My Patagonia Do-Over Tour
3 January 2009 - Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig Jig
I'm home. I got in yesterday around noon. Counting cab rides and waiting in airports between flights, it took twenty-seven hours of travel time. Unlike the trip down I was actually able to sleep a bit on my return flights. I'd nod off for twenty minutes or so, have a crazy dream, wake up, stay awake for another twenty minutes or so, and then repeat the process. The dreams woke me up each time. The only one I remember now is one in which I had ten foot long dreadlocks and kept approaching strangers to ask them how I was supposed to keep them clean as I dragged them thru dirt and mud. Dreams are supposed to be windows into your subconscious, but I'm still trying to figure out what the deal with the dreadlocks was. Like I said, I had crazy dreams.
I had a great trip. I had some broad goals for the trip and I feel I met them (Paul, I believe you owe me $100 in photo challenge money). I ended up with nine or ten images I'll be proud to show to family and friends, and that should look good printed big (my goal was to get at least five shots that met these criteria). None of these shots is perfect. One came tantalizingly close. The others missed by somewhat wider margins. But I'm happy with them. One of the reasons I like photography so much is that perfection is elusive. There are always new challenges and things to improve. As I look back at shots I took a number of years ago compared to what I'm shooting now, I see a steady progression, both technically and in how I visualize a scene, so I'm encouraged. I have a long way to go however, but as I said, that's why photography appeals to me the way it does. It's a never ending journey.
I definitely plan to go back to Chile and Argentina again. The scenery is fantastic. My photography hasn't come close to doing it justice. The people are universally friendly and helpful. I need to learn some more spanish. My two trips to the Patagonia area this year, including Buenos Aires in February, have certainly opened my eyes to the region. I'd like to travel down the Chilean coast, stopping in small seaport villages, and photograph the local culture. And I'd certainly like to go back to the big name parks - Torres del Paine and Los Glaciars. But I'd also like to explore some of the less well known places. So much to see, and so little time.
In the days and weeks ahead, I'll be doing final adjustments to my favorite images and posting the results on my site, along with my own personal critique of them. I'll post a link on my main page in the near future. I've examined all the images I've posted on this diary on my main color-managed desktop PC, and they all need some work. Not to get too technical, but I'm OK with the luminance (brightness) of each of the images posted here (my Broooke-o-meter seems to have worked like a charm here - sorry, this is an inside joke of sorts). But they all seem to lack punch, and color could use a little tweaking. My laptop screen, which is what I used to adjust each of the images while in Chile, is fairly contrasty and saturated, so what looked right on the laptop in Chile looks less right on my home PC. Of course, the bigger problem is that you, the viewer, are looking at these images on your own monitors, which will have their own unique characteristics.
A quick thank you to everyone who wrote to me and commented on this diary while I was in Chile. I've gotten emails from family members, my BB, friends, former workshop participants, and even strangers. And a special thank you to Sensai for your long distance critiques and suggestions. I may not have executed on your suggestions as well as I should have, but I hear you and I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and how I can apply it in the future.
A final comment about the title of this entry. It was a saying my dad often used when we'd return from some long family outing. I think what he had in mind was that traveling is fun and good, but it's always nice to come home again. That certainly seems appropriate here.
31 December 2008 (Evening) - Chulengos For New Years Eve
Happy New Years Eve everybody. I got into Punta Arenas around 4:30 and have been looking over the shots I took on the way out of the park. I encountered two herds of guanacos, with lots of chulengos. Yeahhhh. One of my goals for the trip was to get some cute chulengo shots, as well as shots of behavior. I got lucky and mangaged to get shots of play, dominance, and mating behavior, in addition to your basic cute chulengo shots. Here are a few selected from probably two hundred that I took. These are pretty quick edits - there are some white balance differences between the shots that I still need to fix. (WARNING: Some guanaco porn is included).
Your Basic Cute Fluffy Chulengo Shot, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Another Cute Fluffy Chulengo Shot, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Cute Chulengo Overdose, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Happiness Is Running In A Field Of Clover, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
A Little Tussle Breaks Out, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Showing Who's Boss, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
The Chase Is On, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Getting The Heck Out Of Dodge, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Play, Dominance Or Mating Behavior? Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
Making New Chulengos, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
31 December 2008 (Morning) - Sunrise From Galen's Hill
OK, I said there wouldn't be a morning post, but I have a litte time before breakfast starts, so here's a very quick edit of one of my morning shots from atop Galen's Hill. I only got a little yellowish color in the clouds and a little golden light on the Cuernos, but I'll take it. Also, I removed the second and third shots I posted yesterday. I decided they still need a little work before posting.
