Lanzarote, the magical island.
With Leire Unzueta we fell in love with the mist and the mystery of the forests of Bizkaia, her homeland. The subtlety of her photographs brought us closer to some unique landscapes, perhaps through which we had only traveled through our imagination in crime novels or stories.
She gave it a touch of reality and took us to the sunrises in the forests of the Basque Country “just as she felt them”. And she has continued to do so, much more so in times of pandemic when the mobility of this landscape photographer it was scarce. However, in October 2020, enjoying the lack of confidence in the Basque Country, she managed to travel and disconnect on the island of Lanzarote.
Thanks to that trip we can enjoy a sequence of unique photos. “My husband has been to several Canary Islands, so I chose this time. We thought that Lanzarote would be the ideal place to go all over it for the little time we had. Probably our next visit will be to El Hierro or Tenerife” , she explains to Traveler.es.
In Lanzarote she discovered an unexpected landscape. “Although I have been lucky enough to travel to many different countries, it is true that I did not imagine that something so spectacular could be relatively so close to the Peninsula. The area reminded me a lot of Iceland, with all the exceptions of course. We found just what we were looking for, since it was low season, there were hardly any people, so we were very grateful to have the corners for ourselves, ”she adds.
Lanzarote through the eyes of Leire Unzueta.
Through her lens, she takes us to some of the best known places on the island such as the Timanfaya National Park , the Famara cove , the River Viewpoint (in the cover photo of this article), the Gulf , the Cactus Garden , the Carmelina House in Punta Mujeres or the Raven Volcano , among others.
“This series is from mid-October of last year, so we went in full fall . The truth is that it was a joy to have such pleasant temperatures and a rich sun during that week. It seemed that we were going back in time to briefly enjoy a second summer”, she tells Traveler.es.
Raven Volcano, Lanzarote.
Leire confesses to us, yes, having left her comfort zone to make this sequence of images . If before she was more interested in Nordic landscapes, greener, full of mountains and on cloudy days, now she has dared with the overflowing light and sunsets of the island of Lanzarote, although she confesses that she would not move to the island .
“We continue to live in Durango , Bizkaia, and we have no intention of leaving here. I think I would never change how lucky I am to live in a small town surrounded by forests, mountains and with a coast as beautiful as ours”.
And although in this new stage he has put himself on the starting line many times, he thinks that all his works continue to have that thread in common. “I want to think that photographs continue to have my same look despite the change in light, atmosphere and place . On the hard drives I have photographs of the Sahara desert, the jungles of Chiapas, the Norwegian fjords and the glaciers of the Andes and Himalayas. But I think that does not change my way of photographing. I always try to portray the beauty of each place so I hope that thread will not be lost as I travel from one side of the world to the other.”
You can see the whole sequence of Lanzarote on your Instagram profile.
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