Nuno Caldiera

Landscape | Last Updated: January 19, 2021

I’m Nuno Caldeira, a geographer, photographer and videographer based in the Atlantic Ocean in the Portuguese island of Madeira.

If you are a fan of football / soccer, you are aware it’s the homeland of Cristiano Ronaldo…Yes the one which has the airport named after him with that iconic bust. Indirect FIFA World Cup 2018 mention, check.

I live in a marvellous place for hiking, outdoor activities in the mountains or by the sea. Mixing my love for adventures and photography, landscape is my favourite type of photography.

My camera is a Canon 6D as it fits my needs and I’m a big fan of the features that Magic Lantern firmware allows you to do. My strap of choice is the Peak Design leash, which makes photographers’ lives easier when you need to take the strap off for video, instead of spending 10 minutes to remove it.

I’m known for my creative shots and tilt shift look-alike landscapes. I’m a Lensbaby addict and their gear strongly influenced my style. I started by using their Muse and now use the Composer Pro to mount their optics and easily change styles by just exchanging optics. I use either the Edge 80 optic or Edge 50 for tilt shift photos with the real bokeh. Or for a more creative mood with their Sweet optics (Sweet 35 or Sweet 50) or the older optics like the Plastic Optic or the Zone Plate.

What I love about Lensbaby is their constant reinvention with their newest products like the Twist 60 for its swirly bokeh, the Velvet 56 with its smooth look, and their most recent Burnside 35 that is tack sharp, but still in line with Lensbaby’s creative uniqueness of adding an effect on camera. Whenever I want crazy, wide perspective photos I always pick their 8mm Circular Fisheye with a reflective barrel.

For carrying all my gear along with the essentials for hiking or on adventures, I trust my Wandrd Access Duffel. I love its size (carry-on dimension), the fact that it’s weatherproof and versatile, (I can just take one of the cubes with me if I’m not needing all the gear) and that it assures me that my gear is all safe and out of the elements.

When it comes to tripods, nothing comes close to the stability and versatility of the Albert, the carbon fibre tripod/monopod from 3 Legged Thing. It can be tall, it can get really low, it can be inverted, it can be used as a video rig, it has multiple footwear for different types of terrain, it’s like the Swiss army knife of tripods… but it’s light! I also recommend their QR11-L bracket for the camera, which is very useful when you want to take your camera out of the tripod or switch into portrait mode or just attach a magic arm for additional gear.

For audio I trust the classic Zoom H4n, but might get one RODE VideoMic Pro in the future just to avoid having to carry dedicated batteries for audio.

I recently got into 360 photography and video, for which I use the Xiaomi Mijia Sphere along with the carbon fibre Telesin 2.7 meters selfie stick.

This tall selfie stick (get ready for jokes “why are you fishing up in the mountains?” by passers) allows me to make tiny worlds, time lapses (when attached to my trusty 3 Legged Thing tripod, the selfie stick bottom has a 1/4 thread that can be mounted on a tripod) and easily achieve fake aerial photos from a unique perspective. It can also be used along with my GoPro Hero 5.

To finish it up I also use these 360 images, along with my Gopro to contribute to Mapillary (they’re a photo repository that recently reached 300 million from contributors like me) to improve maps on OpenStreetMap (apps like Maps.me or OSMand use OpenStreetMap).

That way I can help others hike along Madeira Island and also help out fellow photographers that want to scout places prior their adventures. Told you I’m also a geographer, so don’t be surprised to find a mix of photos and maps in one place :).

If you need any help or tips, hit me up.

www.iamnunocaldeira.com