Travel – Page 4 of 5 – Strange Works - Stephan Strange Photography

Pájara Mountain Sundowns

Traveling the FV-605 road from La Pared to Pájara. On the half way, a view kilometers after crossing the FV-618 to Cardón you will get higher into the mountains. After a view minutes you are at a high level of about 500 meters. And there is a bouth sides parking place with a footway up to the top. The Point is called Sicasumbre viewing point. You have a great view to both sides of the mountain there, and into a yellow red shining valley till Pájara. No plants or trees in your way. Fast moving clouds in the sky. So thats the place where I did my sundown pictures. But beware, its an very high wind blasting area. And with that wind it could be 10 to 15 degree colder.

Wenn man die FV-605 von La Pared kommend Richtung Pájara fährt, kommt man ein paar Kilometer nachdem sie die FV-618 Richtung Cardon gekreuzt hat zu einem Parkplatzt. Etwa auf 500 Meter Höhe. Dort gibt es einen Fußweg hoch auf die Bergspitze. Ausgeschildert sind Aussichtspunkte in Spanien immer als Mirador. Sehr wichtig, da es in den Bergen von Fuerteventura kaum Möglichkeiten gibt neben der Straße zu halten. Von dort hat man eine super Aussicht zu alles Seiten. Über das Tal das Richtung Norden nach Pájara führt. Oder Richtung Südspitze der Insel wo die Sonne unter geht. Das ist die Stelle von der aus ich diese Sonnenuntergansbilder gemacht habe.

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San Sebastian de La Gomera

Some ferry impressions of San Sebastian de la Gomera. Thats what you see when you took the ferry from Tenerife to la Gomera. The harbour and the cityline of San Sebastian de la Gomera. The main village on la Gomera. Because La Gomera has no airport, you have to take the ferry or a boat to get there. And the island welcomes you with his nice little main village. It was out strartingpoint for a hikingtrip to La Gomeras well known rainforest out there in the hills. The so called fairytale forest. There are a lot of backpackers on La Gomera, its a great nature.

Bild Travel - Around the World Atlantic Atlantik Atlantischer Ozean Backpack canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Gomerailsa Hiking holiday Ilsagomera insel Island Kanaren Kanarische Inseln La Gomera laGomera landscape Landschaft Landschaftsfoto landschaftsfotografie Natur nature Nature Photography Naturfotografie photography Reisefoto Reisen San Sebastian de la Gomera spain Spanien summer Travel Trecking Trekking vacation Wanderweg

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The Tailed Jay – Graphium Agamemnon

This is not a typical christmas posting. I have no girl with a sexy christmas dress for this year, or a spanking santa. This year its a butterfly called the Tailed Jay (Graphium Agamemnon). I have to admit that I have no idear about butterflys. I am just into pictures and I have never done butterfly pictures before. I googled the name, before I wrote the posting 🙂 This tailed jay lives in a huge butterfly house in Gran Canaria. I was there with my Sigma 150mm macro and a monopod. I actually came for the birds, not for the butterflys and it was my first time in an butterfly house. First I watched the russian tourists there who tries to catch some butterflys with there iPads and iPhones, but only got unsharp pictures 🙂 Well, thats the benefit of an camera with a fast lens and a high ISO range .-)

Bild Animals animal Animalphotography Animals Butterfly Butterflys canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Falter Gran Canaria Graphium agamemnon holiday insecs insect insekten Kanaren Kanarische Inseln mariposa Maripossa Natur nature Palmitos Park Schmetterlinge spain Spanien tailed jay Tier Tiere Tierfotografie Travel urlaub zoo Zoophotography

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The great Dunas de Maspalomas

The great Dunas de Maspalomas are sand dunes in the south of Gran Canaria. Its a well known place for tourists. The gread task the Dunas de maspalomas is not the sand or the winds. Its to get your picture free of people, specialy free of nude people. The dunas are popular by the nudity communinty and very popular by the gay community. And both are don t like people with huge cameras. They always expect a peeping tom or pervert behind. And not a nature photographer. I was on there with my D800 the Nikon 14-24 and my Nikon 70-200mm. So I attract much attension.

Bild Landscape aussicht Aussichtspunkt Backpack Backpacking Berge Canaries Canary Canaryislands Dunas dunas de Maspalomas Dune Dünen Gran Canaria holiday Kanaren Kanarische Inseln landscape Landschaft Landschaftsfoto landschaftsfotografie Maspalomas Meloneras Montanas Mountains Natur nature Naturephotography Reisefoto Reisen Sand shifting sand dune Stephan Strange summer sun Travel Travelphotography Trekking vacation view Wanderdüne Wandering Dune

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Puerto de Mogan

Puerto de Mogan – The small village in the south of Gran Canaria. Easy to reach with the local bus system. You dont need a car to go there. There are less parking possibilities in Puerto de Mogan and its a small village so you can do everything there by foot. I went there wit the local bus direct from Maspalomas. Its about halt an hour. Just for a day trip. Its a nice little village for relaxing, drinking some coffe or walking around. They have a lot of flowers there, white painted houses with blue doors. The bay beach is wind and waves protected, so take your swimming things with you.