Sunrise From Galen's Hill, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 31 Dec 2008
30 December 2008 (Evening) - The Weather Gods Finally Took Pity On Me
The weather finally got tolerable this afternoon, on my final full day here. The clouds and rain showers were still doing their thing, but this afternoon they sprinkled in a good bit more sunshine. All I had to do was wait for whatever look I wanted to come along. I decided to spend most of the afternoon near the campground; I never did make it to the Salto Grande location. Hah, an excuse for a future visit :-) I took a ton of shots, and have only been able to spend a few minutes going thru them and selecting a few for processing. Here's one I like.
The Cuernos, Seen From The Pehoe Campground Area, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 30 Dec 2008
Tomorrow I'm hitting the road after catching (hopefully) a colorful sunrise. I've only had one sunrise here with color (if you don't count the rainbow). I plan to leave by the east entrance, by way of Cascada Paine, and stop to photograph anything that catches my eye. I probably won't get to Punta Arenas until late afternoon, and I won't be posting another update to this page until I get there. It's hard to believe this trip is almost over, but I've had a blast and I think I'm happy with my photographic take so far. So, until tomorrow evening, adios.
PS - BB, I didn't get a chance to email you the kitty photos. I'll try to do that tomorrow from Punta Arenas.
30 December 2008 (Morning) - The Cloud That Swallowed The Mountain
Good Morning, all. I'm hiding out in the lounge this morning. It's a shame to be spending time in here on my last full day in the park, but the weather outside is just too nasty. I keep thinking of the saying "when presented with lemons, make lemonade". But I guess I've lost the recipe. So instead I'm lounging. Hopefully the weather will break at some point and I can get out and shoot. There's really only one location on my list that I still haven't shot at - the one just upstream of Salto Grande. So I don't need much of a break. A couple of hours should do it. In any event, I'm happy with the shots I have in the can (there's an old anachronistic expression for you), so if today turns out to be a total rainout, it won't be the end of the world.
This morning I overslept and woke up at 5. Peak color is around 5:15, so I had a little time. I quickly pulled on some clothes, threw on my camera pack, grabbed my tripod, and rushed up the hill behind the hotel. The sky initially looked promising. There was blue to the east, and there was some interesting cloud cover over the mountains. I had planned some alternate compositions at this spot. Now I just needed sunrise color, or at least golden light. But there was a big black cloud to the west that was coming my way. And then I saw a wall of rain crossing the lake toward me. I almost had all of my stuff back in the pack when the rain hit. Anyway, no color, no photos, and one soggy photographer later, I was back in my room. Total time on the hill was about ten minutes. Back to bed. Back up at 8 for breakfast. Here's a quick snapshot of the cloud that swallowed the mountain that I took on the way to breakfast. Unfortunately, it's been an all too typical view while I've been here. Don't be fooled by the sun on the grass. That comes and goes in seconds.
The Cloud That Swallowed The Mountain, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 30 Dec 2008
OK, it's time to rummage into past shots to find something to entertain you with. One of the subjects I had wanted to photograph while here was baby guanacos, which are called chulengos. Calving occurs around late November, so there should be lots of fluffy little chulengos running around. Art Wolfe, a well known photographer, has a DVD video series that he publishes and one of the videos is about Torres del Paine. It's a great series. Anyway, part of that video shows him photographing groups of chulengos. So I was hoping for the same kind of experience on this trip. They must be hiding from me tho. I've gone out twice looking for them with no luck. I've found plenty of isolated guanacos, or small groups of up to four guanacos. But no herds like we saw last February, or like Art shows in his video.
So, in lieu of chulengos, here are two shots of adult gunacos. The first shows a guanaco in his typical environment - wind. And the second is a head crop of another guanaco. Check out the ears. They look like simple tubes. Odd looking.
