THREE DOORS
For those of you who don’t know (or have forgotten), Ann and I got married on the day after her birthday. Well, not her birth day precisely, but you know what I mean. That means we get to have a two-day celebration every November. Well, besides a trip to Madeira, on Ann’s birthday we decided to go to the Fanal Forest to scout/photograph the location that drew us to the island in the first place. On our Anniversary, I’d planned another photo trip to a different forested area on the east end of the island that was supposed to be easy to get to and in theory offered some older, larger trees along the levada walk. As much as the Fanal Forest plan was a success (a scouting success for sure), the anniversary trip was an abject failure.
The parking for the levada walk was a good 2 km away, and when we drove by the entrance to the hike (to see if we really wanted a 4 km walk back and forth along a road just to get to and from the trailhead), it was on as steep a slope as most other places here in Madeira and wasn’t at all what I was expecting to find - no flat open forested area we could wander in to photograph. In the end, we resorted to Plan B (thank goodness I’d planned a Plan B the night before for our post-hike route home - the long way home).
Plan B worked out just fine. We took a slow drive up to the north coast, hung out a bit at a couple of locations and got a few good practice shots in with our point-and-shoot cameras and enjoyed some beautiful landscapes on the journey back to the south side of the island. The trip north was part scouting to check out potential photography locations (they are now off the list of sites we need to visit for a serious photo shoot), and part to check things out. Just because they won’t be photo destinations once we move up to the north end of the island (Tuesday), that doesn’t mean they were without photographic opportunities.
While we were at Porto da Cruz, we took a walk around a point to check out a potential photo-site of some off-shore rocks. They didn’t pan out like we’d hoped (too far out and not very tall), but that’s why you scout a location - why drive out there at 5:00 in the morning when it’s not what you’d hoped.
We took some photos as we walked around the point (hey, I’ve got to get images for the blog posts that I keep saying are coming), but nothing that really screamed “photograph” until I took the stairs down from the seawall onto a rock outcropping and turned around to find a suitable subject.
We continued our walk around the point, eventually returning to the town itself. Then, as I was checking out (and rejecting) a potential subject, I hear Ann’s voice, “Dan, I think that green door is calling your name.” I looked to her, then to her right. As always, Ann was right.
As I’ve blogged in the past, our point-and-shoot cameras aren’t your normal point-and-shoots. They have full camera controls (physical, not through menus or scroll wheels) and 4/3 sensors, which are capable of delivering excellent results. The viewfinders and the rear LCD suck, so you don’t really “know” what you’re getting, but the camera does have a histogram to make sure your exposures are not blown out. I’ve learned to trust that the sensor will capture what I’m seeing in many, if not all, instances. And the Leica lens gives a lovely rendition that, again, when the image fits within the performance parameters of the sensor, is simply splendid. And it was with the green door.
But the abandoned house wasn’t done with me. Because farther down the wall was yet another, non-existent, door. This time the wall textures and the spreading vine, showing signs that Fall is here, was the most attracting part of the image, though moving a bit left helped create a sense of depth through the door opening and wall behind.
Two nice little photographs. Not bad for one house. Little did I know the house wasn’t done with me yet. As we walked down the alley and came upon the front of the house, yet another door called to me. Who am I do do anything but listen and do what it says. So I photographed it.
This time if was a detail, of colors, materials and textures that needed to be framed and photographed.
Ann and I have talked a lot about image making this trip. And while we have not really had any great photo sessions, we have made some decent images (Ann just might have a great one from our foray in the Fanal Forest . . . though she’ll never admit it). Images that have some qualities of note, interest for the eye, or revealing of the subject, conveying the sense of light, or the power of an ocean swell. Most of these images are not complete, or fall just a bit short of an incredible photograph. But they are worth making nonetheless. It’s how we train our eyes, our minds, and our technical skills so that we not only see those special moments that can offer an excellent photograph, we’re fit and ready for them when they happen.
So, despite my failed plan for a morning photo session, these three doors made the day photographically worth while. And that is a good thing.