[Photo/The New York Times]

Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, Portugal, Jan. 4, 2011

"The photographer is my wife. We wanted to take a trip over New Year's and we picked the southwesternmost part of Portugal. We started off in Lisbon for a couple of days, but we planned part of our trip to take us to the Atlantic coast, which is where the picture was taken. That coastline is gorgeous. It's really rugged. We came upon this platform, which seemed out of place, so I decided to stand on the railing - to get a better view, but it also didn't feel right to stand in this little box."