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2012Landscape Photography in Pernera, Cyprus – A well deserved holiday!
Sunrise in Pernera, Cyprus
It’s been a while since I last updated my blog. Personally, things haven’t been fantastic, which is why it was great to recently visit Cyprus and have two weeks in the sun. Naturally though, I wasn’t going to relax all of the time – so I took my camera along with me to see what I could get in the way of landscape photography and seascape photography whilst I was out there. Read on for more photographs!
I stayed in the Anais Bay Hotel in Pernera – a really nice hotel, only a minute or so’s walk from the seafront. The first week was pure relaxation, sitting by the pool, enjoying a Keo (or two) and just catching up with some relaxation in the shade! One morning however, whilst lounging on one of the sunbeds I heard a rustle and the sound of something falling on to the sun bed next to me. Thinking it was just a leaf from a nearby tree, I was shocked to find a massive locust sitting there, catching some rays.
One of the many locusts in Cyprus
As the sun got hotter, I moved into the bar area where I started enjoying a nice cold Keo whilst reading my Kindle. As I did so, out of the corner of my eye I saw something climbing up the support bar next to me. Thinking it was just another locust I couldn’t believe my eyes when I had a proper look and saw it was a Praying Mantis! I’d never seen one up close before and I knew I had to get a photograph of it, so I called over to my wife to keep an eye on my beer while I ran up to the hotel room, grabbed my camera and macro lens and ran back down to get a photograph of it. As I was doing so, I became aware that some of the other guests were talking about me, saying things like “Oh, he must be photographing one of those mantises”. Turns out they were quite common! After receiving a tip-off that there was one hiding on a banana tree around the corner I went off to see if I could get some snaps of it.
Praying Mantis on a Banana Tree
Bingo! Lovely contrast between the tree and the green leaves, and a mantis that posed for the camera! I couldn’t have asked for much more!
After that, I put my camera away for a few days, as the weather started turning poor and I didn’t really want to venture out to shoot any landscapes. By poor, I mean we had thunder and lightning of epic proportions.
I’d set my alarm for 6am one morning so I could go out and get some seascapes before I had to come back to England, but when I woke up, the constant flashes of lightning from behind the curtains suggested that it was highly unlikely that I’d be venturing out that morning! From the safety of the hotel room I decided to set up my camera and see if I could try and catch a lightning strike.
Lightning storm from Room 207 at the Anais Bay Hotel!
Using a combination of long exposures and sheer luck I managed it. The lightning was mostly out at sea, but there was the occasional bolt overhead, which I was fortunate enough to capture. As the lightning was so frequent, I decided to set up my camera on video mode and record what was happening outside. It gets interesting about 40 seconds in…
The next morning I tried again to get a sunrise, and managed it – which is what you see at the top of the page. Shortly after taking that photo I was joined by one of the locals, who thought it would be good to join me in watching the sun come up.
Watching the sun come up
After getting some of the ‘bigger picture’ photographs, I then turned my attention to a type of shot I wouldn’t normally take…
Rising tide
And finally, I turned my camera round to capture the typical picture postcard beach scene at Pernera.
Pernera Beach
And then that was it! Time to come home, two weeks in the sun well and truly over with a return to England in near zero-degree temperatures!
Until next time!
