farmland
From all the places I’ve ever been, Italy was definitely one of my favourites. The food, the views, the architecture, and the culture of this country are all incredible and like nowhere else in the world. Back then I used to photograph with my first ever DSLR camera, my trusty crop-format Canon 7D. Even so, I still like many of my images from Assisi, a little town in the region of Umbria surrounded by beautiful countryside.
Following on from my previous blog post, the drive back from the sheep farm in Dunedin also provided some soft golden light on the fields and surrounding landscapes. This made for some more images of the rolling farmland and ocean so typical of the South Island of New Zealand.
New Zealand is full of spectacular farmland. Whilst in Wanaka, I came across some beautiful countryside scenery, including a number of deer and sheep farms. It was late in the afternoon and the fog started rolling into the horizon, creating a barrier between the trees in the foreground and the surrounding mountains. Here are some of my favourite images of the surroundings of a deer farm we stumbled upon by the side of the road.
The Douro is one of the largest rivers in Portugal, and flows from Spain to near the city of Porto. It is the world’s oldest demarcated wine region, and a World Heritage Site. It was a change of landscape from our travels through the small medieval towns of Portugal. Douro Valley is a great place to relax and enjoy the vibrant green landscapes, a good glass of wine, and some local olive oil to boot.
The town of Marvão is surrounded by typically Portuguese countryside. Even in the stark afternoon light, the landscape comes alive with the yellows and greens of the endless farms extending in every direction. In retrospect, I would have liked to photograph a sunrise over these fields, as I imagine the softer yellow would have made for even more breathtaking views.
Not far from the village of San Cristóbal, there is a spectacular little-known valley where women dressed in traditional Bolivian fashion shepherd their free-ranging llamas. This was by far the best surprise of our recent travels through Bolivia - an unplanned and spontaneous suggestion by the local driver.
On our way out of the village our driver asked, “Would you like to see some amazing llamas?”, to which we responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!”.
Little did we know the scenery would be this breathtaking. I hope you enjoy these images of llamas in their fantastic natural setting.
Following a snowy morning in Lake Tekapo, our short South Island roadtrip ended with a long drive back to Christhurch through the countryside. We stopped several times along the way to photograph the snow-covered pastures.
Over the next few months I will be returning to New Caledonia and spending two weeks in St Andrews, in Scotland. More photos coming soon!
