“Arco do Repouso” – Faro, Portugal
“Every path we walk is shaped by the footsteps that came before it and the ones we choose to take now” – Ed Lehming
I’m taking a bit of a nostalgic journey and revisiting images from 2025, including many from my trip to southern Spain and Portugal. I may jump back and forth a bit, so don’t expect a smooth timeline at this point. That too may change as I get into these images. For now, I’m going with the images that made me proud, so stay tuned.
One such image is this gateway in the city of Faro, Portugal. The gate, it turns out, dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries, during the Almohad dynasty, and is one of several access gates to the old city. It is part of the old defensive walls built by the Arabs to enable them to defend the city entrances.
The name of the gate comes from, as is the case with many old landmarks, folklore handed down through the generations. One legend is that the army of King Alfonso III, after conquering the city of Faro from the Arabs on March 27, 1249, rested at this site. Another is that a Moorish daughter of a governor fell in love with a knight of the conquering Christian army. She was apparently bewitched by her father and rests (reposes) here.
From my standpoint, I love the way the arches frame the doorway and windows inside the wall and the way the road drifts out of sight just beyond the rear arch. I deliberately rendered it in black and white to remove distractions and highlight the architectural details and textures. You may also notice me switching between my handy iPhone and my full kit camera (Nikon D800) with various lenses. The 70-300mm is generally my go to since it gives me good reach and I can compose and frame photos a bit more discretly than I can with my phone. I often travel with both and switch to whatever I feel will best handle the situation presented.
That these structures are still intact amazes me as a resident of Canada, where even the oldest structures are only a few hundred years old.
Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G I AF-S VR Zoom @ 70 mm
1/640 sec, f13, ISO 400
Ed Lehming Photography 
It really is amazing for structures to last that long. Works well in black and white.
I like the exposure level, the low contrast between light and shadow which keeps details visible. I find there is a softness to it that I like.
Thank you for the feedback. I did not do much post work. I simply converted to mono, tweaked levels in the deep shadows, and sharpened slightly.
I often find that less works better for what I want to convey
True. I dislike over processed images. I like to stay true to how I saw the moment.
Monochrome really suits that arch – all the weight ends up in the shadow under the vault and the bright lane beyond it. Your line about paths being shaped by the footsteps that came before is a fitting one for a gate that has been letting people through Faro’s old town for centuries. Nice restraint in the edit too.