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La Graciosa

Sadly we have got windy weather and a cloudy sky on our day trip to the smal canary island La Graciosa. I just can imagine how beautyfull La Graciosa would be with bright sunlight and a blue sky. But for all that I enjoeyed my trip to La Graciosa very much. It is the smallest inhabiteted island of the canaries. It has only 29,05 square kilometers and its in the north of Lanzarote. We took the ferry from Orzola to Caleta del Sebo, the small main village. After a lunch break we went out for a short hiking trip over the island and took the last ferry back to Lanzarote. And the bus back to our horror hotel in Costa Brava.

Bild Landscape beautyfull canarias Canaries Canary Kanaren Kanarische Inseln La Graciosa landscape Landschaft Lanzarote Natur reise schönheit spain Travel Travle urlaub

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Exotic Birds

Some for european eyes exotic birds in flight. Taken at the exotic birds free flight show in Gran Canaria. Precisely at Palmitos Park. A medium large Zoo in the south of Gran Canaria. They offers amongst others a exotic birds free flight show, birds of prey show and a butterfly house. The two mentioned shows and the Butterfly house are for me the key reasons to visit this Zoo. I am not a fan of Orca or Delphine shows.

Die Exotische Vögel show war neben der Raubvogel Show und dem Schmetterlingshaus einer der Gründe für mich den Palmitos Park auf Gran Canaria zu besuchen. Delfin oder Orca Shows sind nicht so mein fall, da geh ich lieber zwei mal durchs Schmetterlingshaus und versuche schöne Bilder zu bekommen.

Bild Animals animal Animalphotography Animals Bird Birds Butterfly Butterflys canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Canaryzone exotic Flight free flight Gran Canaria holiday Kanaren Kanarische Inseln Natur nature Palmitos Park spain Spanien Tier Tiere Tierfotografie Travel urlaub Vogel zoo Zoophotography

Colorfull snail shell on the crater bottom of Lanzarotes Vulcano Montana Roja

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A snail shell at the crater bottom.

First I found a snail shell. On a place I dont expect to found anything. I was on my way to the top of Lanzarote`s Montana Roja. A 200 meter high and dead old vulcano in the south of Lanzarote, near Playa Blanca Than I found a nother colorfull snail shell. And than a lot of snail shells. Seems there is more life in old vulcano craters than I expected. Specialy on islands full of sand and stones. The bottom was full of small plants, snail shell`s, some rabbits and lizzards. More natural vegetation as I saw in the rest of the island.

Bild Nature Canaries Canary Kanaren Kanarische Inseln landscape Lanzarote Montana Roja Mountain nature Playa Blanca schneckenhaus snail shell spain Travel Travle Vulcan Vulcano

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Some coastline impressoins of La Gomera

When you come down the road from the La Gomera rainforest mountains, the first things you see are some houses and the atlantic see. It goes staight ahead down to the coast. In this case the north east coast of La Gomera. With Tenerife in the background. Its a complete change of colors. The dark green and spooky forest on the top, with all the fog and clouds passing throu and the sunny coast with beaches and the blue sea. White painted houses with red roofs, banana plantations and very curvy roads. It was a stop back on my way to the ferry in San Sebastian. I have been on La Gomera for a hiking trip. And thouse pictures are beside impressions from this trip. It was not a phototrip 🙂

Bild Landscape Atlantic Atlantik Atlantischer Ozean Backpack canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Coastline Gomerailsa Hiking holiday Ilsagomera insel Island Kanaren Kanarische Inseln La Gomera laGomera landscape Landschaft Landschaftsfoto landschaftsfotografie Natur nature Nature Photography Naturfotografie photography Reisefoto Reisen spain Spanien summer Travel Trecking Trekking vacation Wanderweg

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The two dancing Butterflies

Two beautyfull red Butterflies having fun with each other on a closed hibiscus blossom. I have never seen butterfly making love before and I don`t expected that they are doing it tail to tail 🙂 They where so busy whis themselves thaty they don`t noticed me and my 150mm Sigma macro lens. Going close was not difficult. Getting enough light for a closed apperture and for a fast shutter speed was the chellenge here 🙂 You can`t see it but they are indoor pictures. Taken at Palmitos Parks House of Butterflies. The Butterfly House and the exotic birds flight show are a good reasen to visit this medium size Zoo in the south of Gran Canaria. The Bird House at Palmitos Park is not as big as Loro Parques Bird flight area but they have a raptor and exotic birds flight show there. And a huge House of Butterflys. Using my Monopod for all thouse photos was no problem. No one of the officials cares about my monopod and 150mm macro lens. This is also a plus. You are not everywhere welcome with professional photo stuff.

