Barragem do Arade

Arade Dam is almost 70 years old dam at Algarve. Portugal is not just ocean, it’s also its cute hills and lakes. And I finally made it to take a picture of one such place.

I finally got courage to take picture of lakes. Not that lakes would be particularly difficult topic, but nearest lakes are 30 minutes drive from us and I don’t know the area. I didn’t feel comfortable arriving to a middle of nowhere in dark - I was worried not to get stuck anywhere with my car: You know these roads that are first narrower, then they become unpaved and then even narrower and then they simply end as a path for one person and there is no way how to turn the car there and it’s 3km reverse above cliffs…

We visited friends recently who live close to the dam and they gave my some safe points on the map where I could park without getting into troubles.

I arrived there about 30 minutes before sunrise, the light was already beautiful. I struggled a bit to find the best spot. I soon realised that maybe I should have gone to the other side of the lake. But was the road there safe? I know, I just worry too much about getting stuck with the car… I grabbed the camera and walked. It turned out to have its advantages - I could easily stop on the route and take pictures. And I’ve also got a bit lost couple of times which again was OK because without the car I simply turned around and found a better way.

The only significant trouble was that I was too slow. The sun was getting up rapidly and I was sweating up a terribly steep hill. But it was worth it. The view was stunning. I kind of ruined the pictures with the long exposition - I wanted the water to be calm, but it made the trees look weird, it was fairly windy. When I finally removed the ND filter and left just the inverse gradual one (for the sunrise), the sun was getting too high and light too harsh already.

When I finished and packed everything up, it was complete daylight so I got more courage to explore the area by a car. And I found a perfect spot. But the soft light was long time gone. So I continued to explore around nearby lake which didn’t look as great - I missed the hills around, it was more flat there, boring for my photos.

I was really regretting not taking pictures at the last spot that I found. So I turned the car back and went these 10km back. But the light was really rubbish. So I gave up again! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I was half way home (20 minutes from the lakes) when beautiful clouds arrived! Oh no! I turned on the nearest roundabout and went back to the lakes! With the clouds, the light could get great again! Well, when I arrived to the lakes, the clouds were not there 🙈 So I finally went home. What can I say? It was frustrating. But I tried. I have to go there again.