Photo Quest
In early November (2023), I co-chaired a meeting of the Freelance Council of SATW (the Society of American Travel Writers). It was held in the region of Extremadura in western Spain, a place that has long held a place in my heart. The core meeting was based in the city of Cáceres, with a selection of pre- and post-tours held elsewhere in the region.
One of my favorite pre-tour options — one not always available but thankfully it was this time — is the Photo Quest. The situation varies from location to location but, here in Extremadura, each participating photographer was provided with a rental car and three nights total at any of the region’s eight Hospederías de Extremadura. The goal is to create a portfolio of 10 images in 84 hours. The seven participating photographers had to turn in their portfolios at the beginning of the core meeting where they would be judged by a panel of local photographers and travel marketing experts with a final showing and awards at the conference’s closing dinner.
It’s all great fun. A lot of preparation goes into planning one’s route, but weather always throws challenges in your way. We had a particularly rainy three days, but there were also glorious moments of sun after the rain passed.
In the end, I’m proud to say that I won the Gold Portfolio. I was surprised, given that the imagery I saw from the other six photographers was quite strong and we all seemed to focus on different subjects. I, for instance, had very few people in my photos which is often not wise in photo competitions.
We all won, as far as I’m concerned. After all, we all got to spend three days exploring beautiful Extremadura, and doing what we love — making photos.
This is a rough approximation of my route during the Photo Quest. I picked up the car at the Madrid airport (on the far right) and stayed nights in San Martin de Trevejo (far left), Jerte (the right of the two northerly legs) and Hervás (just to the left of Jerte in the Ambroz Valley) before heading south to finish at Caceres (southernmost point).
The Hospederia stays also came with breakfast and dinner. I had some incredible meals but was especially happy to find an old Extremaduran friend on the menu: Migas — a humble dish of breadcrumbs, sausage, smoked paprika and egg.
All of the Hospederias were very comfortable — and all very different aesthetically. This is the Hospedería Valle del Jerte with a river running by just below that enormous window. The building had been a tannery and later an olive oil press.
My Portfolio
In this post, I’ll share my portfolio as it was submitted. I’m looking back at it now a little over a month from when I submitted and I’m already second-guessing my choices and editing. Bear in mind, you have 84 hours in total but that’s for driving, shooting, processing, editing, and prepping your final 10 images. You’re editing on a laptop in a hotel room late at night, and you really haven’t had any time to distance yourself from the work yet. In my case, anyway, it typically takes me a little time to become objective of my own work. It’s too easy to fall in love with an image when it still holds a strong connection to the moment you shot it. With time, you get a better feeling for what really worked and what really conveyed the idea you were trying to get across.
#1. Hervás at sunset
This first image of sunset in Hervás, Spain, was actually one of the last I shot for the contest. It was my last night before driving back to Cáceres to turn in my rental car and finalize my portfolio, but I knew I wanted to get an overview shot of the town from a nearby railroad bridge that has been converted to a pedestrian trail. I’d seen shots from this location while doing my pre-trip research and it looked promising.
The bridge was walking distance from the Hospederia and I scouted it late in the afternoon to determine what gear I’d want to bring back with me for the final shot at sunset. It began to rain on me as I finished up my scouting so I walked back to the hotel and waited about an hour, hoping the sky would clear a bit. The rain did stop, and some brief shafts of light broke through when I made my return to the bridge with a trusty 70-200mm lens.
I shot over 200 frames in about an hour until I lost the light and I think this particular frame came about three quarters of the way through, when some nice light shone through the rain in the mountains in the background. Once home, reviewing everything and processing on a bigger monitor, I’m not sure this would have been my selection from that night, but it is what I chose at the time and what I submitted. Maybe in a future post I’ll share more from the sequence. It was a very productive evening but, in the end, I really only wanted one of this scene in the final portfolio. That meant a lot of workable images were left out.
#2. Griffon Vulture at Monfragüe
The second image in my submission was one of the very first I shot during the 84-hour contest period. It was actually frame #10 for the day. It was at my first real stop in Monfrague National Park where several species of raptors can regularly be seen. This griffon vulture cooperated nicely, flying past me in front of a rocky ridge just as the sun popped out for a moment.
#3. Trevejo
This photo of a portion of the castle ruins at Trevejo is actually a pano stitched from five vertical frames. It was a pretty cloudy day but as I climbed onto this little rocky outcrop at the village edge, the sun broke through just enough to backlight the bright green grass and moss. I’m glad to have a nice, big stitch of this shot. Thanks to the multiple frames, it’s a 115 megapixel file. Big enough for a very large print.
#4. Yellow field
Driving to the Roman ruins of Cáparra, I passed this striking field of yellow mustard.
#5. Stone bridge, Hervás
Another shot from Hervás, this one of the Fuente Chiquita, a stone bridge crossing the Río Ambroz.
#6. Autumn leaves, Jerte Valley
The only iPhone shot to be included in my portfolio. It might seem like an odd choice when you’re limited to only 10 images of such a visually interesting region, but I felt it gave a little breathing room midway through the portfolio. Just a textural moment to let your mind rest.
#7. Morning walk, Hervás
This is a photo from the last morning in Hervás. After visiting the stone bridge, a quick hike up toward the church led to this scene on a brightly lit street with a perfectly timed gentleman making his way to somewhere we can only guess.
#8. Sunset, San Martin de Trevejo
A few folks taking an evening stroll on a gravel path near San Martin de Trevejo.
#9. Hervás street scene
A small plaza on Hervás’ Calle Convento with the Iglesia Santa Maria de Aguas Vivas in the background.
#10. Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, Hervás
The final shot in my portfolio features the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista in Hervás. Looking back now, it seems an odd choice to close out the set, but something about it must have spoken to me at the time. There were several locations where I shot during the competition period that might have been better ending frames, but I seemed to favor the Hervás images pretty heavily in my selection.
It’s probably a good thing that the editing and finalization of these Photo Quest portfolios has a limited time because, at least from my own experience, you can second guess yourself right up to the deadline. It’s a relief to turn in that final selection of 10 images so that you can finally let go of the thought process and realize, whatever happens will happen. I mean, I can’t complain for having placed well, but I do still look back at this selection and wonder if a particular image might have been better here, or if there should be more people, or…
If you’d like to see the awards video that was presented at the final dinner, you can do so below. My thanks to all who made this event happen and especially to everyone in Extremadura who made us all feel so welcome during our stay. Congratulations to all of the participating photographers. It was a fun project, made more so by the spirit and camaraderie among all those involved.
