Castanhão Dam

— Since 2020, I have been spending some time thinking about my photography hobby. For example, I have been experimenting with new things, such as macro photography. Also, for the first time, I have started listening to photography podcasts and watching more YouTube photography videos. No matter what I do, see, or listen to, one thing has become more evident: landscape photography still has a strong appeal to me.

If you have ever read my About page, you will have seen that I am a member of Nature First – The Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography. Nature First principles resonate deeply with me. Furthermore, lately I have been asking myself why I feel so close to nature and what led me to that affinity. It did not take me long to have that question answered. I realized that growing up surrounded by nature and spending summers on an island along with my brothers and several cousins was instrumental in forming a solid foundation for respect for nature.

What you see here in these photos is the Castanhão Dam, in central Ceará, northeast Brazil. It is located 191 mi (307 km) from Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará. When I was a child, the dam did not exist. In fact, only a tip of the island where I spent my summers is now seen in the first photo above.

The dam was built between 1995 and 2002, and it officially opened on January 29, 2004, according to Wikipedia. Furthermore, Wikipedia informs that “the reservoir has 6,700,000,000 cubic metres (2.4×1011 cu ft) capacity,” covering 125 sq mi (325 sq km), and extending for 36 mi (58 km). Building the dam in this location meant having to move the entire city of Jaguaribara to another location. The new city of Nova Jaguaribara was built and residents were relocated. Besides supplying water to Fortaleza, the dam is also essential for farming and other industry. It also made it possible to keep water flowing in the Jaguaribe River all year around.