Fuente de Neptuno

Fuente de Neptuno in Centro Habana, La Habana, Cuba, is the subject of this photo from one of my walks through the city on an overcast day. I photographed the Neptune statue from below, isolating it against a pale blue sky streaked with thin clouds.

What caught my attention was the clean, simple shape of the figure. Neptune stands high on his pedestal with the trident raised in one hand and the other set at his side, and from this angle the statue feels even taller. I liked how the marble tones stand out from the soft sky behind it. There is not much else in the frame, which keeps all the focus on the sculpture itself and on the worn texture in the stone.

I made this from close to the base of the fountain, looking upward so the statue would sit clearly against the open sky instead of blending into the city around it. That low viewpoint also helped emphasize the posture and the straight vertical line of the trident. The cloud cover gave me even light with no harsh shadows, which worked well for showing the details in the torso, drapery, and pedestal.

This is a well-known landmark in Havana, but I did not want a wide documentary view of the whole fountain. I preferred a tighter composition that gives more attention to the figure and its presence. The longer end of my zoom helped me crop out distractions and keep the background quiet. For me, the interesting part was the contrast between the solid, heavy stone and the light, open sky around it.