If patience is the mother of science, we would have to discover in which branch of said family tree the photography would be found, because for Jordi Noves, capturing this photograph of the Roca Foradada that we see in the Photos of the Readers of La Vanguardia, It took a whole year to do it.
On December 18, 2022, Noves got up and took a photo of the sunrise just as the sun was setting between the Roca Foradada de Montserrat. Although that moment would have been one to remember, that was only the base photo of a project that intended to capture something much more ambitious: a solar analemma. “I wanted to take an original photograph, which had not been seen yet, of this panorama,” explains the author.
The analemmas are the image resulting from capturing the solar movement perceived from the Earth during a year, from the same place and at the same time. This results in a slightly elongated eight shape, being one of the most precious examples of astronomical photography and one that requires the most dedication.
Noves comments that he discovered it by chance, although he does not remember how. However, encouraged by the novelty, he decided to improve himself. “I set it as a photographic challenge to take a photo a year from now,” he explains.
From that same December 18 until November 18, 2023, Noves took a photo on the third weekend of each month in the same location, thus capturing the sun in different positions.
To achieve this, he used his three-foot camera with a focal lens, an application to plan and calculate the different phases of the sun and, of course, a lot of time and patience: “You could have taken photos every day of the year, but for For logistical reasons it was not possible and in the end I only took 12”.
Although it was the first time that Noves made an analemma, he comments that he had already had previous experience in astrophotography. “It is a generally simpler type of photography. You take photos of the moon, the stars, the Milky Way or you take circumpolar photos,” he points out.
However, he doubts that he wants to repeat the analemma experience or even try the lunar type: “Doing it with the moon would be super complicated. That is already a Champions League level of photography.”
What he is interested in insisting on in the medium term is his panoramic views of Montserrat in a project that he wants to do together with another photographer, for which they are even considering publishing it in a book. His interest in portraying this landscape in all its possible variants is not coincidental, since he is very familiar with the environment due to having a second residence in the area.
In fact, Noves has been dedicated to portraying Montserrat and its Roca Foradada for years, posting his snapshots on his social networks, where in addition to his passion for the Catalan massif, he also exhibits his works in other fields of interest such as sports and entertainment.
But, given the magnitude of the project carried out on this occasion, he decided to use La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos and share his achievement on a larger scale. “I sent it to several important sites but it doesn’t seem to have caught their attention,” he comments, “a photo that has taken a year to take, so at least people can know what it is,” he concludes.
