Photography Lovers End of Year Contest

What a great idea from the photography lovers community to wrap the year; show a collection of our favourite photos of this year? Count me in! If you haven't heard about the contest before, check the original post here!

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Well, no point in talking about how crazy this year has been. I had to restrict my travelling to my country, but fortunately for me, there are so many great places to explore that i really had a blast. For the ones that browse this blog, you know what my favourite photography topics are, and I hardly post about anything else: nature and wildlife are a big part of my life.

So, more than fair that this humble collection is a mix of both topics!

The birds

My first vacations of the year were in the southern part of the country. I was hoping to do some birdwatching, and actually found a spot I hadn't visited before. It was a salt flat, and tons of water birds were there... including this species. Pied avocets, Recurvirostra avosetta, are a common species, and this one is probably my favourite photo of them. Either that, or the next one. They were taken on the same day, just a few minutes apart.

And on the topic of favourite photos, here's another one:

Greater flamingos, Phoenicopterus roseus, were in big numbers here. I got a little frustrated with the photos, since they are a very shy species, not allowing a decent approach; and 99% of the photos were somewhat blurry (using a big zoom without a tripod + a photographer wannabee do tend to produce these). But loved the way they lined up in this photo.

This was part of the group, flying away to a place without cameras pointed at them.

Wrapping this part with one of my non wildlife photos in the vacations. Mind you, it does have a bird... but a different kind of bird.

It was near sunset when I was leaving the birdwatching place, and found this: an abandoned factory, partially crumbled. And on top of a chimney, a representation of a stork. I'm not an artistic person at all, but the location seemed perfect! It looked even cooler at the golden hour, as if it wanted to fly away to the sunset.

The views

This part will have some wildlife too, but it was the landscapes that really made an impression in these vacations. I visited a few islands in Açores, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. The three islands had their differences, but the nature in each of them made me want to come back without a doubt.

Windmills were a common sight in these islands, especially here in Pico. Pico is the name of the island, but also the name of the mountain covered in clouds: the highest point in Portugal, at 2351 meters. This was the view from Lajes, the first place where I've stayed; just a few meters from a natural swimming pool, in the middle of the rocks.

One of the typical Azorean flowers are the Hydrangeas. And I had to stop in the middle of the road when I realised how cool this setting was. I was high in the mountains, where fog is a common ocurrence; not many cars pass here, so it was safe to stop and photograph the path to the fog, surrounded by the green and the flowers.

This was a special one.
Not because I was staring at a field of clouds. It's because I was doing it at 2351 meters, on the very top of the highest portuguese mountain. I came alone (which was a dumb thing to do; if you go, get a friend or a guide!), and after a veeeery steep climb, there I was! The wind was so strong that I didn't dare to use the smartphone, this one was taken with the bridge camera, that I could grip better. I didn't try to frame, or compose; just pointed and clicked. A wonderful experience, that left me walking in a very strange way for the following two days.

Leaving you a photo on the way up too:

Açores are also known for their marine wildlife. It's one of the top spots in the world for whale watching. For the second time I tried to see them, and for the second time I didn't. But got to see a ton of dolphin species as a consolation prize.

The group of stripped dolphins,Stenella coeruleoalba, was swimming fast, jumping in and out of the water in a rythmic motion. Adults and juveniles were there, and this was the first time I saw this species; well, I didn't even knew this species existed until this day! So felt even more blessed for being able to witness this show.

Other species, as the bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, weren't that keen on jumping. But thought the sight of the fins with Pico in the background had to be taken on camera; especially since this day we could see the very top of the mountain!

Wrapping it up with a view of another island, São Jorge. I've spent way less time on this island than I wanted, but that's a great reason to go back.

In this island, a specific type of landscape is common, called fajãs. They are small strips of land that enter through the sea, as the one on this photo. Down there was the starting point of an amazing nature trail, that connected this fajã with another one, whose tip we can see appearing behind the mount. It was a warm day, and took a little more time than expected; but with views like this, I won't complain!

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My wishes for 2022 is that I can witness views as great as these ones... preferably in a world where common sense becomes present again.

Hive on!

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