Volcano Walk (September 2018)

This selection of photographs follows on from the previous posts and documents a walk to the top of  featuring Montana Roja in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote.

Montana Roja is a cone volcano with an almost perfect circular rim and crater. It is estimated to be 800,000 years old and 194 metres high. The route to the top is quite steep but well worth the climb for the views. The first image shows the highest point on the rim and what I believe to be some form of monument - although it has seen better days, whatever it is! In the distance is the island of Los Lobos off the coast at Corralejo, Fuerteventura:

The next three images show the path to the top: 

Once at the top there is a path around the rim and walk across the crater. The first image shows two people walking from one side to the other which give an idea of the scale of the crater. In the base of the crater people have arranged rocks into the shape of names and messages some of which can just about be seen in the last image. 

There are panoramic views of Playa Blanca from the top including the Los Ajaches mountains and in the far distance the Timinfaya National Park:

Lastly these are a selection of close up studies of the side of the volcano (obviously taken from the base of the volcano). I particularly liked some of the colours and rock textures:

Montana Roja (September 2018)

In past years I would have taken more wide angle photographs whilst away on holiday, being eager to capture as much of the landscape as possible. These days I take relatively few and I am more likely to select a focal length of 50mm or above. I guess this reflects a change in my photography towards the more intimate landscape and abstract subjects.

Of the wider angle shots I did take in Lanzarote most featured Montana Roja, an extinct volcano in Playa Blanca, and the more distant Los Ajaches mountains. These were some of the results. I particularly like the first image which could have featured in my previous new topographic posts due to the combination of a partially completed road and the line of villas below Montana Roja:

New Topographics (September 2018)

In my recent 'unfinished villas' posts I stated that I found photographing aspects of the development both interesting and challenging but didn't offer any further explanation. In this post I would like to expand upon this leading to a selection of photographs influenced by 'new topographics'.

There is clearly a big contrast between the natural environment of the Timanfaya National Park in Lanzarote (see my previous post) and holiday resorts like Playa Blanca. Given the relatively young age of the volcanoes in the National Park it is extraordinary that less than 300 years later the island is dominated by the tourism industry with a high proportion of people travelling from another island almost 3000 miles away. It is a strange world!

Our holiday to Lanzarote wasn't our first, we actually visited the island about 25 years ago, and arriving this time we immediately recognised how much development had taken place since the 1990s - something we confirmed when we returned home and studied our old holiday photographs. Many of the places that we enjoyed on the current holiday weren't built when we first visited more than 20 years ago.

Whilst it is evident that there has been a boom in visitors since the 1990's there is also evidence of the problems caused by the financial crash in 2008 which seemingly suspended or halted the spread of development with a corresponding impact on the natural environment.

As I observed this, I was reminded of the New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape exhibition and photography movement from the 1970's. The contributing photographers changed the perception of landscape photography by focusing on the relationship between people and nature. Their photographs included industrial intrusions in the landscape and mundane scenes of urbanisation in the USA.

Increasingly, I find myself inspired by this type of photography and the New Topographic approach influenced this selection of images taken of a road that runs alongside Montana Roja; an extinct volcano in Playa Blanca. One particular stretch looks unused, not one car passed whilst I was walking along the pavement. I can see from a map that the road eventually joins a route which circles the volcano and I did wonder whether the road was prepared for further development that never took place.

My new topography selection builds upon my previous posts to present a different view of a holiday island. It doesn't seek to make any value judgments in this respect and simply reflects what I see as an landscape photographer:

More information on New Topographics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Topographics