on landscape The online magazine for landscape photographers

The Land of the Fire Mountains

A Photographic Adventure in a volcanic landscape

Joe Wright

Joe Wright

Frequently found wandering the woodlands, hills and river banks of the British countryside.

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Unsure as to whether this was going to be an article about a location guide, photographic inspiration or “what’s in my bag”; I decided to make it about all three! Consequently, it’s quite lengthy but I do split it broadly into those areas if you feel like dipping into one aspect first, although I do think it reads better top to bottom. For information, I did write a little about this location previously on my own website blog after I first visited it last year (2013) but, prompted by a return visit again this year (2014) and a spate of recent articles here on On Landscape featuring a certain volcanic destination. I thought I would throw in an alternative somewhat similar destination just to mix things up a little bit.

So then, to start with let’s play a little guessing game - if I ask you to visualise an island with volcanoes, a sparse landscape, solidified lava flows with beaches of black gritty sand sparkling with lumps of ice and, skylines that glow with vivid green where do your thoughts immediately turn? I am going to hazard a guess and predict you were thinking of the current draw of many landscape orientated photographers; Iceland.

But what if I now throw in a constant all year round temperature of +70c, that there are in fact a number of islands not just one and, those lumps of ice are in actuality small cubes cossetted in tumblers cooling cocktails and the green glow is the luminescent aura of neon tubes of a bar?

Featured Comments from:

Adam Pierzchala: Thanks for this article, it was a very enjoyable post-prandial read on a Saturday afternoon! I have also thought about visiting the Canaries off-season and this article has motivated me to consider the idea more seriously and helps to picture what might be achievable. As to the spotmeter, that brought back horrible memories of my brand new meter doing some surfing in Portugal. Also on the first outing! You have some wonderful photos; Calcium Veins is really beautiful as is Waves on a Beach.



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