the Tripod Traveler visits el Castillo de Zafra
It sounds pretty simple but the only way to learn and get better is to find people who have knowledge and experience and listen to them. My friend Luis runs photography workshops and trips here in Spain and in parts of Africa and Europe and he has both photography knowledge and experience so I decided to listen to him. He told me that the largest observatory in Spain is in Gran Canaria but one of the darkest places in Spain is Campillo de Dueñas, Guadalajara and one of the most photogenic places in this area is el Castillo de Zafra.
It was built in the late 12th or early 13th century on a sandstone outcrop on the site of a former Visigothic and Moorish fortification that fell into Christian hands in 1129. Today, it's a privately owned castle featured in the season six finale of the famed series Game of Thrones (the Tower of Joy). Early one morning, I showed up to capture this image of the Milky Way galaxy as it appeared over the castle. Whenever I find myself in a historical place such as this, I often wonder what it would be like to have lived in the 13th century and stand in this exact same spot.
If Luis tells me that it's a good idea to bring a jacket because it gets cold at night in this sparsely populated area in central Spain, I listen. As the sun set and nighttime slowly enveloped us, the temperature plummeted to 8c (about 45f) so I was prepared. Here's my favorite image of the morning - a 20 second exposure at f/1.8, ISO 3200 showing the stunning depth of the Milky Way galaxy along with the majestic Castle of Zafra in the foreground. maxdobens.com