A Guanaco In His Typical Environment - Wind, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
Guanacos Have Odd Looking Ears, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
And finally, a family of geese (what can I say, it's a slow photo day). Tony, if you're reading, what kind of geese are these? I find it interesting how different the males and females look.
A Proud Mama And Her Brood, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
The Proud Papa, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
Right now there's bright sunlight illuminating the hills next to the hosteria. But at the same time, there's a torrential downpour blowing almost horizontally. Arrrgggghhhh. How can this much rain be falling when there's so much sun? I'm not complaining, I'm simply making an observation :-)
OK, the rain keeps falling, so I'm going to keep typing. For your sake, I hope the rain stops soon :-) Actually, there's only three things I really still wanted to say this morning. First, I've come to realize this park is pretty small. When I was here in February I was with a group, and someone else was driving, so I was a little ignorant of the geography. We did a lot of driving back and forth, so the park struck me as huge. But now that I've driven around it myself, I see that you don't have to go very far in any direction before you come to the park border. The second thing has to do with wildlife. There just isn't much. There's guanacos, and some kind of deer, and puma's and something like a bobcat, and jackrabbits, and cara cara's, and condor's, and that's about it. And compared to Yellowstone, the numbers of each species seems really small. Finally, there's the geology. Just like Yellowstone, Torres del Paine has volcanic origins. I wish I knew more about the geology of this place. I read that the Paine Massif was uplifted 12 million years ago by a lacolith (see here for more info). There are basalt and other volcanic rock formations everywhere. There's not much online specific to this area so I need to find a good english-language book on the subject. If anyone reading this knows of a good reference on Torres del Paine geology (the more detailed and technical, the better), please drop me a line using the email link at the top of the page. Here's a snapshot of a rock formation near the hosteria.
Rock Formations, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
One final final comment. Speaking of volcanic origins, I noticed on the news this morning that Yellowstone has been struck by an unusually large number of tremors lately. These happen all the time, but Bob Smith, the reigning expert on Yellowstone geology, says this is unusual. Yellowstone was born in a caldera-forming volcanic explosion 1.8 milliion years ago. This explosive event was so big that chunks of rock from the area have been found in Lousiana. The place blew it's top again 1.2 million years ago, and again 600,000 years ago. Do you see a pattern - the place blows it's top roughly every 600,000 years. It's been about that long since the last major erruption. These past erruptions threw so much ash into the atmosphere that they approached global extinction-level events. Just a little background on an item in the news today.
29 December 2008 (Morning) - Rainbow Morning
This morning was intense. Got up at the usual time (Oh Dark Thirty). The skies didn't look too promising for color, but I headed out anyway (you just never know). Went to the campground area, got set up, and hunkered down. The wind is back in full force, and my chosen spot was on top of a small hill, so lots of wind exposure. And it was cold out this morning. After half an hour of being pummeled by the wind, there was no color, and I was shivering. I started packing up, but then things started getting golden. Literally. The reddish light of sunrise wasn't going to happen, but golden light was starting to filter thru the clouds. Things started to look interesting. Then, glory hallelujah, there's a rainbow just to the west of the Cuernos. I couldn't pull my stuff back out of the camera bag fast enough. But what goes with rainbows? That's right, rain. It started to sprinkle. Enough to force me to wipe the lens and my GND filter before every shot. But I caught my rainbow.
A Patagonia Rainbow, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 29 Dec 2008
With the rainbow the morning went from blah to holy cow. I sat next to my tripod, snapping away, cursing the wind and the rain. I photographed the scene for quite awhile, trying out different compositions and focal lengths. But after an hour and a half on the little hill I was so cold I could barely operate the camera. And the wind was driving me batty (it blows in one ear and out the other, making this horrible whisteling sound - I hate it when that happens). And finally the rainbow started fading. I packed up and staggered off the hill on rubbery legs, freezing and wind rattled, but also very excited about the rainbow.
28 December 2008 (Evening) - Mostly Reshoots
It's 10 pm, so this will have to be a short post. This afternoon was mostly devoted to reshoots - trying to fix issues with the original shots, or to obtain views that were obscurred by clouds the first time around. I'm not sure if there's a goal shot in the bunch, but then again..... I'll have to sleep on it before I decide.
