Anyone who has taken a camera to Trinidad, Cuba, probably has a photograph of its signature clock tower from this angle. This is the only open area of any size in the city center and every tourist who comes to Trinidad is likely to pass through this spot. The cathedral is there on the right, the plaza begins with the palm trees on the left, and just to the right (off camera) are the steps leading up to the Casa de Música.

This is another one of my lucky photos. I was with some of my friends as I walked up a long street from our casa particular when we stumbled onto this vista. We had only recently arrived in Trinidad and this was our first trip up to the city center. We emerged from the closed-in, cobblestone street at just the right time: It was early evening, the streets were as close to empty as they ever get, and the setting sun was just beginning to cast a warm glow onto the buildings’ facades. I stopped, letting my friends get ahead of me a bit, just long enough to take two photos.

If you know where to look, you can easily see Robin in her blue shirt and bandana.

I spent another week in Trinidad and never took another picture from this angle. It wasn’t until a month later, when I had my pictures developed, that I realized how nicely everything came together. The long shadows, the golden light, the fluffy clouds… Taken on their own, each of those elements wouldn’t have be enough to make the photograph stand out. But in this case, I think the photograph was somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

There was one little bothersome thing about the picture, though. Down in the lower right corner, a man and just come into view as I pushed the shutter release. On film there’s still an eye-catching silhouette of his head and shoulders that, while not ruining the photo, definitely detracted from it. After some internal debate, I decided that Photoshoping him out of existence was worth the effort.

When I returned to Trinidad in 2003, I desperately wanted to duplicate this shot with my digital camera. I took maybe half a dozen pictures, but none of them came out as well. Sure, the construction had been completed on that building on the right, but there was always something else wrong with the succeeding pictures; too many tourists in the foreground, harsh shadows from mid-day lighting, etc.

Finally, I just gave it up and decided to send my wife a remarkably similar postcard, instead.