The small city of Colonia Sacramento, 170 km northwest of Montevideo on the Rio de La Plata, is deservedly known for its Colonial architecture, and is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. We here at WoWasis found it to be laid back, easily walkable, and a hidden gem. Come autumn, especially during the week when it’s less crowded,  it becomes a photographer’s dream, as the diffused light and presence of  tint tendrils of breeze cause colors to change and shadows to shift, bringing a palette of color.

This is mostly seen in the exterior walls of her ancient buildings and brightly painted homes. The lower angle of the sun produces textures unseen or unnoticed in the summer, and also enhances, through shadows, the imperfections in these walls, doors, and windows. Peeling paint is made more apparent as shadows reveal the dark underside. Damaged masonry provides wonderful effects when it loses its main color as it begins to exfoliate. Even painted signs, when starting to age, grant a host of colors many times more eye-catching than their original patinas.

In Colonia, you’ll see everyone taking pictures of the city’s old buildings in the ancient Barrio Histórico. They’re worth taking. But you’ll also see one or two people training their cameras on objects on ostensibly bare walls, drawing the curiosity of passers- by. If one looks closer, though, at what they’re seeing, surprises loom , embodied in the of colors, textures, shades and forms  that weren’t there last season, perhaps not even last year, and may not be in the future. Autumn packs a mighty wallop in Colonia, one which an individual can photograph elements of its culture, capturing remarkable images fully engaged in displacing the old season and engendering the new.

Colonia, founded in 1680, provides and old and less-old counterpoint when contrasted with an early 1950s Studebaker, as they share diagonal afternoon shadows. Tile and masonry live side-by side in a Mondrian-like existence, while the privations of time have provided the Calle de los Suspiros, Uruguay’s most-photographed street, with a textured depth that most visitors never choose to experience.

In autumn, Colonia’s no longer in high season. Prices are lower, there are very few tourists, and the angle of the sun produces often startling effects that those with a keen eye for form, texture, and color are sure not to miss.