The Se is Lisbon's great Cathedral. Built in 1150, it holds many tombs within its solid Romanesque walls. Among them is this striking marble sarcophagus of Lopo Fernandes Pacheco, companion in arms to Portugal's King Alfonso IV. Sword in hand and a dog at his feet, Pacheco fought alongside of Alfonso at the Battle of Salado, turning back the final invasion of the Moors in 1340, not far from Gibraltar. To make this more than a literal postcard shot, I moved in with my 24mm wideangle converter, deliberately distorting the image by making the hands on the sword and scabbard larger than the head. Most photographers would have probably backed up and included the entire sarcophagus, giving equal to all parts of it. Yet this man, who has been dead for almost 700 years, was a fighter, and that is why he is still remembered. My interpretation of this tomb rests in who this man was, not what the tomb itself looks like.

(Subsequent comments by Jen Zhou and Marek Warno have convinced me that there is really an element of futility in this scene. As such, black and white offers a stronger form than golden marble to cloak this darker story. And so I have converted this image to black and white. Your comments are welcomed.)