URIBE A photographer’s Guide An essential tool to discover Uribe with your camera Content 6 Introduction 3 Coastal landscape Introduction 8 he region of Uribe is located in the northeast of the Historical 4 Inland landscape TTerritory of Bizkaia, in a privileged place, as much for its proximity How to use this guide 10 to the sea as for its distance with the most important populations of Recommended equipment Historical landscape its surroundings, including the capital, Bilbao. When to shoot 12 Active landscape From the 598 meters of Mount Jata, true epicentre that rules everything, we can observe the landscape diversity of the 14 Sopela environment. With breathtaking cliffs, where the Cantabrian Sea Derio 45 Gorliz 18 displays all its bravery, also creating idyllic coves and beaches full Larrabetzu 46 Barrika 22 of unique flora and fauna, the whole landscape is presided over by Lemoiz 48 Fruiz 26 bucolic fishing villages and tourist places of great fame. Sondika 50 Urduliz 28 As soon as we leave the coast, Uribe also offers us the spectacle Zamudio 51 Meñaka 30 of the rural Bizkaia, full of hamlets, hermitages, churches and tower Mungia 52 Maruri-Jatabe 32 houses that will lead us through the most genuinely Basque art, Laukiz 54 folklore and history. Gatika 34 Arrieta 55 Bakio 36 From the Abra and going up the Nervión estuary, we can discover Loiu 56 Erandio 38 the past and present industrial remains, the engine of the modernity Berango 57 Plentzia 40 of the region. Gamiz-Fika 58 Lezama 44 This guide is a tool to discover Uribe in each of its facets and nuances, to enjoy landscapes, cuisine, culture and history at the click of your camera. The camera may just be an excuse, but a powerful excuse that will take us back again and again to one of the most diverse, beautiful and living territories of Euskadi. Charge the batteries, take your camera and be ready to enjoy. Happy photographic journey! 3 How to use this guide Recommended materials ribe photo guide is designed to be accessible to any amateur owadays, the progress of technology applied to photography with any photographic skills. There is no need to be an expert, has achieved that we can make great photographs with almost Unor to have an expensive photographic equipment to travel through Nany device, something unthinkable just ten or fifteen years ago. these pages with your camera. From a mobile phone equipped with enough camera resolution to a The photographic sites have been ordered in a large tour through small compact camera or an advanced digital reflex, each and every the different places and landscapes of the region, accompanying the one of them will be enough to enjoy our photographic tours. descriptions with images of the most suggestive and photogenic ones. The addition of accessories to our equipment will depend on factors such as the time of day, the amount of light and the view to be Each main image provides the GPS and GD situation of each location, photographed. In any case, it is recommended to have some minimum thus facilitating the visitor’s identification of each zone. However, accessories such as a tripod -now accessible to all pockets-, for it is recommend that the indications are not taken as absolute, low lighting conditions, and a good bag or case that protects our but as a starting point to be able to explore the place and develop equipment in any weather condition. your own vision of the environment. Photography is a creative and If our camera allows it, a polarizing filter will enhance the volume subjective activity; each person has the opportunity to capture the and colour of the landscape and will eliminate annoying glare. landscape in a different way. We have provided the images with a series of indications that will help you photograph the places, such as the best time and season of the year, light conditions, or the best recommended photographic When to shoot accessories. For the most demanding photographers, a brief technical description is provided about how and which objectives and s a general rule, the most propitious hours to photograph accessories have been used to take the photographs of this guide. landscapes like those of Uribe are the early and the late light of Athe day, especially in places where sunrises and spectacular sunsets at the edge of the sea are available: the so-called Golden Hour. Before sunrise or after sunset, the sky acquires a deep blue colour, which is called Blue Hour, a moment when we can take beautiful great photographs with the help of a tripod. Technical suggestions Geographical indications The central hours of the day in rainy or stormy days offer great Most of this photo guide runs along the path of Great Route dramatic images, with