Ich habe mir eigentlich die Gedanken darüber gemacht, wie sich Schmetterlinge überhaupt fortpflanzen. Jetzt weiß ich es 🙂 Aber ein wenig überrascht war ich schon im ersten Moment, vor allem darüber das sie sich überhaupt nicht gestört gefühlt haben. Sie waren einfach zu sehr mit dem Flattern und rum hüpfen beschäftigt. Nah ran zu kommen war also schon mal kein Problem. Eher das Licht, um eine möglichst kurze Belichtungszeit zu erreichen und die Blende einigermaßen zu machen zu können. Was man nicht sieht, das ganze spielte sich im Schmetterlingshaus ( House of Butterflys) des Palmits Parks auf Gran Canaria ab. Wegen des Schmetterlingshauses und der Vogelflugshow hatte sich der Besuch dort für mich gelohnt. Delfinshows interessieren mich nicht, und gegen das Vogelhaus im Loro Park kommen sie dort auf keinen Fall an. Wenn man das kennt und als Maßstab nimmt ist man eher enttäuscht.

Bild Animals animal Animalphotography Animals Butterfly Butterflys canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Falter Gran Canaria hibiscus hibiskus holiday Kanaren Kanarische Inseln mariposa Maripossa Natur nature Palmitos Park Schmetterlinge spain Spanien Tier Tiere Tierfotografie Travel urlaub Vogel Zoophotography

Sand and Sky – The beautyfull Dunes of Maspalomas

The beautyfull dunes of Maspalomas. Impressions from my last journy to Gran Canaria. The dunes of Maspalomas are a 6×2 square meters areal in the south east of Gran Canaria. The best time to stay there is between the end of April and die beginning of june. Before April its very windy there, so you have some problems with sand, your towel or umbrella and after june the sand is (for me) to hot. The dunes are not so empty as they looks on my pictures. On some days they are full of members of the gay community or of full nudity people. Out there is a big full nutity area. But who cares, its a nice place for taking pictures, The Sand is very finely granulated and the wind makes nice patterns in the dunes. On one side there is a small lake, the left of a former laguna who was taken step by step by the sand. Its a breeding area for a lot of birds and a wildlife sanctuary. Net time I will come with a ND Filter doing some long time exposure.

Landscape aussicht Backpack Backpacking Berge Canaries Canary Canaryislands Dunas dunas de Maspalomas Dune Dünen Gran Canaria holiday Kanaren Kanarische Inseln landscape Landschaft Landschaftsfoto landschaftsfotografie Maspalomas Meloneras Natur nature Naturephotography Reisefoto Reisen Sand shifting sand dune Stephan Strange summer sun trailing Travel Travelphotography vacation view walking Wanderdüne Wandering Dune wandern Wanderweg

The beach side of Puerto de Mogan

Puerto de Mogan, the small beautyfull fishing village in the south west of Gran Canaria. With the white painted small houses, alle Palms and flowers around, Puerto de Mogan realy looks like it was just build for travel catalogue pictures. OK not all of Puerto de Mogan looks realy nice. There are also some „Cement Castles“ as we call in germany the quick buils tourism hotels of the 80th. But they are a little bit away from the coast side of the village. Fot the most people its important how the beach and the water area looks like. And I can say. beautyfull. The beach and the harbor are man made, not natural as in Maspalomas. Because of that the beach of Puerto de Mogan is sheltered from the wind and the water is a little bit warmer. Its perfect for a nice day trip. To have a little swim, a good meal, and to walk around. We have been there with the public bus system. It works very good on Gran Cararia and it is cheap. But please, take a look at the pictures and you wiill see what I mean.

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A proud hawk – The beauty of a flying hawk

A beautyfull hawk flying high into the sky. It was a very sunny day at Palmitos Parks hawk free flight show. Mostly blue sky just some clouds. Perfect for taking hawk pictures. I have no realy tele lens just my Nikon 70-700, my universal weapon 🙂 So with this lens its hard do take some hawk pictures in real wildlife. I hope to get a 150-600 or 200-500 some day, till then I have to go to bird shows like this for taking hawk or birds in flight pictures. The Palmitos Park is a nice little zoo in the south of Cran Canaria. They have a lot of free flight raptors in ther free flight show, such as Eagles, Marabous, Hawks, and a show with exotic birds. I can also recomend the big butterfly house. The rest is zoo standard. Some meerkats, turles, apes, a botanic garden, the usual zoo stuff 🙂 But the birdshow impressed me very much. Its not only the birds, its the the whole surrounding thats impressive. Not build in the middle of a city, like most of the zoos, the Palmitos Park is build deep into a canyon, it gives a nice atmosphere tho the whole setting.

