La Iruela Castle

La Iruela, but for a steep stretch of road and millenia of history, isvirtually joined to the larger, and 1 km close, town of Cazorla. Thelocals refer to it as "a lizard basking in the sun" for the way it canbe seen stretching across the face of the mountain from as far away asUbeda on a clear day.

The site, which currently has about 2,000inhabitants, was originally settled by Phoenician invaders (they ofHannibal) in the 3rd century B.C. Did they choose it for the fabuloussunsets over the Guadalquivir valley? The name itself, meaning "thefig tree", is of Arabic origin.

Although not a commercial centre(the locals all go to Cazorla for the necessities of life) it is atown of more than considerable charm with its balconied white housesclimbing precipitously up narrow Andalucian streets to the medievalcastle that still seems to protect the town and rule the valley.

Dating from the 13th century, this fortress was originally built bythe Knights Templar when Christian rule began to reassert itself aftera five hundred year hiatus. Adjoining it are the ruins of the 17thcentury church of Santo Domingo de Siles (designed by famous architectVandelvira, born in nearby Alcaráz) destroyed during theNapoleonic wars.

The best way to appreciate the unassumingloveliness of La Iruela is on foot, by walking up past thecenturies-old houses (many of which have hand rails embedded intotheir walls to assist you in your ascent), from the town square to theTemplar castle and its panoramic view of the Guadalquivir valley andthe surrounding mountains. In the warm months a small bar is inoperation outside the castle walls.

I reccomend to spend the nightat the comfortable, and very reasonably priced, small family hotelwith spectacular views over the very close castle: Hotel La Finca(where I paid, 30 US$ for a comfortable A/C room and a huge deliciousbreakfast: http://www.hotellafinca.com).

Alberto, once again your work impresses me. This picture is delightful and the fog in the background really makes it worthwile. The foreground may be a little too dark on my monitor, i wonder what a black and white version looks like. However, Congratulations on another masterpiece.

Bella composicion y colorido!

Nice colours and composition. I'd love to be able to photograph things like this.

Your comments encourage me to go on with the effort of rising before the sun and wait for those incredibly warm first rays...

Buf, luz magica!

Alberto, no quiero ser quisquillosa, pero hay "algo"en el castillo que no me termina de convencer, si el primer plano esta oscuro, no deberia tambien estarlo la parte del castillo que esta orientado igualmente. A lo mejor me equivoco, pero eso es lo que no me convence. Por lo demas, la composicion casi centrada le da una importancia casi en exclusiva.

Estoy en cierto modo de acuerdo con Charo , mis neuronas se quejan de que esa luz no es real. Me gustaria ver la foto antes del paso por el PS.

Una imagen fantastica de uno de mis castillos favoritos. Esa neblina ba�ada de luz violeta en la ladera de Burunchel es una pasada.

 

Saludos

Gracias por los comentarios y, para Charo y Curra, os recuerdo que entre las herramientas del fotógrafo hay una, esencial, que probablemente no conoceis ni usais, llamada el despertador. Sirve para captar la luz del amanecer...

Cuando querais os enseño a usarla...

Next, I am going to pick the ones with red flowers! But this is different and beautiful to include with pinkish skies ~ ils sont splendides.

 

thank you again,

Melody.

Well, Melody,

After a heavy day of lecturing in Barcelona (not my city of residence) it's a deep pleasure to be welcome by such warm comments from you when coming to my lonely hotel room and opening my browser.

Profuse thanks to you, mylady!

Again, my pleasure. With sincere thanks to you on the world of P.N. and yes, already, for the surprises and sadness shared here. It has added much to my life.

Hello Alberto! Thank you for your kind words about my castle picture. I have looked at your folders with great interest and picked this one as my favourite. There is a wonderful quality to the light. A difficult tonal range that has been handled perfectly.

 

Barry.

Congratulations, a very suggesting Image (7/6)!!!

Que pasada, ahora me estoy dando cuenta que todo esta echo con diapositiva, esta tiene unos detalles acojonantes, Enhorabuena maestro! No entiendo lo de 1/2 a f/16 con 1/8 f/8 hubieses aprovechado mas el objetivo consiguiendo mas color y mas detalle y manteniendo de sobra la profundidad de campo necessaria, ya he visto que has usado filtros de enfoque digitales en los detalles que das de la toma.

f.

Hola Fernando,

Efectivamente, todo mi trabajo hasta enero del 2006, estaba hecho con diapos. Primero con Ektachrome 64 hasta que descubrí la Fuji Velvia 50. Además, como material standard casi siempre usaba trípode y un polarizador (que pasó a ser un warmton durante los tres últimos años) hasta que me robaron todo el equipo en nov 2005.

Desde entonces uso digital (Nikon D200) y lamento haber cambiado mis hábitos (creo que a peor) ya que ahora disparo más y, probablemente, pienso la foto menos. La prueba es que ahora uso el trípode de manera excepcional...

Una pena!

Tienes razón en lo del f16. De hecho a partir de aquellas fechas empezé a cambira mi manía anterior de maximizar la profundidad de campo con un diafragma muy cerrado y empezé a disparar con f8 de manera standard para maximizar la definición, conservando una PDC más que adecuada en la mayoría de los casos a la vista del tipo de fotos que suelo hacer en mi proyecto de castillos.