Getting the shot in Hervás, Spain.
In November of 2023 I was participating in a Photo Quest competition in Extremadura, Spain. You can read more about that in my earlier post, but today I thought I’d do a One-Shot write up on how I got the skyline photo of Hervás that was included in the portfolio I submitted.
Of everything I shot for the Photo Quest, this was probably the one image that was most planned. I had visited Hervás about 10 years earlier and had been given a very brief walking tour up to the church, the Iglesia Santa Maria de Aguas Vivas. While looking out across the city from this high vantage point, a walking trail was pointed out to me that had either been recently built or was being built along an old railroad bed. I could clearly see a former railroad bridge in the distance and made a note of it should I ever get a chance to return.
Before I left for Spain and the Photo Quest, I did a lot of internet research on the region to try and build a shot list. When it came to searching Hervás, I noticed a lot of images seem to have been made from the same overlook. A nice, elevated vantage point that put the distant mountains behind the main hill and church. Using Google maps, I was able to see that these images seem to have all been made from that railroad bridge — now walking trail — that I had spotted a decade ago.
Above is a shot from that 2013 trip, from the church looking across the valley to the railroad bridge (right in the middle of the frame).
In addition to these photos from my previous trip, I used Google maps satellite views to help find the angle I needed to get the shot I was looking for.
This photo, also from 2013, shows the same bridge on the left, and what would be my hotel for this 2023 trip on the right. This time I would be staying at the beautiful Hospedería Valle de Ambroz, a 4-star hotel housed in a former 17th-century Trinitarian convent. Turns out to have been a very easy walk from the hotel to the bridge.
The satellite image shows the relationship of all of these landmarks. The church would be the focal point of my photo, and the yellow line shows the route of the walking trail.
The day I arrived, it was overcast and raining off and on. I made a scouting trip in the afternoon just to make sure I knew what lens I’d need and to see if there were any surprises with my chosen location. It turned out to be just the view I was wanting, and I could adjust the composition a bit by shooting from one end of the bridge or the other, or anywhere in between. I planned to return close to sunset for optimal light.
Just as I had everything worked out, it started to rain and visibility dropped dramatically. I walked back to the hotel and waited — hoping for a break in the rain.
Scouting shot: This is the view I was looking for. By moving back and forth along the bridge I could change the relationship between the tower and the mountains but I liked this angle where the church broke the horizon line.
A few minutes into my scouting trip, the sky opened up and it began to rain. Visibility dropped but I’d learned what I’d needed before returning closer to sunset for the final shoot.
Back at the hotel, I kept an eye on the weather and saw the sun start to come back out. It was still a little while before sunset, but I decided to head back to the bridge to get what I could while the sun was out, in case it didn’t last long. I got a few frames on my walk back to the bridge and a few more from the bridge while the sun continued to shine through a break in the clouds.
Soon the sun was lost to the clouds again, but the sky continued to take on colors. There were no more direct rays hitting the church, but the distant rain and clouds provided an ever-changing display. As more of the sunset colors began to appear to the left of my frame, I would continue to walk further up the rail trail to put more of the color behind the church.
About this time, most of the light show was over but I continued to shoot just to have more options. I’ve learned from the past that I often leave a location when the light looks “done” only to find out that those last few frames were still really interesting once I got them into Lightroom. Now I try and stay a little longer than I think is necessary just to make sure I don’t miss an opportunity.
In this case, I just kept walking north to get more of the fading sunset directly behind the church. I left the rail trail shortly after the bridge and continued down road until I was pretty much due east of the church. I finished up my shooting from there.
I ended up with quite a few different photo options from that evening that I liked. It’s great when you have the time to explore a location, return to it when you feel the light will be best, and then continue to work the scene as things evolve. If I’d had another day in town I would probably have repeated the same process the next night. Lighting conditions would almost certainly have been different, creating many other options and opportunities.
I’m happy with what I came away with. Especially the memories of a beautiful evening. I walked back to the hotel, had an amazing meal in the dining room, and stayed up way too late offloading images and seeing what I had captured. Pretty much a perfect day.
