Selected photos that consider this issue’s theme, “Parting Gifts,” through the lens of contrast. Visual invitations to step over the threshold from our everyday into the foreign territory of pilgrimage. A stone monument offering gentle remembrance. Three Camino scenes distilled in black and white. An appreciation of the dappled patterns of light and shadow created by tree-filtered sunlight, an ephemeral phenomenon the Japanese call komorebi, captured in a moment along the Portugués coastal route.
Artist Jordi Gili’s stone-carved monument dedicated to women who have suffered domestic violence, in Mós, Portugal, along the Camino Portugués. Photo by Antonio de Sa | San Juan Capistrano, CA.Roger Boone near Iria Flavia along the Camino Portugués coastal route on May 22, 2025. Photo by Gary Bremen | Wilton Manors, FL.Friol, Spain, on the Camino Primitivo, August 26, 2025. Photo by Echard Wheeler | Virginia Beach, VA.Walking over the Ruta de los Hospitales on the Camino Primitivo, August 19, 2025. Photo by Echard Wheeler | Virginia Beach, VA.The end of the journey, Muxía, Spain, August 30, 2025. Photo by Echard Wheeler | Virginia Beach, VA.