Lanzarote Airport sits right by the coast. There’s a beach at one end of the runway where you can get great photos of the landing planes.
I wonder what the pilots think of the onlookers watching at this dangerous stage of a flight?
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 31mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
The glow of the sun in the sky shortly after sunset in Puerto Del Carmen, Canary Islands.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 139mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/15s |
At the bar of a hotel in Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 34mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 10s |
A few snapshots of Puerto Del Carmen in Lanzarote in the evening when the sun has set.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 3.2s |
This is a lighthouse to the west of Playa Blanca on the island of Lanzarote. This was my first time to visit the lighthouse and it was very windy. My camera resting on an unextended tripod almost blew over! Then there are the tourists, who insist on driving right up to the building and parking there with their headlights on. It can be rough on a photographer sometimes. 🙂
The original lighthouse which was designed by the engineer Juan de León y Castillo opened in 1866, and consists of a 10 metres (33 ft) tower at the front of a single storey keeper’s house. It was deactivated in 1988, following the construction of the new lighthouse, and in 2002 was registered as a Bien de Interés Cultural in the listing for Las Palmas.
The new lighthouse built from white stone, is one of the tallest lighthouses in the Canaries at 50 metres (160 ft) in height, being superseded only by Maspalomas lighthouse on Gran Canaria at 56 metres (184 ft), and the 59 metres (194 ft) Morro Jable lighthouse on Fuerteventura.
With a focal height of 55 metres (180 ft) above the sea, its light can be seen for 17 nautical miles, and consists of three flashes of white light every thirty seconds. In conjunction with the lights at Tostón and Punta Martiño, it marks the narrow La Bocayna strait that separates the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
Punta Pechiguera is a barren promontory of volcanic rocks; originally quite isolated it is now being encroached upon by coastal developments from the Playa Blanca resort. A coastal walkway links the lighthouse with the centre of the resort, the majority of which consists of a paved promenade or esplanade (Spanish: paseo maritimo) along the seafront.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 17mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 20s |
Temple Hall, or Telamon as it was known when it ran aground in Lanzarote in 1981.
“That Saturday October 31, 1981 a strong storm lashed the Canary Islands. It would not be a quiet day in the small port of Los Mármoles, Lanzarote. A freighter called the port to request permission for emergency assistance as they had suffered a serious leak, they were travelling from Abidjan and San Pedro from the Gulf of Guinea and carried a large shipment of huge wooden logs on route to the Greek port of Thessaloniki in the Aegean Sea.
It was easy to comprehend the damage sustained to the ship, a simple look and it was realised that the ships gravity was not sufficient to make the dock, there was a possibility of it sinking into the inner harbour which would render the port useless. The forecast was still heavy seas for the following day.”
From this page.
| Aperture | ƒ/14 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1.6s |
Hotel Los Fariones in Puerto del Carmen is now closed for renovation for the next year and a bit but you wouldn’t know it from their website which still allows you to attempt to book a room, but fails to return a room.
It’s only if you scroll to the end of the homepage that you’ll see the following notice!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 5000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/30s |
La Cueva de los Verdes is a seven kilometre long volcanic cave on the island of Lanzarote. One kilometre of it is open to the public and it’s amazing to visit. It was formed almost 5,000 years ago by lava that flowed from a volcano to the sea and it’s incredible to think of the forces and temperatures that formed the tunnel. This was my second visit to the cave. The first was with my wife, but this time my son went with me. He loved that he never had to duck down when walking through low passages! I looked forwards to taking this photo the whole day.
What’s really annoying however is tourists who don’t know how to use their cameras. A teenage girl with a DSLR stood next to me taking photos using the flash on her camera. I bet none of her photos captured the beautiful light show as the cavern was quite large and it was very dark. This photo was a 13 second exposure, at f/4.0, ISO 100. Luckily there was a particularly flat rock where I could rest my camera. Unfortunately for her she wasn’t speaking English but as I left I told another photographer to put his camera down in the same place and turn off the flash to get the best shot.
You can find more information on the cave here, here and of course on Wikipedia.
The Cueva de los Verdes stretches underground from the volcano known as “La Corona” through to the sea on the north east coast. The tunnel was blasted through the earth under the effect of exploding lava more than four millenia ago, rather like an enormous exhaust pipe.
Within recent years, the island government and the local authority of Haria have carried out extensive work on the cave, providing illumination, ambient music and safe pathways for the interested visitor. An hour–long guided tour covering more than two kilometres of underground exploration, includes an explanation of the legends of the cave, plus a sound and light show.
If you ever visit Lanzarote it’s definitely worth visiting!
PS. if you know the story behind this scene, keep it to yourself. Don’t spoil it for future visitors who might come by this post! 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 17mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 13s |
Anyone for snails or should I say escargot? A man selling snails wasn’t doing much business when we walked by in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Spain last March. I wasn’t going to sample any of his produce, have you tried snails? What do they taste of?
There’s a really interesting page on escargot on Wikipedia. Still won’t get me to eat them..
Snail shells have been found in archaeological excavations, indicating snails have been eaten since prehistoric times.[3][4] A number of archaeological sites around the Mediterranean have been excavated yielding physical evidence of culinary use of several species of snails used as escargot.[5] The Romans, in particular, are known to have considered escargot an elite food, as noted in the writings of Pliny. The edible species Otala lactea has been recovered from Volubilis in present-day Morocco.[6] This archaeological recovery is from an era of Roman Empire occupation of this provincial capital, which site was known to embody a very highly developed ancient civilization since its days as a Phoenician and Carthaginian colony.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
Cadiz is a city and port in the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. The centre of the city is filled with old alleys and narrow streets. Here’s I shot straight upwards at the junction of 4 such alleys, I think it was here near the local cathedral.
Many years ago I took a similar photo of buildings in San Francisco.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Very recently we spent almost 2 weeks in the Spanish town of El Puerto de Santa María. We stayed in a friend’s apartment and it was a really nice break away from the bad news and rush of life back in Ireland. Unfortunately we brought the rain with us but that didn’t dampen our spirits!
One of our meals out was in El Rincon del Chirri SL where they specialise in seafood. This was only one of the dishes served and while I’m not usually one to eat seafood I was glad I tried it here. We also had what I think were Sea anemones in a crispy bread covering but they tasted like seawater and I only had 1 or 2! Our Spanish friends described them as eating sea water which was a very apt description!
Oh yes, this image 800 pixels wide, slightly larger than the photos I used to post. View the post itself to view the larger version as I think this theme shrinks the image on the main page. Like the new size?
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/30s |
I could post a photo of the snow that fell this morning in Blarney but I think everyone is sick of the cold weather. Instead here’s a photo from my honeymoon in Lanzarote. This was taken in Puerto Del Carmen on a roasting hot day when even the ground was too hot to touch!
More sunny photos to follow! 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | DMC-FZ5 |
| Focal length | 6mm |
| ISO | 80 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |