Story of an image - Number 4

This is a shot taken in the El Partal gardens, part of the Alhambra in Granada.

The Alhambra is a World Heritage Site in Andalucía, Spain. It is one of the Islamic palaces that were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain during the decline of the Nasrid Dynasty. Until I moved to Spain I had no idea that for hundreds of years most of the country was under Islamic rule as the Caliphate of Córdoba, a collection of Emirates. The Alhambra was, and still is, a hugely impressive fort and palace complex. It's beautiful to behold, and the Islamic architecture is outstanding.

As always when visiting a new place I scope out the venue first on Flickr, and quickly decided that the above was going to be the shot to go for. BUT, the place is always teeming with visitors. People in the shot would have ruined it. I had to find a solution!

I arrived first thing. On entering the complex you are directed to follow a predetermined route that takes in all that the Alhambra has to offer. I knew that the El Partal gardens featured quite late in the route, so did the only thing possible; I went in the wrong way round. I passed a bemused security guard and rushed to the gardens, setting up my shot before everyone else arrived. Genius!

The shot came out as I hoped, and is one of my favourites from Andalucía.

If you are interested in the settings, this is a composite (HDR) shot made up of 3 differently exposed images. The base image was 0.8 seconds at ISO100 with aperture at f22.

Thank you for reading.

http://alhambra-patronato.es/index.php/Home/1472+M5d637b1e38d/0/

#alhambra #granada #spain #travel #andalucia #andalusia #arquitecture #fotomondeo