(photograph © Kiwidutch)
This is a photo of the small Portuguese town of Vila Nova de Cerveira. As you can see from the angle, I’ve taken the photo from a very high vantage point indeed.
Actually, reality is that I’m standing on the top of a steep hill directly behind the town and I’ve zoomed in with the camera almost as far as I can go.
Near the bottom of the photograph, and at almost centre, you can see the round-a-bout in the road that I mentioned in my last post. The topiary stag in the middle of the round-a-bout would probably be visible if (a) I had had my new SLR camera in the car rather than the point-and-shoot pocket camera and (b) if you had the eyesight of Superman, but believe me, it is there.
For one reason or another e.g. time, laziness, heat, traffic, I didn’t manage to get a decent photo of my next subject, from any good vantage point in Vila Nova de Cerveira itself, instead the next photo was taken already half way up the hill.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
You have my word that even from twice the distance away, looking up at this on the hill, it’s an imposing sight.
So… without further ado, here is a photographic tour of the landmark that must surely be one of the biggest stags in the world. It’s stark and imposing, impressionistic, stylized and yet I find it also mesmerising and totally totally beautiful.
I love the lines, the curves, the simplicity and the sheer scale of it.
It’s positioned on the top of the hill, there’s a lookout…but for the moment the view is all about the metal beast in all it’s grandeur.
It’s massive and needs to be, it’s not even what I would have rated as a very windy day, but the wind up here at the top of the hill is beating at the structure with audible force and it’s clear that the 2-3 metre (6-9 feet) high concrete pillars at the base need to be as massively substantial as they are.
Could be interesting coming up here on a stormy might, I bet this thing sings then…
Meantime… cast your eyes skywards and admire a sculptural form that’s easily several stories high that oozes grace….
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
