Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Visiting Pocitelj [Part 3/3]: The Road Back

If you have missed the previous parts of our visit to Pocitelj, here are this links to Part One (The Journey to the Tower), and Part Two (Inside the Tower). Make sure to check them out first.

Our last part ended by the path that would lead us to a big plateau in front of the walls of the old fortification. And this is where we jump in now. I want to show you the big view of the old town first.

This is a multi-part series, other parts include:
Part Three: The Road Back 
 
click on the images for a bigger view

The most striking object in Pocitelj is the Sahat-kula (which is located in the middle of the image above), a silo-shaped fort that towers from the top of the hill above the town. It housed watchmen and military to guard against possible invasion from the Neretva Valley. 

The following is a wide shot of the plateau: 

Of course this place provides a good opportunity to take some portraits too!


The walls that enclose the fortification are mostly destroyed, but this big chunk of wall has stood the test of time and wars.





I did some research on the shape of the stone beside the lower window, but I couldn't find out anything. My guess is that it used to be attached to something, or maybe hold something inside.



A small glimpse of the river Neretva can be seen through this window.




As we made out way back the tower was moving away into the distance and everything was calm. The sun had set, and we were left with the afterglow.


Goodbye Tower...


...and goodbye Pocitelj.


I'll leave you with two snapshots my cousin Azra made of me with her phone camera (she is the one with the long blond hair in the images above). A rare glimpse behind the scenes! Thank you for reading this three part series. I have many new things in store for you (including a new tutorial).


23 comments:

  1. I do hope your followers are enlarging these photos. I have studied carefully each rock and stone and shadow... they are amazing photos. I studied carefully your portraits of family and friends, they have a magical, ethereal look that appeals to me.
    can you do a tutorial on how you take portraits like these, number 8 and 10, did you use a special lens, was it the light? I just love your portraits of people

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    1. Thank you Sandra. I also hope that my readers do enlarge the images, because they just work better when viewed bigger. I use the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens for portraits, because it creates a nice shallow depth of field. The "look" you mention is created by on-location light, set-up (attention is payed to foreground, subject and background) and post-processing. Of course I can make a tutorial on this if it interests you. Thanks for stopping by.

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  2. Beautiful pictures of a beautiful spot. I really like the portraits. The lighting and backgrounds are perfect.

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  3. What a remarkable set of photos! I especially like your first shot looking down on the city, and your close up of the stone enclosed window with the view beyond. I would love to visit there.

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  4. a wonderful blog...whit fantastic pictures.
    best wishes from munich/germany

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    1. Danke Dieter. Liebe Grüße zurück!

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  5. Super location for taking portraits!

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    1. It really is. Thanks for commenting.

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  6. Gorgeous portraits and what a place..and view!

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  7. What a lovely location for your portraits! Your cousin would make a lovely model. Beautiful photos!

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  8. Indeed, Tower sounds as a great site to visit. all the photographs looking fabulous. thanks for sharing you experience...

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    1. You're welcome. Thanks so much for visiting.

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  9. Great shots! I like the portraits mixed in there. It looks like a place you could spend days taking photos.

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    1. There are actually many things to discover, and we plan to go back and shoot more.

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  10. That was a very enjoyable three posts on the town with some superb portraits as well. Britain has many ancient buildings and many of the Roman walls are still in place and almost complete (as in Chester) but I can't think of a reasonably complete old city such as I've seen in parts of France and Italy and which you appear to have as well. One of the beauties of blogland is seeing places through the eyes of people who live there and not journalists who fly in and fly out and may never really capture the essence of a place.

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    1. I think you are right. I also enjoy watching your visits to ancient buildings. It's just not the same when you view it in a travel guide or online.

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  11. Wonderful photographs in this post. The top shot with the river below really grabbed my attention. As did the portraits of the lovely women!

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  12. Very nice portraits, and the landscape. Nice work!

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