We took the train down to Portsmouth and then the evening ferry to Santander on Thursday 14th October. The next day was spent entirely at sea in calm, sunny weather – we saw dolphins, sat in the sun, relaxed. The ferry is actually almost cruise ship standard, called the ‘Galicia’, and very comfortable. We arrived fresh and early on the Saturday picked up a hire car that we would be using to drive across Spain down to Malaga. Heading on the motorway towards Bilbao we turned off onto smaller roads into the Cantabrian Mountains to take a ‘short-cut’ on the way to our destination of San Asensio village in La Rioja.
The day wasn’t great for photography, mainly grey dull sky with only the very occasional ray of sun breaking through. I will also admit to some lingering lack of motivation – the residue of Alamy’s commission cut still playing on my mind. So Day 1 was about getting back into the swing of stock photography and trying to make the best of what was available.
We stopped briefly in the Cantabrian Mountains at a high pass called the Puerto de los Tornos, altitude 920m ( the car thermometer showed 6 degrees C).
A few hours later we reached the La Rioja medieval village of Briones, and later in the day, and a short distance further, arrived at San Asensio.
I’ve created a gallery of 37 images from this first day. There’s nothing spectacular, if anything I suppose it shows how I tried to make the best of the dull weather ( chiefly by avoiding the sky as much as possible). I would like to think that I have been successful in producing some saleable, useful images. I thought that this might be of interest to anybody wanting to know about stock photography. You can also see the captions and keywords that I have used – the boring but crucial part. Any typos or omissions please let me know.
Thanks for sharing. Very enjoyable gallery!