Canary Lullabies - My Cosmic Photo Adventures
Fuerteventura
August 2018
In August 2018 I started my first solo photography trip - destination: the Canary Islands. My first stop was a barren desert island in the east of the archipelago named Fuerteventura. My field trips there were characterized by lucky moments and impressive failures while Fuerteventura marked the beginning and rehearsal for a long and formative Milky Way Trip.
To my surprise I got familiar with many different types of desert. I found Sahara-sand dunes, dark lava badlands, very colorful outbacks and lonely, gravely plus dusty volcano craters. Sometimes there was even sand in the air - a phenomenon called Calima. I witnessed a few Calima days while the whole island was covered in orange dust - from a touristic viewpoint very beautiful - especially during the last hours of a day. Unfortunately the sand also blocked the view towards the night sky and amplified the glow of artificial light from the villages around at night. Nevertheless I was still able to get some nightcapes
Playa de Esquinzo
Somewhere in the outback of western Fuerteventura is a beautifully hidden beach underneath the visible plain of dust and sand called Esquinzo. If you are patient enough you might discover a few parked cars in the middle of a Tatooine nowhere - the only hint to find that tiny oasis. Its a famous spot for local surfers, couples and squirrels and I spent most of my daytime there. During one night, I failed to get a Milky Way shot from the beach due to fast moving clouds but got a flat tire at my car instead.
Milky Way Photography - Trial & Error
To get some dark and clear skies was so much more challenging as I thought that I almost despaired. Every evening I was checking the forecasts and drove around like an idiot just to find dusty sunsets and cloudy skies. Sometimes, the clouds got thinner and I was able to spot some bright stars - but for 3 days in a row I spent my time driving around and listening to 90s Punkrock until the search finally paid off.
The Story of a Cosmic Flat Tire / Somewhere
“You are not allowed to leave he asphalt road” said the guy from the car rental service to me. “Of course not!” Was my answer…
3 days later I found myself in this situation. After leaving the asphalt road immediately to get to the dark and nice spots I was thinking back to this guy at the service point. Damn… One hour earlier I was already on my way home because it was cloudy and I was very tired. But for my surprise I saw some stars and soon the sky was completely clear. So I turned around and took some photos. 20 minutes later I just wanted to get home to enjoy a nice shower, a cold beer and finally my bed. I even left the camera on the tripod in the trunk. Back on the asphalt road I recognized a sound no one ever wants to hear: Blup Blup Blup Blup - f*ck. Never changed a tire before. No signal on my phone. No one around. Hm. So I parked the car next to the road and checked tools and stuff. The description was in arab - but the pictures had been very helpful and after a few minutes I realized that this was an easy task. So I was relaxed and took out my camera which was still perfectly setup. Some seconds later I started smiling. The situation wasn’t that bad - I’ve learned to change a tire, I lost the fear of having a problem somewhere alone at night and got one of the worst Milky Way photos ever. Didn’t expect that. Later I enjoyed the best shower and the most tasteful beer and went to bed with a huge smile on my face
Calderon Hondo
Probably based on a saga or a weird dream of my childhood - but since I was a kid I wanted to sleep on top of a volcano. Fuerteventura offered many opportunities - especially the north of the island with the fascinating Volcanes de Bayuyo. Seven cinder cones are perfectly aligned and show us the former fault line and the northern end of Fuerteventura from around 50.000 years ago. Today most of the land you are seeing from the top of the volcanoes was formed by the lava of these eruptions. With 278m the Calderon Hondo volcano marks the highest peak and its Crater is around 70m deep. I climbed that volcano twice because its a really nice trip in a weird landscape but mainly because it got cloudy the first time. On my second trip I mostly had to deal with Calima related dust and sand in the atmosphere and additionally heavy winds at the edge of the crater. Nevertheless I crouched down as much as possible and tried to get some shots. At the beginning of the night I was still nervous about some creepy sounds from inside the crater - a huge and scary black hole - but in the end it turned out to be just some kind protection seeking goats who just enjoyed the warmth of the crater.
