An invulgar point of view

Several years ago I've made a solo hike, on a  May's late afternoon, to Pico Grande (1654mts). Right below the peak there's a grassy small high plateau where you can drop your pack for awhile and just enjoy a moment of peacefulness.

Here, on clear, cloudless days, we also have a breathtaking and not-so-common vista of Madeira's central massif.

On the horizon, along the ridge line, we can see, from left to right, Pico Ruívo, the needles of Pico das Torres and Pico do Arieiro, with its Portuguese Air Force radar dome.

On the lower left of the picture it's visible, near the shadow line, the suspended valley of Curral Jangão, rewarding us, depending of the season, with its wild chestnut and cherry trees if we fancy a hike down there.

Picture taken with Nikon P7100 and post-processing in Nikon View and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

First Summer evening

The Summer Solstice happened in Portugal on the past Saturday, around 2244 LT. Marking the longest daytime of the year, short of fifteen hours by less than six minutes, this auspicious date encloses in itself the nostalgic sentiment that, from now on, we are heading, on the Northern Hemisphere, inexorably towards the Winter season, with the day length decreasing at a steady pace up to the next Winter Solstice, on the 21st of December.

Up here, surrounded by the warmth and peace of the late afternoon breeze, among the highest peaks of Madeira, we feel the solitude of a telluric connection to the Earth as if we were in Stonehenge.

For me the monolithic presence of the distant peaks and the green meadow on the foreground is as close as I can imagine my own very personal druidic temple.

Nikon D300, with the usual 18-55mm kit lens. Manfrotto tripod and Junior Geared Head.

After the storm...

...comes a calm.

After clearing the stormy skies of these past couple of days, a rainbow appears on the late evening over the Pico Ruívo Trig Point. A strong reminder of nature's endless capacity for rejuvenation and restoration of equilibrium. Likewise, during my past seafaring life, I've seen countless tempestuous days evolving into the most peaceful ones. In these present days, during which both our common human destiny and willpower are, somehow, being put to the test it would do us good to remember that it's scientifically proven that all the storms, past or future, eventually end someday.

Picture taken with Nikon D610 and old sixty bucks second-hand Vivitar manual focus 24mm f.2.8. Post-processing (if we can call it that) in Photoshop CS6.

Spring in Madeira

Canary island geraniums and ferns near Pico das Pedras, on the Northern coast of Madeira. Late evening of a rainy June day.

Picture taken with Nikon D300 and Nikkor DX 18-55mm AF-S G VR kit lens. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Spring in Serra da Estrela

Amanita muscaria mushroom and silver birches grove in Covão da Ametade, Serra da Estrela. Mid-Spring of 2015.

As dangerous as it is beautiful, it's probably one of the most famous mushrooms in the world, often depicted in works of art, from literature, to painting, to cinema (Disney's Fantasia). The ingestion of the Amanita muscaria, often mistaken for the edible Amanita caesarea, generates hallucionogenic experiences and, in extreme dosis, death may occur.

In Portugal their fruiting happens in Spring and Autumn seasons.

Picture taken with Nikon Coolpix 7100 and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CS6

Fanal - The pristine nature

Some years ago, motivated by a off-duty morning that was promising to be another waiste of precious and useful time if I stayed at home, I drove to the high plateau of Paúl da Serra, with the Fanal Laurissilva rain forest as the final destination.

Approaching this pristine parcel of nature for the first time was indeed a surprise, especially driving along the recently-built ER 209 (Regional Road 209). This strip of tarmac snaking along the primitive forest, particularly the length between Paúl da Serra and Ribeira da Janela, is also a delight to ride if you are a biker:

Nearby, and in a mostly paralell track alongside the ER 209, the PR 13 hiking route is a charming and easy-going trail, suitable for all of those who want to have an  all-around introduction to the Madeira pedestrian nature tourism with the least phisical effort. Just make sure, in advance, that the weather is clear. Most of the times it isn't. Fanal is well known for its foggy weather:

Albeit being a well preserved natural landscape, the Fanal forest also has its share of human presence. Althought not as intensive as decades ago, the pecuary activity still survives in this corner of the Madeiran territory. Shepherd's shelters are common as is livestock alongside the road. All this adds to the enchantment of the place. Just drive safely and slowly, avoiding stressing the animals:

Pictures taken with Nikon Coolpix P7100. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

Moonless night

According to the astro-photographers, moonless nights are the best to make this particular type of photography. The reason for that is obvious: most of the time the moonlight is so intense that, for the exposure needed to correctly record the celestial bodies, all the foregrounds will be prohibitively over-exposed. Most of the times pictures are taken above ISO 3200, with shutter speeds around 20 to 30 seconds (more than that and you risk star trails on the final image) and apertures between f/1.4 and f/4.0.

This particular case, althought not even close to be considered a good photograph, gives you a general idea: I wanted to shot the Milky Way against a mountain humanized foreground. So I choose the Achada do Teixeira abandoned hut/restaurant, at 1600 mts above sea level, as my foreground. Placed the camera on tripod and choose my point of view for composition. ISO 6400, f/4.0 and 30 secs exposure gave me the best result possible for the Milky Way. Problem was that the hut would become a dark, textureless, shadow using those parameters. Increasing the exposure to lit the hut would only burn out the sky, due to the residual amber light reflected to the atmosphere from the villages down under, at sea level.

So I opted instead to "paint" with light, for about twenty seconds while the shutter was open, just a little bit of the foreground, from the position where I stood with the camera and with a simple pen-sized-chinese-made LED torch, powered by two small AAA alcaline batteries.
That a modern digital camera sensor can suck so much light from such a weak light source is to me beyond believe. I can easily imagine that twenty five years ago to have the same lighting effect on the set of a movie production with a motion film camera you'd need at least twenty thousand Watts of light to achieve the same result. Now all you need is a highly sensitive digital sensor and a pocket flash light.
So, although I'd say this modest example is light-years away to be considered photographic art, I think you (no pun intended) get the picture.
Picture taken with Nikon D610 and Vivitar manual 24mm f/2.8 lens. Sirui Travel T005 light tripod and kit ball-head. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS6.