September 2007

I am just back from brief trip to the Island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. The place is a photographers dream, hidden waterfalls, stunning mountain views and of course the wonderful crate lakes are all to be found.

Lagoa do Fogo or the more exotic sounding fire lake is a crater lake situated on the Azorean Island of Sao Miguel . The lake is located at a height of 950 meters and the view is simply breath taking.

Two attempts to photograph the lake were made. Attempt one saw me navigating the numerous hair pin bends to the summit over looking the lake. No easy feet for a poor 1.2 litre hire car named Lulu who struggled to the summit.

firelake

I setup just as dawn was breaking and managed to grab a few shots while being battered by wind and rain. My biggest problem was trying to keep the rain of my ND grads. This attempt saw me pulling all kinds of funny shapes in front of the camera as I tried in vain to shelter it from the rain. The attempt proved futile and meant I lost one or two good killer images due to rain splatter. Where is an umbrella when you want one?

The return visit was somewhat kinder. Arriving on site while the last tourists departed. I setup as ever with camera mounted to the tripod. The weather Gods took pity on me and let the sun come out intermittently highlighting the rim of the crater. I fired of numerous frames, each image an equally moody shot. The one you see however is my favourite, the splash of light on the foreground adds drama and depth to the scene.

I wonder if Lulu misses our early morning drives?