View From West Side Of Hosteria Pehoe Island, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
View From West Side Of Hosteria Pehoe Island, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
View From Laga Pehoe Camp Ground, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
Reshoot Of Dec 26 Shot (I Like The First One Better) - 28 Dec 2008
View From Laga Pehoe Camp Ground, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
OK, its off to bed for me. The alarm goes off in six hours. Hopefully I'll get some sunrise color tomorrow (today was mostly partly cloudy, but this morning at sunrise it was totally overcast). The good news is that the wind has eased up quite a bit since the day of the "Big Blow". There was actually a wind surfer on the lake today. OK, here's a bonus shot with the wind surfer in it. I hadn't planned on posting it since I liked the other shots I posted better, but what the heck.
Find The Wind Surfer, Lago Pehoe, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
28 December 2008 (Morning) - We Have Sun :-)
The sun has finally reappeared, and more importantly the rain seems to have largely stopped (except, amazingly, when I set up to take a photo, and then rain drops seem to magically appear out of thin air on my lens). My technique for dealing with the rain drops is to set up the shot, pop up the mirror with a cable release, then quickly wipe the lense, and then immediately take the shot before any new raindrops appear. This works fine unless I have to use a hand held GND filter, in which case I have no choice but to compose, wipe the lens, position the GND by looking thru the viewfinder, quickly take the shot, and then look at the lense to see if any drops appeared in the meantime. If there are new drops, I wipe again and repeat the whole process. It's a good thing I like photography or else this would seem like pure torture :-)
I took a short hike yesterday, in the rain, to scout out another location that I want to shoot. It's a couple hundred yards upstream from Salto Grande (you Thom's Triangle folks will know the place), off the trail beside the river bank. Photographically, it looks great. It needs late afternoon light, so I may shoot from there this evening, or at another location I found just a little while ago. The second location is right here on the island. There's a shelf of vocanic rock right on the water line that provides a dramatic foreground, and then there's the lake in the midground and the mountains in the background. It also needs late afternoon light, so I'll probably shoot from there this evening and then do the Salto Grande location later.
Here's a quick handheld test shot of the island location. It was shot around 11 am, so the light kinda sucks. The dark volcanic rocks on the right side of the frame have been lightened considerably in post processing. When I reshoot this location later today, the late afternoon light will be coming from the left edge of the frame and will light these rocks directly. Plus hopefully the Cuernos will be a bit more visible. And wouldn't it look grand in sunset light. I've yet to see a sunset here. There's always been this huge cloud bank hovering off to the west, and the sun disappears into it about 6 pm and doesn't reappear until morning. No sunset color at all.
View From Western Shore Of Hosteria Pehoe Island, Torres del Paine, Chile - 28 Dec 2008
Here's a final shot to wrap up this entry. It was taken on the 26th, just before I took the shot I posted on the 26th. It's OK, but it has some problems. I would like it a whole lot more if the light were better. Basically everything important in this shot is in a cloud shadow. There's no drama. I'd like it better if some of the elements were lit by direct light, with other elements in shadow, like the other shot posted on the 26th. Also, I'd like the Cuernos to be more visible.
Looking North From Lago Pehoe Campground, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 26 Dec 2008
By the way, that nice puffy soft looking green foliage on the bottom right half of the frame is anything but. It's a very stiff shrub filled with sharp thorns. But it's convenient. I use it as a platform to place my camera bag. It keeps the bag from getting dirty or muddy from the wet ground.
27 December 2008 (Mid-Day) - We Have Snow
Breaking News - We have snow. The Cuernos have been hidden in clouds all morning, without even the slightest peek. And it has been pouring like there's no tomorrow. But I just noticed a slight thinning of the clouds, and the Cuernos are white with snow. Woo Hoo. If it ever stops pouring, I'll try to get some shots.
OK, the rain finally let up for about ten minutes. I dashed to the top of the hill and took a few quick shots. They were rushed, and unfortunately the clouds closed in again on the Cuernos, so it's hard to see much of the snow. Hopefully I'll get some better shots whenever this rain lets up. Yes, that's me in the shot.
Trying To See The Newly Fallen Snow On The Cuernos, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 27 Dec 2008
After being driven off the hill by renewed heavy rain, I took shelter here in the lounge, and of course the Cuernos are now visible again. Arrrrggggghhhhhh. I don't mind shooting in light rain, but a heavy downpour just isn't going to work.