Animals animal Animalphotography Animals Bird birdofprey Birds canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Canaryzone Falke Falken Flight flying Gran Canaria Hawk Hawks holiday Kanaren Kanarische Inseln mariposa Maripossa Natur nature Naturephotography Palmitos Park raptor spain Spanien Start Tier Tiere Tierfotografie Travel Travelphotography urlaub Vogel Wildlife zoo Zoophotography

La Gomera Fairytale Forest in Black & White

Impressions taken on a hiking trip deep into the La Gomera rain forest, the so called fairytale forest. It looks very much there like into a Sleepy Hollow or Brother Grimms Fairitale movie. The nature there is dark green and very foggy, beause the atlantic couds move direct throu the forrest. Roots and lianas hanging around from the trees and everything is full with moss and lichen. To get more auf the hauting spirit I decided to take thous pictures in black and white.

Man kann echt meinen man wäre in einem Märchen der Brüder Grimm wenn man durch den Regenwald von La Gomera wandert. Über all hängen Flechten oder Lianen von den Bäumen herunter, es ist dunkel und sehr nebelig weil die Wolken direkt durch den Wald ziehen. Die Steine und Stämme sind komplett mit Moos bedeckt. Hat an manchen Stellen schon fast was von Sleepy Hollow. Ich finde ein Schwarz Weiß transportiert sich die Atmosphäre von dort nochmal wesentlich besser. Vom Wetter und dem Rest bekommt man im Wald nicht viel mit. Es ist immer leicht dunkel und nebelig. Also eine gute Aussicht oder so hat man dort nicht wirklich, obwohl man auf über 1000 Meter ist. Aber die braucht es ja auch nicht immer. Dafür gibt es andere Orte auf La Gomera

Landscape Nature Atlantic Atlantik Atlantischer Ozean Backpack canarias Canaries Canary Canaryislands Gomerailsa Hiking holiday Ilsagomera insel Island Kanaren Kanarische Inseln La Gomera laGomera landscape Landschaft Landschaftsfoto landschaftsfotografie Natur nature Nature Photography Naturfotografie photography Reisefoto Reisen spain Spanien summer Travel Trecking Trekking vacation Wanderweg

Waves and Breakwater

The nature has a lots of power. We got some stormy days at our trip to Tenerife in january, the waves were high, no swimming or surfing allowed and the breakwater kills some of the quay walls at Puerto de la Cruz. I have tried some „old“ Effects and a lot of contrast sharpening to give some of the picture a more dramatic touch. Its a nice feeling to stand in front of big waves and Breakwater doing the pictures. Maybe I will do it again. But therefore I have to travle 🙂

Landscape Nature Atlantik Brandung Breakwater Canary force of nature Kanaren Meer Natur nature naturgewalten Puerto de la Cruz quay wall Reisenfotografie spain Spanien Storm Sturm surf surge Tenerife teneriffa the elements Travel wasser Waves Wellen

The Marabou

What a suprise. On my last holiday I went to a free flight show of exotic birds at the Palmitos Park. After some parakeets they anounced a very smal bird and than it was a marabou. It was not the first time I saw one, I have already seen Marabous in Kenia, but I have not payed much attention to them because they where allways sitting on dark trees, now moving, not flying. So it was a big suprise for me and seeing such a big bird in flight, a good chance for taking pictures. It was very easy taking the marabou, because its a very huge bird, a stork family member. I used a Nikon d800 and a 70-200 for shooting the marabou in flight.

Ich hab zwar im Palmitos Park auf Gran Canaria nicht meinen ersten Marabou (Marabu) gesehen, allerdingt war dieser deutlich aktiver als seine brüder in kenia. Von dort kannte ich sie nur auf Bäumen rum sitzend und nichts tun. Nur mal laut kreichen wenn man ihnen zu nahe kommt. Auch wenn er zu einer Vogelshow gehörte war ich doch sehr froh mal einen marabou im Flug fotografieren zu können. Diese art von Storch sieht man ja sonst außerhalb Afrikas eher selten. Denke ich jedenfalls. Und in einen Vogelkäfig gehört er bei der Größe nun nicht wirklich. Da schaut man ihn sich doch lieber in der Luft bei einer Vogelflugshow an 🙂