Fuerteventura in Black and White
While recently editing the photographs for my post about Teguise, the landscape images I had taken in the winter of 2009 during a holiday on Fuerteventura came unbidden to mind. This Canary Island, too, left a lasting impression on me – not least because of its barren, volcanically shaped expanses, very similar to the volcanic landscape of Lanzarote.
As I am once again engaging more intensively with monochrome imagery, it seemed appropriate to present exclusively black-and-white photographs in this post as well. The landscape of Fuerteventura lends itself particularly well to this approach: the reduced forms of the volcanic cones, the rough surfaces of the lava fields and the wide skies, often traversed by dramatic clouds, unfold in black and white a distinctive, almost timeless drama. Colour recedes here in favour of structure, contrast and the interplay of light.
At the time we undertook several cycling and hiking tours in the area around Tarajalejo and Costa Calma. What has remained especially vivid in my memory are the changeable light moods under frequently overcast skies. Precisely these conditions opened up possibilities for images that possess a certain drama while at the same time conveying a quiet intensity.
The photographs were made with my first digital single-lens reflex camera, a Canon EOS 20D, and the accompanying 28-200 mm kit lens. The optics were far from outstanding, yet proved to be a reliable all-rounder – particularly when travelling, where flexibility and low weight matter more than absolute sharpness or the absence of distortion.
The following images show excerpts from these tours. They preserve something of the atmosphere of those days – and of what continues to fascinate me about monochrome photography to this day: the ability to render the essential visible: lines, forms, structures, light and shadow.
