Spiritual Gate

SW. Alentejo and St. Vincent Natural Park, Portugal
(Parque Natural do SW. Alentejano e Costa Vicentina)

Photography from St. Vincent coastline, in the extreme wild shore, under dramatic light, sky and ocean facing "Caixões" ("Coffins" ) spectacular cliff.

"I am in the crest of the steep slopes right in the beginning of the trail that would hike trough. The light is still very dark, rain, the ground is slippery. I am at 105 mt. of height face to the sea. Down there I see the steep slope and the spot where I intend to photograph. Even after the descent, there´s 350 mt. of walk in the inlet, jumping in the rocks, sometimes very polished and slippery. [...]

[...] I reach the cliff at 70mt. of elevation, it is a prominence, a "cape" end that stretches out for the sea and ends down there in a fishing ground of laminated layers of schist, the "Furna do Mirouço" ("Mirouço Cavern"). When I reach the fishing ground, I check that I am still approximately 50 mt. of distance of the inlet backwards of me! And perhaps about 15 mt. of height above the sea level! And there´s no trail anymore... The only solution is to walk on the fishermen´s rock, which is raised in laminated layers, slippery. I detect a rope, a lot difficult to reach. It is attached in several points, and the purpose is to cross by the sides of the rock - going around it. There is no alternative. Without this rope, it would be impossible to cross. I´m going forward, still many meters above the sea, but with space to put a foot at a time with the rope to hold my life. After the rope, it is necessary to jump for the rolled pebble of the inlet."

Part of an article written by the author in the Web (In Portuguese):
http://www.fotografia-dg.com/cronica-de-fotografia-de-natureza/

Technical details:
20:12h GMT
shot at 12mm (APS-c)
f/22 1/1,5s ISO320
f/22 1/3s ISO200
used Cir. PL Filter, microfiber cleaning cloth, spirit level, tripod, cable release
14-bit RAWs 12,2MP

Processing:
2 exposures blended (full manual process) for all dynamic range input.

Larger version (1000 Pix.) available. On this one, I really found it was worth it ;)

I highly appreciate all your thoughts about this image, feedback/ suggestions welcome folks.