and made a few more photos after the lighthouse was turned on. Both vertical and horizontal compositions work well, using the stratigraphic layers as visual guiding lines.
Finally the Moon appeared, rising on the left-hand side of the building. The sunset had happened only a few minutes before, so there was still a good amount of natural light, which helped in illuminating the cliffs and in obtaining a balanced exposure.
On the way back to the car I made a few photos in the nearby football pitch.
I was lucky to have clear skies, as in the previous days the area had been occasionally covered with fog. I always like to visit this place, often just to rest the mind and experience the still wild natural surroundings.
