Location: Madeira, Portugal

The island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean sits 400 miles off the coast of Morocco.  I first visited in 1994 after I figured out that the island had world-class, uncrowded and (largely) undiscovered surf hiding under its thousand-foot-plus cliffs.  What I failed to predict, however, was how jaw-droppingly beautiful it was going to be.  I thought places like this only existed in fairly tales and children’s books about dragons and elves.  So on my second trip, I brought my 4x5 camera.  Unfortunately (for everyone else, not me) was the fact that certain villagers in the town where I stayed insisted on throwing their garbage from the cliffs and into the sea, despite the fact that the municipality had been offering garbage collection for over a decade.  Old habits die hard, as they say.  Just under the cliffs in Jardim do Mar was a wealthy selection of junk, from which I chose a rusty school chair frame to prop upon the rocks for a portrait.  Sitting pretty, gotta love it.