3 or 4 years ago now, I went on holiday to Tenerife. My wife and I were both pretty tired and just wanted somewhere to go where we could relax and be lazy on a beach or by a pool. Usually we would do various excursions to get the most out of our time away, but this time we wanted to just sit and not do anything!
Before I went though a good friend pointed out that Mount Teide was in Tenerife and was one of the best dark site locations in the world! Initially I had no plans to take my camera and definitely not a tripod, but I did get the bug!
When we got there I asked if there were any excursions up the mountain, happy to go by myself if need be, and was told there was one, it took you up for a meal, and then champagne above the clouds as the sunset and then a spot to see the stars on the way back. Suffice to say the wife was happy to come along!
The excursion itself was beautiful, and seeing the sunset from above the clouds was magical. Then on the way back we stopped for stars, and I asked the guide if I could setup my tripod etc to shoot etc, being more than just point and shoot photographer with my phone which he happily obliged.
When we got back to the hotel the first thing I said was I want to go back! So I hired my first car abroad, and rather than just pootle round the island, drive it up a mountain lol! It was scary and I did go on the wrong side of the road after getting fuel, but I got up there 2 nights later and sat to wait for the stars to come out.
Below is one of my favourite shots. I was shooting with a 50mm lens as it was my only full frame lens at this point so the below images are composites, i.e. 2-3 images stitched together
And then a couple of landscape shots. The shooting star was genuine too, this is not a photoshop edit..
I also have a couple of unedited shots of the sun above the clouds. My mind couldn't really comprehend this so the clouds looked like a sea to me, and it kinda still does.
I would love to head back here again one day, I have a better camera and better lenses now, but just..what an adventure :)
As a photographer I try to mix what I do in my shots, I've done still life, some macro work, lightpainting and I enjoy a good model shoot. If you'd like to check out any of my other work I'm on Facebook, or you can find me on Instagram under neilru75
Thanks very much for looking
Kind Regards, Neil