27 December 2008 (Morning) - Rain, Rain, Go Away....
Today is shaping up as another all day rain event. I went to the visitors center yesterday and that was the forecast, tho the forecast also said improved conditions tomorrow. So with any luck we'll get changing weather patterns this evening, which can make for some dramatic lighting and cloud formations. Because of the rain and heavy overcast, this morning's sunrise was a bust. I went outside and looked, and then came back to the room and went back to bed. So, with this morning's shoot rained out, here are a few shots of Hosteria Pehoe.
The Guest Accomodations At Hosteria Pehoe, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 27 Dec 2008
My room is the one all the way on the left of the building behind the tree. Speaking of that tree, wouldn't you like to have seen the size of the branch they cut off of that thing. It must have been huge.
The Office, Restaurant, And Lounge Building, Hosteria Pehoe - 27 Dec 2008
The office, restaurant and kitchen make up the lower floor, and the lounge is on the second floor - basically the attic of the building. The lounge is where the internet access is. They have a wall of windows facing the Cuernos so you can enjoy the view. Most of the time the whole place is shaking and rattleing due to the wind. There have been a few times when I wondered if the roof was about to lift off, but I guess this building has been here a long time and has seen a lot worse.
Pedestrian Bridge Connects Hosteria Pehoe Grounds With Mainland - 27 Dec 2008
The only connection between the island that Hosteria Pehoe sits on and the mainland is this somewhat rickety looking foot bridge. You park on the far side and a porter comes and gets your bags with a trolly. Very unique. The rooms at the hosteria are very spartan. Not a trace of luxury anywhere. What people pay for when they stay here is location, location, location.
Since I drove all over creation yesterday looking for guanacos, I figured I'd at least show one of the shots. It's just a typical guanaco sighting. You usually see them with their face to the ground, browsing. Every ten seconds or so they raise their heads and look around to make sure they aren't about to be attacked by a puma, their main predator. They seem very tolerant of goofy looking photographers taking their picture (more than I can say about myself). And I'm guessing they are so used to photographers that they totally ignore when the photographer makes goofy noises to try to get their attention (I'm guessing here because of course I'd never do anything so moronic :-)
Guanaco Studiously Ignoring The Photographer, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 26 Dec 2008
And last but not least, a tight crop of the head, for all of you who have been posting me, asking can I please show a closeup crop of a guanaco's head. It's a strange request, but here it is.
Guanaco Closeup, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 26 Dec 2008
I'm not sure what all those bumps above the eye are. I think they are burrs that attach themselves to his face when he's browsing. They have burrs here the size of marbles, so he should count himself lucky.
26 December 2008 - A Photo I Almost Didn't Take
Today was a rainy day. At times it poured buckets. But being the trooper that I am, I went out to scare up a photo or two to amuse and entertain my loyal audience (both of you :-) I'll start with the last shot of the day. I almost didn't take it. I went out to a place I had been thinking about photographing ever since I got here. I really was just looking over the compositional possibilities for another day, since I just wasn't happy with the scene at that particular time. The foreground and midground light looked just the way I wanted it, but the distant background just wasn't working for me. I wanted the Cuernos in all their glory. But what I had at that moment was just mushy rain and mist and blah. But I set up to shoot some test shots to help me fine tune the compositional possibilities. Anyway, a funny thing happened. The misty background suddenly took on a little form. The Cuernos were trying to emerge from the mist. They didn't quite make it, but I'm happy with what they gave me (maybe even ecstatic :-) A couple of minutes later, the wall of mist descended again.
The Cuernos Almost Hidden In The Clouds, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 26 Dec 2008
Oh heck, let's just end on a high note. The other two photos I was going to post were shots of guanacos, but they're more snapshots than anything. I'll post them tomorrow if I don't come up witih anything better. I really like the above shot. I'm going to count it as goal shot #2. In fact I like it so much that I had a pisco sour at dinner to celebrate and I'm a little looped right now. On a more serious note, I got some bad news today from my best buddy. Bernie, this shot is dedicated to you.
