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Statue at La Garita #2

Bronze statue of a female diving figure at La Garita, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

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The story behind this image

When Liz and I go on holiday, what we really like to do is explore the less touristy areas within driving distance of wherever we are staying.

In this case, we were based at Taurito on the south coast of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, which is such a small island that it was really no problem to get away and have a look at the less developed parts of this lovely place.

Checking on google to find interesting places to visit, one spot that stood out was La Garita on the west coast, home of the highly unusual Buscar el Bufadero volcanic sea hole, which was the primary reason for our visit.

On arriving at La Garita we found a charming, undeveloped seaside town, boasting just a couple of cafes and a lovely promenade that took us right to the Buscar el Bufadero about half a kilometer from the beach.

Having visited and photographed the Bufadero, we made our way back to La Garita, pausing at this striking bronze sculpture of a female figure in a diving pose.

I'd already photographed this statue on the way out to the Bufadero, but I was sure that there was at least one more striking image I could compose from this work of art.

In this case I decided to go abstract, just photographing the sculpture itself, set on a diagonal across the frame for maximum dynamism, with just the sky in the background.

In post processing I wanted to throw even more emphasis on the shape, form and colour of the sculpture, so I significantly darkened the blue sky background and then removed all the colours from the image except for the green patina on the figure itself.

I rather like the final effect.

The figure has quite a heroic feel now, somewhat reminiscent of the old Soviet sculptures from the cold war era.

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Image data

Filename - gran canaria la garita statue 02.jpg

Camera - Canon 6D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 35mm

Exposure - 1/50 sec @ f11, ISO100

Location - La Garita, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

This image - 800x533px JPEG

Conversion - Adobe Lightroom

Comments - Polarising filter used to remove glare from sculpture