Garajonay: One of Europe’s Last Ancient Forests
It’s 7:00am and still dark outside. While the rest of the village seems asleep, I'm double-checking my camera bag: Charged batteries? SD cards, tripod? Check. I’m all set for a third and final attempt. Right, left, right again. My car slowly makes its way up the mountains. And way before reaching my shooting location, I see the first signs of a successful photography day ahead: Raindrops on my windshield! Finally!
I am on my way into the Garajonay National park, located on the canary island of La Gomera. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the national park contains one of the last remaining ancient forest in Europe. The consistent humidity in the mountains and the lack of agricultural clearance could preserve a forest that was once spread across all of Southern Europe. Over thousands of years, flora, and fauna could freely grow and maintain the ecosystem that can be found today in the mountains of La Gomera: laurel trees, men-high ferns, moss and numerous species of birds. Although I was too interested in the last one, to be honest.
What sounds like a dream shooting location for every landscape photographer, becomes even better when considering that the forest is mostly (!) bathed in thick clouds. This means foggy conditions, doesn’t it? Yes, under one condition: Clouds.
Unfortunately, for the first 9 days of our vacation, my girlfriend and I had perfect (what I would call) tourist weather: Sunshine and only a few high clouds. No signs of foggy forests whatsoever. Bummer. Luckily, this changed towards the end of our stay! And on one of the last days, the morning with which I started this post, the forecasts finally predicted low clouds and rain.
And what can I say. When arriving at the shooting location that morning, I got all I could hope for: Fog in the forest, the forecasted rain, and even the wind dropped during the day. I had 7 hours of great photography conditions in the forest I had wished to photograph for such a long time. It doesn’t get better than this! (Tip: You can click on each image to view it in its full size.)
