Fogo - First Light at Tilting
I’ll be jumping back and forth with various posts as I will always be behind sharing my posts with you. I have very good intentions but…
I knew that I wanted another very early morning at Tilting Harbor so my wonderful guide picked me up again around 4:15 and off we went. My dear guide - you know who you are - thank you again! Tilting is on the eastern side of Fogo Island- an incredible place to catch a sunrise. An incredible place any time of the day… From my previous outings there I knew exactly what I had in mind for this particular morning - one of the challenges was that I wanted to be in 10 places at the same time - I did my best.
As I crested the knoll in order to get to the spot where I knew I wanted to set up, I looked immediately to the eastern horizon and in gorgeous early morning light…. way out on the horizon …. an iceberg!!. I know that it is hard to see - look to the left of the mid-point of the horizon. I honestly didn’t think I would have the opportunity to see another iceberg - and there it was. This was not the iceberg that I had seen earlier in the week.
I waited and waited as the sky kept changing colors - a stunning display. I set up my other camera next to my landscape camera so that I could zoom in as much as I could for this next shot for you…
I had picked that spot because I knew that once the sun was above the horizon it would light up the artist’s studio directly behind me… it did not disappoint. This studio is one of the Fogo Island Art Studios and is known as the Squish Studio - how incredible is this?
I turned slightly to my right as the sun began to wash over the knoll….
Another reason I wanted to greet the day at Tilting was because I wanted to see Tilting Harbor light up behind me… and wow did it ever. That direct strong low light coming across the Atlantic just lit up this village so beautifully.
I was so fortunate to have such a clear gorgeous morning - and everything was even more beautiful than I had hoped for. Right after I took the above shot I picked up my gear to go as quickly as possible to the next spot I had in mind… as I was walking I almost stepped on these beautiful sea urchins….you can’t make this stuff up. I am so glad some seagulls must have dropped these and that I was able to see them and not step on them.
My last shot of the iceberg as I needed to quickly get to what I had next in mind…
I walked a few steps to my left as I knew the sun would start lighting up the crashing waves as they hit these gorgeous rocks. The rocks in the water are so smooth looking they look like mammals to me. The beating these rocks take - wow.
Next on my mind was to capture the Irish cemetery - many believe this to be the oldest Irish cemetery in North America. I knew I had a couple of minutes to walk down to the cemetery as the sun was lighting up the slightly higher elevations at and around the coastline first.
The Atlantic is to my right and you can’t see the cemetery but it is down and to the left. I absolutely love all of the old, old wooden fences on this rugged landscape.
Looking to my right.
What I was hoping to capture… some of the gravestone and some of the fencing lit up as the sun begins to kiss the cemetery.
Irish families began to settle in Tilting Harbor in the early 1720’s…
We then walked quietly into the cemetery -
How touching is this - “Erected as a token of respect by their surviving friends.”
This is a tough shot to see what I was trying to show you. In this shot you are looking towards Ireland and the cemetery is behind - sited beautifully and perfectly towards Ireland. That is the Squish studio from this angle…. an away on the horizon is that iceberg - just to the left of Squish studio.
I walked back up the know to try and capture some of the coastline with my new wide angle lens. When I returned home I watched the wonderful Netflix series “Anne with an E” and I keep thinking of a saying that was recited a few times - Life is short and the world is wide. That captures how I felt standing in this spot.
I went further back in order to capture the Squish Studio in this shot.
After the above shot I turned around to take the village.
I then wanted to walk around a little at the harbor for my last two shots for this post.
This morning outing will be continued in another post -