Family Session at Fanal Forest, Madeira. October 2025
Family · Fanal Forest · October 2025
Fanal works best when the fog comes in from the north and fills the gaps between the trees. That’s the classic version of the location. But on this day in October the sun came through, the sky opened up blue, and the fog stayed on the far edge of the plateau. You could see it sitting on the ridge, not moving. Most sessions here are overcast by design, because overcast is reliable and soft.
The Session
Manuela and her family are Portuguese. They know Madeira, they know the forest. We had no particular agenda beyond being there. Their baby boy was at an age where everything on the ground is worth picking up and examining, which means he wasn’t going to stand still for anything arranged.
The ancient trees have hollows large enough to stand inside, roots that curve into the ground in ways that make natural frames, fallen trunks stretched across the grass. A child that age will find all of it without being directed anywhere.
The cows were out on the plateau. They’re always there, but on a clear day they read differently in a frame: no fog to diffuse them, just animals in a green field behind a family portrait.
The fog eventually came closer, as it usually does. By the end of the session it was sitting just behind the treeline. That gave us both versions of the location in a single session: open light with blue sky, then the quieter, flatter tones when the mist moved in.
Fanal for Family Sessions
Fanal is on the list for family sessions. The trees at Fanal are centuries old. The shapes they grow into are not what trees usually look like.
The drive from Funchal takes about an hour. The plateau is flat and easy to walk, there’s nothing to fall off, and there’s always something new for a child to find on the ground.