Guiding - Madeira
March 19, 2023
It is early in the morning when I’m boarding the plane at Tromsø Airport. It is going to be a long day - as the destination is Funchal on Madeira island - and the flight schedule isn’t the most optimal.
In the upcoming week I’ll be guiding the photo tour for ‘This Way’, together with my very good friend Charly van den Braak.
I’m excited, as it is my first tour that I will be guiding for This Way.
Textures of the colourful volcanic rock
We have about 7 days to photograph all around the island - our job is to guide the participants around and take them to the most beautiful places at the right time of day.
While I brought all my camera gear with me - I didn’t spend much time taking photos myself. As all my attention goes to the participants first and if time allows I can take some myself. Regardless of this - I managed to take quite a few photos during the entire week.
In this little blog article I want to write more about my personal experience with the landscape in correlation to photography, then to describe what happened day-by-day during the tour.
Ever changing patterns of the tidal waves
A few years ago, I wrote the blog A change in approach. Which is, up to today, still how I approach my photography. It has become second nature to me.
I quite quickly know if I’m photographically interested in a landscape - or if I just enjoy it as it is.
Because of this, the more interesting it was to guide a photo tour where the key moments of the day were formed around sunrise/sunset with a landscape orientated in the right direction to maximise the chances of a nice colourful sky above it.
While it is a stunning sight for sure and could definitely turn into some beautiful photos - it isn’t what I’m personally looking for in a landscape or photograph.
And that is the beauty of it all - that it is so personal and everyone has a different approach and interest in parts of the landscape that surrounds us.
I like to focus on parts of the landscape. Either by excluding the sky or horizon, or by just picking an interesting part of it, paying attention to shapes, patterns and textures.
The less obvious, the more interesting the photo becomes to me - a certain feeling of mystery should be present. I don’t always succeed to achieve this, but I always strive for it.
And sometimes, the whole landscape is just perfect as it is - in its complete grandeur.
The more I write, the more it becomes clear to me that it is a matter of following what catches the eye - and if it feels good, it is good.
After reviewing the photos in Lightroom, I challenged myself to come up with a set of photos that were all cropped in a ratio of 1:1. Some photos I shot with the 1:1 preview in camera, some I cropped afterwards.
I’m very happy with the outcome and am looking back at a wonderful time on Madeira with a group of lovely people.
I’ll be guiding another photo tour to Madeira in November 2023. See link for more information and to book the tour. Photo tour Madeira
I’ve added all the photos from the tour into a album, which you can find in my gallery or by clicking this link: Gallery Madeira