25 December 2008 (Evening) - Goals
It's nearly 8 in the evening, the light outside is uninspiring, and the restaurant opens for dinner at 8:15, so I'm in a bit of a quandry. Eat early and hope the light improves for some late evening shooting, or just go out and shoot now and to heck with the lousy light. It stays light here until about 10, so there's a chance things will improve before I loose the light. I have a spot all picked out. It's on the shore of Lake Pehoe where there are some neat rock formations. But for the rock formations to look dramatic, I think I need direct, late evening light on them. So even tho I'm itching to get out there, I think I'll stall for time and eat early. So, in the few minutes I have before dinner starts, I think I'll say a word or two about goals. As a leadup to this, I should say that the group from the February Patagonia workshop stays in touch. Before leaving for this trip, the subject of goals came up. At the workshop leaders urging, I defined my goal for this trip as capturing at least five shots that I would be proud to show to family and friends, and that were of good enough technical quality to print big. I think I may have the first of those five images. I like the look of it, and it has tons of sharply defined detail in the near, middle and far distances. Here's the shot.
Another Version Of Sunrise This Morning, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 25 Dec 2008
It's one of the shots I took this morning, and it looks very similar to the one I show below. The main difference here is the nice reddish tint on the peaks, which I think make this image stand out over the previous image. I also like the clear differentiation of the three lenticular cloud layers. It's not a new treatment of the scene. This view has been done many times before by others. But this is the first time for me, so I'm very happy with it. A quick caveat - this image, like all the others on this page, has been processed on a MacBook with a glossy high contrast screen. I also have not color calibrated the screen. These are not ideal conditions for image processing. So, I have no idea how this image looks on your screen. Final processing of the image will have to wait until I get home and work on it on my main Mac, which is fully color calibrated. But if I can reproduce in print the way it looks on my screen right now, I'm going to be very happy. By the way, I don't remember the reddish tint on the peaks from this morning. I think it's a reflection of the red-lit cloud, not directly lit by the sun. I teased the reddish tint out in post processing with a little channels work in Lightroom. Alls fair in love and photography, especially when meeting one's goals is concerned :-)
25 December 2008 (Morning) - Valis Navidad
Valis Navidad, everyone. Today will go down in my own personal history as the day I survived the "Big Blow". To find out what that means, you'll just have to read the whole entry. But before all that, some more mundane stuff. I got up at 4 this morning to catch dawn and sunrise light on the Cuernos from atop the small hill behind the hosteria. As I was getting ready, I could hear the wind howling in the trees outside my room. Not a good sign. At 4:15 it was surprisingly light already and I had no trouble negotiating the trail. I set up my gear, took a few shots at f/8, 30 seconds in dawn light, and then settled down to wait for sunrise color. There was a nice lenticular cloud hovering over the peaks, so I was hoping for good things. But oyyyy the wind. I was constantly leaning into it, and I held on to the tripod for fear it was going to get blown over. Color started showing up around 5:10 and peaked around 5:20. The pick of the bunch is shown below. Unfortunatey, as you can see, the cloud got spectacular color, but the mountains got nada. Still, it's a dramatic view of the peaks.
Christmas Sunrise At Hosteria Pehoe, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 25 Dec 2008
As I was packing up after the sunrise shots, my tripod, with the camera now removed, went flying. There's not much surface area on a tripod, yet the wind just grabbed it and gave it a little toss. No damage done, but it was a sign of things to come (am I building the suspense :-) After I got back to the room, I lay on the bed for a few minutes to calm down from the wind. It's blowing so hard here that it gives a sense of frenetic energy. It's sort of like having drunk a bit too much coffee. At least that's the way it effects me. After my little moment of calm, I grabbed my stuff, trudged out to the car, and went off in search of guanacos. I was hoping to find a herd with some relatively young chulengos to photograph. As far as I can tell, calving would have been sometime in late November or early December. I found a lone guanaco after about 5 kilometers of driving. My favorite shot is below.
Guanaco In Deep Shade, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 25 Dec 2008
With no chulengos in sight, I moved on up the road. Have I mentioned yet that it was windy. At one point there was a huge dust cloud rising from the gravel road. It looked like a small tornado. I tried to grab a shot of it, but by the time I had my camera ready, it had dissipated (note to self - always keep your camera on your lap ready to shoot). I passed by a small lake and there were huge clouds of water spray being whipped up by the wind. Boy is it windy here. By the way, note that I said it was a small lake, and it's got waves and whitecaps in it!!!!
