Purgatorio

Forgive me for indulging in a little artistic flair with this picture, it is not my usual subject or approach, but there was something that intrigued me about this little place, especially the composition. It seemed right to give it an artistic 'moody' tone'.

I'm currently reading Dante's The Divine Comedy, hence the inspiration for this picture and it's title. I'm sure most of you are familiar with The Divine Comedy, but for those who aren't, it is a medieval work of a poet who travels to Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and finally Heaven (Paradiso). The poem begins in Inferno, which is the part I am still reading, and whilst learning how to keep myself away from Hellfire, I can only imagine what the next stage, Purgatorio, would look like. I think it would exactly like this though (I am kidding of course).

This picture was taken at the magnificent Zamek (Castle) Książ in Wałbrzych, Poland. It's long history actually predates The Divine Comedy (written around 1300), and has largely been the seat of German nobleman over the centuries.

There is no HDR here. I did take bracketed shots, but that was mainly to be able to get the right exposure, before the image got shaky (it was taken handheld). I shot it at ISO 640, but did little noise reduction, so the image did not lose it's grittiness and come out too clean. 'Til next time....