Over the last year I fell in love. And yes, I'm already married. Happily married at that. Thankfully we both fell in love together with a small collection of islands in the middle of the North Atlantic: the Azores.
Due to my spouse's work taking him to the Azores mid-last year, I started visiting him on a regular basis and exploring the islands. At first, it was just the island he lived on and then I branched out to explore several of the others that make up this nine island archipelago. Of course, by exploring I mean photographing the Azores.
And how could I not! Never did I expect to find such varied terrain, lush forests, or dense microclimates on such small oceanic rocks, but these islands are bursting with small scenes, rugged seascapes, and phenomenal seasonal displays of floral beauty and moody weather. Add to that the laid back friendliness of the local people along with the hearty and heartwarming food and, to me, it is everything I could really want in a location, short or long term.
Photographing the islands throughout the seasons and across the last year has given me a bit of insight into the changes these islands experience seasonally and what photographic opportunities the Azores has to offer at different times.
Starting with my first visit last October, the shortest of my visits, the autumn rains were just picking back up. While the land was still green and I thought was lush, it was nowhere near as lush as it would be on my subsequent visits. It was during this visit I explored the UNESCO World Heritage City of Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island's capital. With the terracotta roofs, traditional hand-crafted and painted tile mosaics, ballast stone paved streets, and an overall bright atmosphere, this city is not only a pleasure to walk but also provides plenty of picturesque opportunities.
My following visits were both longer allowing more time to focus on what natural secrets the islands had to share with me, and natural beauty that Terceira and Sao Miguel had to offer. Starting with Terceira, I was lucky to find a great local photographer and guide, Juca of Azores Expeditions. It has been such a pleasure to get to know the island through his eyes and his stories while his approach still allowed me the freedom to form my own views. With his help, I started my exploration of Terceira's dark forests, rugged coastlines, and hidden waterfalls.
While each island has a similar combination of elements (they are all related as a single archipelago), they are also unique in the flavor in which they hold these elements. To me, it makes sense that Terceira has the UNESCO city as it feels like the most "cultured"* or "domesticated" island I visited.
*Please don't read this as the others are not cultured as each has their own flair and flavor of culture. Please continue reading for a more descriptive reasoning.
Terceira not only boasts the most impérios or Holy Spirit houses of any of the islands but also holds many of the more traditional festivals throughout the year, from the village bull runs to Carnaval during Shrovetide. The island is also home to a cattle population that is almost double that of the human population (just over 50,000 people). There are citrus and vineyards on island to add to the agricultural footprint beyond the typical crops grown for both cattle and human consumption.
Compared to other islands such as Sao Miguel or Flores (both I will talk about shortly), Terceira's topography even has a more laid back and gentle feel to it. While there are hills, lava tubes, and craggy coastlines with the occasional sandy beach, they are more genteel slopes and the hand-of-man, evidenced from each vista, lends a more tamed landscape. This makes for easier trails, with many vistas being little more than back road pull outs. The key is knowing which backroads though...
Sao Miguel on the other hand, seems to strike a balance between wild pockets of nature and the modern trappings of society, as it is the largest and most populous island of the Azores. It is also the most popular island for tourists to visit and is the primary island for flights in and out of the archipelago.
Here the mix of picturesque rolling fields is interspersed with a wild tangle of subtropical laurissilva forests, with their broad-leafed vegetation overhung by mixed canopies of deciduous and evergreen trees over clear flowing rivers and hidden waterfalls. Sleepy, historic villages give way to secret coastline views that hold bolder beaches, sea caves, and stoic monoliths.
This creates a stunning combination of elements all in one area for photographers to enjoy. Add to the mix weather patterns that provide substantial chances for stunning sunsets and moody mountain peaks and I can't think of a better place for a nature photographer to explore.
During my July visit, I met up with another renowned Azorean photographer, Bruno Azera, who is one of the foremost photography guides for the islands. An outgoing and creative photographer, he loves both his home land of the Azores as well as photography and it shows through his knowledge of both.
Teaming up with him, I visited the far most western island of Flores in July (as well as making another visit to Sao Miguel). Long touted as the most beautiful island and named for the massive amounts of flowers that grow there, Flores is a pearl among gems. Rural with limited services, it is one of the only islands to have areas of land truly untouched by man or domestic beast. The sheer vertical basalt rims, remnants of their volcanic origins, lord over lush slopes that lead down to deep valleys or end in sea cliffs where lapis blue waters frolic in the current mood of Poseidon. All of this enhanced through natural pops of color, sometimes to the extreme where blankets of blooms cover hillsides so that, at a distance, Nature seems to have decided to paint-by-number at some point.
We had a blast exploring both Flores and Sao Miguel together, working well as a team and I cannot wait to continue our partnership as he and I will be co-leading a spring photography tour in 2025 that will include three islands over the course of nine days! More details and registration for this exciting tour can be found on my Photo Adventures page.
Overall, the small north Atlantic archipelago of Azores is bursting at the seams with photographic opportunities for those willing to make the journey. While they do not give up the photographic gems easily, beauty abounds across all the islands.
Outstanding work with these gorgeous images, Alyce. I really love how you were able to capture the vibrance of the lush greenery and your images with the water and using those filters just blew me away. I really never heard much of anything about the Azores until you mentioned it. I just fell in love with your amazing images. Plus, it was good to see the Sony A7RV with the Tamron 17-50mm lens! 😍😍Be safe on your travels-Lori