The vast 600-year-old plaza fronting the Ducal Palace in Guimaraes was used as military parade ground in the 19th century when the building was turned into a barracks. Today, the old parade ground is still there – a sea of cobblestones glinting in the early morning light. I often photograph the interplay of light and shadow on cobblestones because of the wonderful textures, rhythms, and patterns it produces. As I was shooting this old parade ground, I heard the tramp of feet. Alas, no long dead Portuguese soldiers marched into my frame. It was but a single man. I used his illuminated shoulders and long shadow to provide human scale to this shot. I also made good use of appearing, disappearing and reappearing light here. The foreground is brilliantly illuminated, clearly displaying the long deep shadow leading into the picture at left and also defining the rows of pavement within the cobblestones that gradually recede into the distance. The middle ground is plunged into deep shadow, but there is still enough detail visible to make out the Ducal Palace in the background. The light reappears once again in the sky – a searing white light that explodes from behind on overhanging tree to define the shape of palace roofline, turret, and chimney. The backlighting from this bright sky also illuminates the leaves of this tree, which embraces the image from the top and holds it together. All in all, I’d say that light does a pretty good job of holding this picture together and reawakening the thud of old soldier’s boots on this historic pavement.