There has been a strange glare interfering with my plan to live in year round glorious sunlight. This is not the glare experienced by Seattle-lites when they finally see the sunshine. This is a different kind of white light. There is a layer of cloud cover that seems to last for days. The glare hurts my eyes much more than bright sunshine and it does not make the prettiest backdrop for image capture. The glare often turns to dark and a ‘tormenta’ rolls through dumping a cleansing and rather respectable shower. Around me the grass smells sweet and earthy. The darkness moves along and the white clouds reconvene.
But yesterday, I was treated to a beautiful blue sky day sin clouds. It was a perfect day to get out and photograph the golden bursts of fading light. I knew just where to find a city of soaring white shapes to play with in the right light. The Granada Cemetery is a short walk away. I have passed by the side entrance many times watching the sunlight highlight planes and pour golden rays onto faces of angels.
The cemetery sits quietly like a sleepy dense city. Structures sit side by side without too much room to breathe. The cobblestone alleyways and tree-lined boulevards are much wider though, these are built for the living. There is plenty of room for viewing. The scale and the density is magnificent. Sculptures of all shapes and sizes soar overhead, working nicely into varying forms and shapes for playing with positive and negative space.
A city of balustrades and urns, inscriptions and memories, crosses and angels, symbolic windows and doors. The cemetery is an architectural wonderland of languages and histories. The whitewashed walls glow golden this time of night. If not for the day workers chattering as they walk by, packing it in for the day, these streets would be deserted. The roads fully cast in shadow seem a bit somber. I keep moving towards the light.
There are arcades lined with columns and walls lined with doors. Built in flowerpots sit by the entryways waiting. Carefully inscribed calligraphy covers the niche like door panels. A sculpted surface, a neighborhood in its own right. The golden light highlights it all for me and continues creeping by.
The greens of the gardens envelop the white geometry. Shadows of palm trees cast changing shapes on the stark vertical surfaces. Vines creep and tumble. Rows upon rows of structures, a varied cityscape with designated plots and distinguishing markers. Houses for the spirits sleeping and an intricate web of streets for the visiting.
Terraces with pots and crosses shine against the backdrop of Mombacho Volcano. Sunshine reflects off the electrical lines. The shadows begin to overtake me in my path of light and discovery. It is time to leave these peaceful pathways and make way for night. I will be back to wonder these streets with my camera often. Perhaps on the next beautiful blue skied sunny day.