Spain: Tenerife

The largest member of the of the volcanic Canary Islands archipelago, and home to Mount Teide National Park, Tenerife has a wealth of coastal and desert environments that fuse with the rugged, volcanic terrain to create dramatic rock formations, while the 3,715m peak of Teide itself dominates the skyline.

First Light, Hard Light

In this first series of images, I wanted to depict the contrast between the soft, pastel tones of first light on the plains (still shielded by the mountains to the East) and the hard, direct, orange light as the sun first started to shine directly on the hills ahead.

The first image below was taken at around 5am, as Summer still lingered and light came early.

Here, having passed perhaps no more than half an hour in the scrub, the first direct rays painted the caps of the hills ahead in a vivid orange, plucking them out against the retreating night sky behind.