large cloudy formations and epic backlights. GR-280 URIBE. Click on the link to obtain maps and suggestions A good recommendation is to visit the same enclaves, at different on this route times and hours of the day. The result will pleasantly surprise us. GR-280 URIBE 4 5 Gorliz Cliffs f 5.6 1400 s. ISO 200 The coastal landscape of As the seasons last, climatic Another of the great attractions 14-54mm lens at 14mm Uribe covers a large part of the conditions change spectacularly. The for the photographer of the coast Summer. region, from Erandio to Bakio, same location may be immersed in a of Uribe is the variety of flora including also the localities of magnificent sunset, or in medium of that colonizes the most rugged Sopela, Barrika, Plentzia, Gorliz and a maritime storm that raises waves places. A walk along the cliffs when Lemoiz. that are going to crash against the the heathers bloom in spring Coastal The seafront changes from great cliffs. The colour of the sea may and summer is an incomparable steep cliffs to idyllic coves or elegant vary from stormy greyish days to colourful show that offers gorgeous beaches. The landscape offers us turquoise blue or emerald green of compositions. landscape multiple photographic possibilities. sunny days. 6 7 The inland landscape of Uribe we will be immersed in the magic of foggy banks which combined with is essentially rural, surrounded by timeless landscapes. The profusion the warm light of the surroundings mountains and lush forests. An of multiple copses scattered among create dreamy sceneries. Inland intricate landscape made by a the tillage fields surprise us with Another feature of inland Uribe is thousand and one paths that lead us interesting photographic framings its gentle and accessible mountains to centenarian houses, tower houses and light games, especially in the through forest tracks or GR trails that remind us the warlike past of warmth from the first lights of the from where we can take panoramic landscape the Middle Ages in Bizkaia. morning and evening. The proximity pictures. The mountainous peaks While we move a few meters away to the sea and the lush vegetation Sollube and Jata offer us an overview from the big urban towns and cities, promote the formation of low of the whole Uribe. Meñaka Farms f 4 1/60 s. ISO 200 50-200mm lens at 108mm Spring. Church of Fruiz f 5.6 1/2 s. ISO 200 Tripod Both on the coast and 14-54mm lens at 14mm Spring. Golden Hour. inland, the populations form Uribe maintain a rich historical past, either in Romanesque hermitages lost between the forests of the mountains or in the city centres. Discovering the history of a region through the reliefs of capitals and lintels in the lens of a camera allows us to go churches of the region will fill our back in time and look at details that postcards. many times would be unnoticed. The These lands have also been a camera has the ability of forcing us compulsory way for pilgrims and to a careful observation, to look for, travellers for centuries. The North sometimes subtle, features of a place. way to Santiago crosses part of the The converging lines of the steep region. streets of the coastal villages against the backdrop of Cantabrian Sea, the The Uribe historical landscape is colour and warmth of hundreds- an invaluable travel companion that years-old hamlets, or the magnificent will lead us through the culture and roots of the territory, while we make stunning photographs of its magical architectural heritage. Historical landscape A varied natural landscape is The profusion of trails and good the ideal setting for an endless number communications in Uribe makes that of leisure activities in nature that can a simple bicycle and a compact or be combined with photography. It is action camera allow us to combine very easy to organize activities such two hobbies in one. If we are simple Active landscape as photographic hiking, mountain spectators, in any corner we will find photography, nautical activities -as a photographic motive that includes surfing, sailing or kayaking-, and even a magnificent landscape and some paragliding. adventure sport practitioner. GR 280 on its way through Urizar in Lemoiz f 5.6 1/125 s. ISO 200 14-54mm lens at 14m Autumn with rain. SOPELA Arriatera and Atxabiribil The beaches of Arriatera and Atxabiribil are THEME split apart by just a rocky promontory. With its panoramic Coastal Photography views from the cliffs, it is one of the most popular enclaves SEASON of Sopela among photographers. Whether we want to All year take pictures at sunset or at dawn or if our goal is to ACCESS photograph the flight of the paragliders or the virtuous Car / Bizkaibus evolutions of the surfers, we will be at the right place.