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Dragon by Julien Delaval

The north of the Spanish coast is renowned for its impressive cliffs and very special rocks. One of them, the beach of Barrika is certainly, as for many, the most attractive of the coast.

This picture was taken in December 2015, a 5-day trip from the south of France. Barrika was photographed hundreds or thousands of times by a significant number of photographers. My wish was to bring back at least one « good » image of this enigmatic place. It took me practically 3 sunrises and sunsets to get the picture I wanted. I was very lucky with the weather during my stay. Many strong and full skies. I knew by going there at this time that the level of tides and water would not always coincide with the sunrise or sunset light. But my aim was not necessarily to bring back brilliant colors.

I marked on this beach a lot of compositions and different framing with sticks, photo tests during a whole day to be ready at the right time. This photo was taken on the 3rd day in the late afternoon, the sea was quite restless and the sky quite menacing and textured. What I wanted above all, in addition to a precise composition paying homage to the place, was a sky similar to these rocks, with special lines. I was able to get it through a long exposure.

At the processing level, I first posted this photo in color version because I never post in black and white. But there are images that are even more colorless and I think this is the case. I didnʼt spend a lot of time on treatment, a bit of dodge and burn here and there, but neutral density filter and graduated filter already did a lot.