this is so cool
I finally, finally got it
I came all the way to the tiny island of Madeira
in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
just to photograph one place, this place, the beautiful forest of Fanal
full of crooked, bent, twisted, and very old trees
but as beautiful as they are, I'm missing just one thing to make really great images here
and it's some fog
it is Monday, the 22nd of November
we got here on Saturday, so a couple days ago
and we've been coming here every day since then
and I'm afraid we'll be doing that for the rest of the week, until I
get those conditions that I came looking for here
it's not like I'm crazy enough to travel thousands of miles just hoping to find
some fog at a random place
this place is supposed to get a ton of fog
it just hasn't happened yet
all I can do now... all we can do now, because I'm joined by Rachel on this trip
is to just wait around
and waiting we did
don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place and I loved my time up there
doing nothing, enjoying the landscape, scouting the best trees, walking around,
talking to the cows... or even napping
I stayed there, patiently waiting, 10 hours every day
I did some photography as well because
there's always something you can do, no matter the conditions
especially in beautiful places
I even got some weather, so I couldn't complain
but in the back of my mind, I knew that's not what I went there for
I didn't want just great images, I was looking for magic
but that wasn't going to happen... just yet
day 4 up here, there's still no fog
but today we have this beautiful rainbow here
look at that
this is the absolute opposite of how I usually do photography
in any other place, at any other time, I would just be driving around and improvising
making images of whatever I might find on my way
but on this trip, I am committing to this one spot
it might turn out to be a big mistake
I might be missing out on a lot of images down at the coast, or in these beautiful mountains
instead of being here, just waiting for something that
might not even happen during the time I have here
it is a risk I'm taking
I think it's a risk worth taking
but I might leave the island empty-handed
I hope not
day 4 was just like day 3, and like day 2, and like day 1
clear, peaceful, sunny, calm, good for the soul
but out in the ocean, something was starting to build up
at last, I got a glimpse of what Fanal could become in the right conditions
as the clouds rolled in and out, they created fleeting but magical moments in the forest
I felt the adrenaline rush as I ran from favorite tree to favorite tree
trying to make the most of those moments
after days of walking the forest, I felt like I knew every inch of it
but everything looked so different in that fog, it was like a whole new world
I had no idea how long I was going to have access to it
after teasing me for 15 minutes, Fanal decided it had had enough
the fog cleared up, and the rain came
I was grateful for what I had seen, but day 4 was over
the magic is about to happen, don't worry
but in this first part of the video, I wanted to show you
how hard it was to get the right conditions
even in a place that gets fog so often
before going back to Fanal, I wanted to thank my Patreons for all their generous contributions
you make all of this possible, so thank you so much
today, I'd like to personally thank John Floyd
someone who's been supporting my work for a long time and keeps doing so
thank you so much, John, for all your support
also, I want to let you know that I'm going to be sharing more behind the scenes
and tips about how to photograph the forest of Fanal over on my Patreon page
I'm going to leave the link in the description down below, just in case you want to join us there
and now let's go back to Madeira
day 5, going back up to Fanal again
it's a little rainy today, I don't know if that's
good news or bad news for my photography up there, for the fog
but I shall find out very soon
so I made it up here, and it is very foggy today
as you can probably see there
there are more people there waiting
but this fog comes at a price today, and it's the rain
it's raining quite a lot
I'm gonna get so wet, and full of mud
but this is so beautiful
hopefully the camera will be okay in the plastic bag
I have my poncho
so I should be mostly fine
most importantly, I have spare socks and spare shoes in the car, which is very important
this is heaven
that is, by far, my favorite image of the trip so far
very, very cool
and now it's not even raining anymore
but yeah, this is so cool
I finally finally got it
my heart is so happy right now
all right, so I'm back in the car
because it's cleared up quite a bit now that it's not raining
I came here to assess damages on my camera gear and on myself because it was raining a lot
I spent an hour out there, and I had... what? 40-45
minutes of really thick fog, most of it with intense rain
but it was so fun, it was so worth it
I think I made at least 2-3 very good images
this is what I came to this island for
I was looking for this
so it got foggy again, I had to run out of the car
I left the video cameras there, and everything
so it's gonna be just my iphone
but this is... this is just incredible
look at this tree
back in the car again, it looks like I got here just in time
it's raining a lot again
it's super foggy, too, it's so beautiful
but probably not the best time to be out there right now
but I'm so happy, I'm so happy because finally I got some time here
I was out there for another couple hours, and the fog was very, very thick
it was not raining, so it was perfect
I'm gonna change again, because I'm all soaked and
yeah, I don't want to get sick in another country during a global pandemic
that would be... probably not fun
day 5 at Fanal, back at it
it's not as foggy today, but it might still get foggy later
so fingers crossed
and it did get foggy
over the next few days, I got more and more of that Fanal magic
often chilly, rainy at times, very, very windy
but always so beautiful
today is not as good, the conditions are not as good as yesterday or the day before
super, super windy
so cool
after 8 days on the island, it was time to say goodbye
there were so many places in Madeira I didn't get to photograph
my approach on this trip was different
but I'm glad I persisted, I'm glad I kept going back to Fanal, day after day
outdoor photography is chaotic, unpredictable, you are at the mercy of nature
she will give when she's ready, but you must be there in order to receive some of it
that's what makes those moments feel so magical
and what makes photography so fulfilling