Photograph courtesy of Daniel López, El Cielo de Canarias
Daniel López has been chasing stars since he was nine years old. First, lying on his back at night in the middle of the Huelva countryside, where his father took him to see the Perseids in a spectacle of “pure magic.” Decades later, armed with his van, his hammock, and his ultra-precise telescope, he seeks extraordinary stellar phenomena in the skies of Tenerife. No one better exemplifies how art and science sometimes speak as one when it comes to the intangible, the abstract, and the possible that seems impossible.
This autumn, his incredible photographs of the Canary Islands’ skies were featured in the “Star Bright” exhibition in the Abama Gallery. His project, El Cielo de Canarias (The Sky of the Canary Islands), has delighted all the visitors, residents, and art lovers who have passed through our exhibition hall.
“This has been my first experience with a private exhibition for the general public, and I must say that I’m very happy. It’s been very satisfying to talk to the people who came to see it or were interested in purchasing work. A very positive experience,” stated the astrophotographer, who has been photographing stars and cosmic phenomena for more than 15 years. His photographs, displayed in major international institutions such as the National Art Center in Tokyo, the Madrid Planetarium, and the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex-NASA, are largely scientific and educational in nature. However, at Abama, they were shown for the first time to people who, beyond the natural phenomena they represent, were fascinated by their beauty.
The photographs in the exhibition were taken by one of his cameras that allows for exposures of up to 30 seconds. Some of López's most interesting work, however, has been done with a telescope or is a hybrid between still photography and time-lapse video. One of these videos, previously unseen, was presented at the Palacio de Villalba gastronomic experience as part of the X Abama Owners Cup, which this year was dedicated to the skies of Tenerife. "In addition to presenting the video, we had the opportunity to look at the sky through the telescopes of several certified guides, and it was amazing to see how interested people were. I was really struck by how some people watched the video over and over again," he notes.
Astrophotography is a mixture of technique, art, patience, and technology. Sophisticated computer programs help professionals like López edit the images taken by the telescope. “It's a job that's a bit like being an archaeologist,” he jokes when explaining how a piece can be the result of images taken over several weeks, in long exposures of up to 20 minutes and hours of editing with specialized programs. “When I started, our challenge was to record certain phenomena. Today, we have the technology to do so, but we have to spend many hours cleaning up the images because space debris has multiplied exponentially. We’ve made great strides in raising awareness about light pollution, but there is still a lot of work to be done in regulating everything up there,” he explains.
About to record a comet at the El Teide Observatory, which he will observe in the morning and at night for several days on behalf of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC), López knows that his incredibly precise work could not be done under any sky but this one. "The best skies in the world are in the Canary Islands (Tenerife and La Palma), Chile, and Hawaii. We are in a privileged location where several conditions are met: on Mount Teide, due to its height, we have 2.5 kilometers less atmosphere to contend with, and we also have a mountain climate that eliminates humidity. We have the trade winds, the ocean, the homogeneous climate of an island, the laws against light pollution... Everything favors good visibility and photo resolution," he explains.
Fascinated by what he’s been doing for more than 20 years, since he left his job as an industrial electronics engineer, packed his bags and signed a contract to operate the telescopes at the Teide Observatory, López is proud to be working in the field about which he’s passionate and of having been published in NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day multiple times, in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, in National Geographic, and more. “If you live in Tenerife and look up, the sight is incredible, isn't it? Just traveling to the Teide is crazy.” We asked him if he ever takes pictures with his cell phone. “Sure, now you can even photograph the moon. But if you want details, you need equipment.”
