Fighting the light at Pendueles
One of the locations I was most eager to revisit during my last trip to Spain was the beach of Pendueles located in Asturias. I've been here once before and I fell in love straight away. During my first visit I was treated with some beautiful grey colors.. so this time I was hoping for a little more exciting sunset.
I planned my trip to Pendueles knowing that the tide would be at the lowest during sunset and quickly rising. The weather looked promising so I got in my rental car and started the one hour drive from Santander. Now the last 10 or so minutes of driving is rather funny, specially with a small rental. Driving through narrow streets with old brick houses on each side and suddenly you find yourself on a small dirt road above some fields. I was surprised to see that they had filled the holes along the dirt road, and it was now much more pleasant to drive. But hey, I bet you don't really care about the bumpy road!
I was pleased to have the entire beach more or less for myself, with exception of a older man walking his dog and smoking a joint right after the sun went down. The sunrise itself turned out pretty descent, with some nice orange glow for a little while. Those of you who know northern Spain, knows that the weather is hard to predict. The light clouds that was forecasted quickly turned into heavy rain filled clouds in reality. At least I got some color this time, and I did walk around with a constant smile!
However, I will remember this evening as more chaotic than relaxing. Normally I enjoy the sunset and I relax when photographing. Well this time I did not. Not at all. I don't know if the dog or I spent most time running in circles. I ran back and forth and in between a couple different spots non stop trying to find the best light. You see, the colors where not happening in the direction I wanted too, as the clouds were getting to thick. If I tilted my camera more towards the colors, I ended up with a boring shot. I tried it all.
After much back and forth I settled on a composition where I was balancing on a single slippery rock out in the ocean. As you can see on the image, I'm not standing far out, but I was standing exactly where each and every weave splashed. Good thing I was wearing gaters and managed to stay dry!
I hope you enjoy the image, and if you are curious to what my previous shot from Pendueles looks like, take a look here