Wind-Whipped Spray Rising From Small Lake, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 25 Dec 2008
Ok, I've stalled long enough. It's time for the "Big Blow". After taking the above shot, I drove on looking for chulengos. I came to a pull-out with a nice view of the Cuernos. The light wasn't ideal, but I thought I'd find a nice spot, set my camera up with the legs spread low and wide, and take a self portrait of me reacting to the scene (as my Sensei had requested :-) I put my wide angle lense on the camera and stepped out to look for a good spot. Just then a small van drove up and three people (two guys and a gal) got out, all from the UK as it turns out. We started chatting. Anyway, the wind was already blowing hard, but it kept building in intensity. At first we just all stood there in amazement and laughed about how hard it was blowing. But it kept blowing harder and harder. After a little while, it wasn't so funny anymore and we stopped laughing. It was starting to feel downright dangerous. One guy actually grabbed hold of their van and I would have done the same if I had been near my car. The rest of us were really leaning into the wind and trying really really hard to stay on our feet. It was like those weather videos you see of the forecaster standing out in a hurricane. And then it got really bad!!!
A monster blast hit us. I caught a brief glance of the gal going right over backwards. It was pure dumb luck the rest of us didn't do the same. I think I went down to a three point stance, but it's all a little fuzzy. Just as I saw the gal doing her back roll, I turned my face away from the wind. Bad move. My glasses just disappeared. Poof. After the blast at last eased, and we returned to mere hurricane strength winds, I went scrambling around trying to find my glasses. I had a spare pair at the hotel, but I didn't want to loose these. The two guys from the UK lost their glasses as well, as well as a hat. I looked and looked, but without glasses my vision is about 20/250, so everything was a blur. The two guys helped me look, but nothing. The gal somehow managed to get into their van and was too afraid to come out and help. To make a long story short, I drove back to the hotel, got my spare pair, found some string and made a neck strap for them, and went back to look for my old pair. After about 20 minutes of looking, I found them, missing one lense. I also found another pair of glasses, I presume from one of the guys from the UK. I paced off the distance from where I was standing when the monster blast hit to where I found the glasses, and it was well over 100 ft. So that's the story of the "Big Blow". The moral here is threefold: Always carry a spare pair of glasses. In windy weather use a neck strap. And finally, never underestimate the power of the wind. Here's one final shot that tries to capture the strength of the wind.
Intense Winds Driving Waves Into The Shore Of Lago Pehoe, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile - 25 Dec 2008
24 December 2008 (Evening) - Christmas Eve At Hosteria Pehoe
The hosteria restaurant put on a great spread for us for dinner. They had a huge buffet with fish, beef and pork, more desserts than I can remember, and a smattering of veggies. This is definitely a meat eating society. Now I'm a little stuffed, which should help me fall asleep tonight, which is a good thing since sunrise is at roughly 4:20 and I plan to be out with the camera to catch it. Yikes. Anyway, I just wanted to post one more photo before calling it a day. This was taken atop the small hill behind the hosteria. The wind, the wind, the wind. Arrrgggghhhhh. I've yet to get a tack sharp image because of all the shaking caused by the wind. Hopefully sunrise will happen before the winds pick up.
The Cuernos, From Atop The Hill Behind Hosteria Pehoe - Torres del Paine National Park, Dec. 2008
24 December 2008 (Mid-Day) - Hosteria Pehoe
I'm finally in the park. Yeah!!!!!! I entered Torres del Paine via the southern entrance, over a pretty bad gravel road, and got to Hosteria Pehoe just before noon. I got myself checked in, explored the grounds, had lunch, and went back out to scout locations. Hosteria Pehoe (pronounced payway) sits on an island of volcanic rock. A small pedestrian bridge connects the island with the mainland. There's a nice overlook just up the road from the hosteria, where I took the shot below.
