Posts in Category: La Plama
Lizardking
My Nikon has been in the oven since the day before yesterday because the humidity is simply too high and it’s still acting up – last resort! Every few hours, I turn it down to 55 degrees, rinse the buttons, dials, and contacts with isoprop, and then let it roast. Sun and wind would certainly do it better, but that would mean sitting here with the camera and making sure it doesn’t get caught in another rain shower instead of enjoying La Palma. Current status: It turns on, triggers, but I can’t adjust anything – the entire right side is dead, and the settings are now fixed: Shutter priority 1/1000 and AutoISO. You can still take photos with it, but you have to make compromises and do a lot of post-processing. The AUTO mode probably still works, but taking pictures of animals with it is a gamble.
Here’s my second attempt with the lizards – the first was shot with an iPhone zoom, and it was really painful and resulted in a mess of pixel mash, even if it might not have been noticeable on social media. This monster, a good 15 cm long, was old and experienced and just as curious about me as I was about him. Reminds me of an old bartender who looks at you askance and asks, “What do you want?”, right?
Island of falcons
When we first landed on La Palma 16 years ago, a neighbor greeted us with, “Welcome to the island of the falcons, Falk” And he was right. This is the island of the canary kestrels. The barancos offer plenty of space for food and nesting holes, the winds are ideal for catching prey with minimal effort, and so there are falcons around every corner.
The day before yesterday, I began the hour-and-a-half descent from the summit of San Antonio to the salt flats. On the way through the black earth, I found a nesting hole with a young falcon. Shortly after, a parent came and lured it out of the hole with a caught lizard. I would have liked to have spent more time there, but I had a path to climb to meet up with the family at the lighthouse, otherwise it would have been a loooong walk home. 😉
halo
Really… time is a missing factor these days and photography has taken a beackseat, or at least the post has to wait. This one is from last years visit to La Palma. On top the Roque de los Muchachos we had plain sun, slight clouds and than this halo appeared. Now I know when people talk about having visions… this occurrence is by no means only visible on the picture. You can witness it right at spot. Amen!
the raven
Our last day on the Island and together with Luca we headed for a small round on the Cumbre Viecha. It turned out that we took the wrong turn and were on the long way down, to the camping site at the bottom of the Caldera. As soon as we noticed we just went all the way back and at the parking site a friend was waiting for us or better for our Maria cookies.
just the two
Last year I thought I was lucky when I shot a dragonfly in midair, but it turned out that Karins pool is THE spot to witness more happenings in the lifeof dragonflies. There were constant fights about the territory – two male insects doing unbelievable maneuvers over the pool. Here you can see a couple on the way to the oviposition. I got more shots that are a tuck sharper, but I like the female insect touch the watersurface. And, did I mention that I have to get a macro lens? This was shot with my 500mm…..
frogger
I don’t know if i mix up somthing here, but see the crane I can imagine that those two little frogs, around the next corner, would make a good meal for him… or was it only the stork that’s after those little critters?
crane
There many inhabitants in the Caldera de Taburiente. We were lucky too meet quite a few. I tried to take pictures of cranes around my hometown but they are very shy and just looking toward their direction often is enought to make them leave, so the only ones I got where those two from the Zoo in Frankfurt, that tend to show up when it is feeding time for the sea lions. Here we go… all natural, an all wild crane from the Caldera. EDIT: I am still learning and so errors are for sure to be made… this seems to be heron, not a crane.
branco de colores
Hiking the Caldera de Taburiente is one of the greatest things one can do on La Palma. Half way back to our starting point, we found the “Cascadas de colores”, colorful waterfall with its yellow water that trails through the whole baranco.
volcano land
At times you will find some hot spots on the south side of La Palma. St. Antonio and Teneguia are the last volcanoes. The letter erupted in the 1970s and shaped the southern shoreline, adding new land and buried old parts.
crabs
They are everywhere along the rocky shores of La Plama. Shy and fast are two of their characteristics that make them somehow hard to photograph. Gotcha!
heure bleu
Every evening we were swept away by unbelievable sundowns. The blue hour was the time when La Palma showed its magic.
thr33
It is kind of funny: You can try to hide and not move in order to get close to animals and you get very far. The next time you are loud, noisy don’t care about any means of camouflage and you get even closer. I was about to shoot some pictures of a falcon on a nearby tree when a flock of goats passed. The falcon hadn’t noticed me, but those three saw me instantly. When I turned around and shot this picture the falcon went off. I didn’t mind. I had some decent picture of it already.
falcon
No, not the millenium falcon, but a real one. La Palma is the island of falcons. Around barancos around our house we hat quite a few of them, but it was this one that kept me going. Every evening it sat down on a nearby pine. I had a hard time getting close to it and even this time, it saw me first, staring right into the cameras eye. A nice shot anyway.
caught in the act
I am no big fan of dead center compositions but with this shot I had to break my rules. This little fellow was buzzing around the pool and kept constantly chasing off other dragonflies off its territory. It came back day after day and so I just hat to wait for it to appear. Shooting it with a 300mm lens was another stroy. Nailed it!
lizzards everywhere
Whenever you set foot in Karins garden you can hear rustling from different places. Its those little lizzards running away from you. This one was living on our terrace and on second day he lost his shyness and almost fell asleep during the shooting.
gloom
We hit the mark with our choice to go rent the Casa Bueanavista apartment. Las Tricias/La Palma is by far the best place to stay. This is the sundown captured right from our terrace. Every evening when the sun was about to vanish, the mighty clouds dropped down the hills and came in very low, rendering jawdropping views like this. Enjoy!
lynch
Up on the Roque de los Muchachos we passed several telescopes, sometimes hidden in the clouds. Take a close look on the horizon and you will probably see one.
iris path
A full rainbow is not often to be seen – on La Palma they seem to be quite common place. It was second day and our second trip our second rainbow and if you take a close look, you can see even another rainbow shimmering above the first. Two seemed to be the number for this holiday…
