Arača, 13 Century Church - Photo and Video Story

Arača is a medieval Romanesque church located in Serbia. It is positioned between Novi Bečej and Novo Miloševo in the middle of nowhere. It was build sometime at the beginning of 13 century. There was developed settlement around it, but the houses were earthen houses so in time they returned to the earth from which they came. Today it is hard to imagine that once this place was full of monks, passengers, knights of the crusader in departure or return from the East. There is a legend that Richard Lionheart stayed here while returning from Palestine.
Arača survived a lot. It was burnt down and demolished, It was robbed by the Cumans and the Turks, and it served, occasionally, both Catholic and Orthodox faith, and was rebuilt in the defensive fortress... But in the first part of 18 century it was abandoned.

I can't believe that it was a month ago when i decided to go on a photo trip to find this old church. I tried to organise some of my photo friends :) but they all canceled so i could just quit or go on my one. Well why to cancel, it was a wonderful day :D

Map told me it is a almost 2 hour drive, and i knew that i want to be there before sunset so around 1PM i was on the road. When i passed Novi Bečej i came across a sign Salt Lake Kopovo. It sounded as something i need to see. Went off road, walked a bit and seen nothing. Then i saw sheeps and a shepherd. If he does not know, who does? Walked to him, asked can i speak to him and will the dog bite me (dog just checked am i ok :D). "you just drive strait on this dirt road and you can't miss it". And he was right i did not miss it.

I found out later that there is almost 1000 hectares. Wanted to explore more but i was not sure how far is Arača and i wanted to be there on time, so more exploration maybe next time.

After not that long drive i came across a turn that could be the one i was looking for but there was no sign of any kind. After 10 minutes of driving on something that is called road, but it has millions of small bumps and you feel that car is falling apart i arrived to this view.

As i was finishing my walk around some of my colleagues showed up for a wedding photoshoot.

I was waiting for my sunset so asked if i could take some photos while staying out of the way.

Groom was a bit crazy and it was a fun pass of time :)

Then they were gone and i was left all alone. As you can see sunset was a bit boring with no clouds in the sky. So next thing was waiting for the stars.

After setting up the camera for the first foto in this post, there was nothing to do but just to enjoy the peace and quiet. So i got my poncho out (you may remember it from my post about GIFTS ) and enjoyed the view. I must admit it is interesting feeling to lie under the stars all alone in front of the place like this. And a bit spooky at moments :D

2+ hours can be a long time, so taking long exposure selfies with Canon 5d classic is an option, not a great one, but still :D

And another star trail photo, this one a bit shorter, maybe not full hour.

A short video from the trip

What is your favourite photo? Interested how something was done? Feel free to leave a comment.