Three Lines BELOW the Lighthouse

I’d planned this one for days: the Venetian harbour and lighthouse at Rethymno, at dawn. It was an hour’s drive from my hotel along a mountain road I didn’t know, at 4am, in a hire car I hadn’t ordered.

The small car I’d booked had all gone, the charming Greek chap at the desk told me, apologetically. He did have a larger automatic for the same price. I found out later it was his own car. It handled the switchback bends the way a boat handles a lake. With my daughter Gracie helping with the navigating, we found the car park and walked down to the harbour.

I’d forgotten it was a Sunday morning, so there were a few late revellers about but nobody bothered us. The shoot was harder than I expected. I tried angle after angle. One view worked, but it’s the one everyone shoots from, so I walked away from it. The rest felt cluttered.

Then a fisherman arrived under the lighthouse, and two more followed. That was the picture. People doing what they’ve probably done on that spot for generations, under the watch of the lighthouse. I adjusted my composition, because the sun was about to rise right behind them, and waited.

Most people assume the lighthouse is Venetian. It isn’t. It was built in the late 1830s, when Egypt ruled Crete.

I plan my shoots, but the ones that come to you are worth the 4am drive in a boat.