8 rolls in 8 days on Tenerife
I could not wait to write this blog after coming home from Tenerife in September, but I was very hesitant to write it as I came back and looked at the pictures. Not that I was disappointed with the pictures, it’s just that the nature never feels as amazing, vibrant and majestic as it does in real life. Even if you shoot film :)
And so the journey began… Naturally, on a Ryanair plane :)
Before we continue, let me just say that yes, a lot of the pictures from this blog are travel photos. Similar to the ones you have probably already seen if you saw any pictures from Tenerife. I don’t mind. But I did also try to search for interesting perspectives, looked for some “street photography” and even made a portrait.
First day, I did not take a lot of pictures. We only went to the store, where I bought films and then went to the hotel. We started the trip on the northern part of the island. One of few pictures from that day is a panorama from the balcony of the hotel room.
Panorama, stitched together from 4 photos.
For the geeky types that love analog cameras and gear, let me just mention that all the pictures were shot on my beloved Nikon F3 with a combination of Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4 and Nikkor 28mm f/2.8. Everything is shot on Kodak Gold 200. Scanned on Fuji Frontier SP500.
We started the second day off with a hike. It was lovely. At first I was a bit sceptical of the spectacular views promised for the hike, because it was really foggy, but it cleared nicely as we arrived to the end. Notice the birds on the electrical transmission line in the first image :)
Next we visited one of the black sand beaches.
On this beach, I captured a frame I really like. It’s a couple chilling on the beach, sitting on a beautiful towel that really compliments the rocks around them.
We were mostly visiting nature sights, but we did stop by the Auditorio de Tenerife, a building that resembles the Sydney opera house. I used the opportunity to capture some abstract geometrical shapes. I often like the clean, minimalistic aesthetic in photography, but I am still waiting for that one shot I would really love. Simple photography is not that simple.
Another day, another hike. We walked along the coast and for every small, yet beautiful cape, I was eager to get around it to see what was on the other side. That is how you get Domen to walk. Getting to walk Domen back is another story :)
I don’t know the extent of your banana knowledge, but Tenerife is full of banana plantages.
Very pleased that I also got to capture my next desktop wallpaper :)
Ou, yes, and another wallpaper, this time vertical for my phone. Shackababble (yes, I made that up), I love that light!
One of my long-term projects is the project Mirrors. It’s simply a project photographing all the road mirrors I see. I captured 7 on this trip. Why are there only 6 in the image below? It looks better in a grid. I love grids. I bet you all the money in the world that I will show you at least one more grid by the end of the blog…
Here are a few shots from the town of San Juan de la Rambla. Try saying that out loud. It’s fun.
Let’s head to another cute town. Garachico. Also fun to pronounce.
I noticed this guy sitting and fishing on the end of the pier with interesting sculptures around and a bird sitting just opposite of him. I captured 4 frames, playing with shapes and compositions. Which do you think is best? My favourite is the second one.
I love nature. When I am at a beautiful location, may that be the amazing views on Tenerife, majestic Alps, Croatian seaside or anything in between, I feel overwhelmed. I can’t grasp it. It feels like trying to eat a whole pizza in one bite. I felt similar multiple times on Tenerife and village Masca was definitely one of those times. A lot of the times, photos just don’t do nature justice.
Scenic road to Masca, stitched from 2 frames.
Before we move to the south of the island, I want to show you one more set of pictures - let’s call them sea close-ups. Presented in a grid, of course. Ha, I win the bet :)
And now we move to the south, where it is hotter, more touristy and the land is drier. Still beautiful, tho.
Let’s start with a random portrait. This is Siddhartha.
Okay, let’s go back to nature. Here are some shots from the hikes around Mt. Teide (3715m above sea level). The land is volcanic and it felt like walking on Mars with randomly placed trees.
Los Gigantes cliffs are these majestic cliffs on the western side of Tenerife. This next image feels like two worlds in one image. The breath-taking nature on the left and the densely built hotels and apartments on the right.
Side note: I love panorama format. I think it can add to the immersiveness of the image. Ah, if only X-Pans (35mm camera that can capture frames in 24x64mm panoramic format) were not that expensive.
Panorama, stitched from 2 frames.
There is also an abandoned “village” (ghost town) in the south and we just had to see it. Viva la vulva?
And so the journey slowly came to an end. It was lovely. For this blog I wanted to show more photos and talk less. I hope you enjoyed it. Still waiting for the first brave person to leave a comment :)
To new adventures…