Hosteria Pehoe Sits On A Small Island Of Volcanic Rock In Lago Pehoe - Torres del Paine National Park, Dec. 2008
Yes, the water really is that color. It's glacial melt water, and contains a lot of suspended sediments, which give it that gorgeous turquois color. I actually toned down the saturation on the water a little when I processed it. The scene was shot using a polarizer, and even tho the sun was almost directly overhead, where the effect of a polarizer is normally pretty muted, in this case it had a dramatic effect on the water. Anyway, I identified a number of locations to shoot later, when the sun is a bit lower in the sky. Hopefully the wind will ease up a bit by then. It's really blowing today (actually, that's normal - it's abnormal when the wind stops blowing). I don't mind wind so much, except it's hard to use slower shutter speeds when the tripod is being buffeted. Also, it picks up spray from the lake and it's a constant battle to keep the lens free of water spots.
One quick closing note: One of my favorite photos of Patagonia was taken by Galen Rowell from the grounds of this hosteria. It captures the Cuernos (the mountain peaks at the base of the clouds in the shot above) in beautiful sunrise light. While I was scouting the grounds before lunch, I found the spot Galen's shot was likely taken from. It's the only place I found that matches the foreground in Galen's photo. It was very special standing there, taking in the view, and knowing that one of my favorite photographers stood in that same spot many years ago.
23 December 2008 (Evening) - Puerto Natales
I got into Puerto Natales around 4:30 and have been goofing off all evening, so I'll have to keep this short. I picked up my car at the airport around 11. It's a tiny little VW something or another - not a model they sell in the US. Before starting off for Puerto Natales, I drove down to the shore of the Straights of Magellan, took a good long look (hey, it's famous), and then took a photo of it. Just my way of saying I was there. It was so windy it was hard to stand. Heck, it was so windy it was hard to even think. Anyway, here's the shot I took for posterity. You can just barely see Tierra del Fuego on the horizon (the island, not my hotel :-) There's a little fishing boat just below the horizon, to right of center. As usual when I first start shooting on a trip, I was a little disorganized. I should have grabbed my long lens to make the boat larger in the frame. With the dark clouds behind it, it might have been a decent shot.
Straights of Magellan, Just North of Punta Arenas, Chile - Dec 08
The drive to Puerto Natales is only 230 kilometers. I dawdled along the way, so it took me about five and a half hours. At about the 100 Km point it started raining, and didn't let up until about an hour ago. I tried, and failed, to photograph some domestic Llamas (they ran away), a rhea (it ran away), some sheep (they ran away), and a Cara Cara (it flew away). I was able to photograph a flower however. It didn't run away. Big bunches of these were scattered throughout the countryside, becoming more and more prevalent as I got closer to Puerto Natales. I don't have a clue as to what they're called.
Some Kind of Flower (Well, Duhhhh) - Somebody Email Me With The Name
More Of These As-Yet Nameless Flowers
So I took some photos of a large body of water, and some flowers that I don't know the name of. OK, so it wasn't the most productive photography day of my life. But it was a fun drive all the same. In the "it's a small world" category, I stopped at a small cafe about 90 kilometers north of Punta Arenas. There was a young French couple there, and we chatted briefly. Three hours and 140 kilometers later, I walked into the lobby of the Lady Florence Dixie hotel to check in, and who should be in the lobby also checking in - the French couple. Weird.
23 December 2008 (Morning) - Random Observations
I arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile, yesterday. I'll be heading up to Porta Natales later today, and then hopefully get to Torres del Paine around mid-day Christmas Eve. Here are a few random observations from the trip so far:
First, eight hours of sleep, a scalding hot shower, and breakfast work wonders. When I arrived yesterday, I was stupid tired after 28 hours of travel and virtually no sleep. I had intended to take a nap after emailing a few folks, but tossed and turned, so instead went out to find a bookstore where I could buy a better map of the area. After a lot of looking, I finally found something passable.
The Christmas shopping crowds were out in force, or maybe it's always this crowded in downtown Punta Arenas. There were two rivers of pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks, going in opposite directions. No attempt to stay to the right the way people tend to do in the US, just two rivers flowing thru each other. No one seemed to be bumping into each other or slowing down to get out of each others way, except me. I was juking and jiving and still bumping into people. Obviously negotiating the sidewalks here is an acquired skill.
This place has a more working class, slightly frayed at the edges feel to it. It doesn't strike me as a very wealthy city. Very different from the feel I got in Buenos Aires in February. Buildings aren't quite so well maintained here as they were in Buenos Aires, and the roads are a bit of a hodge podge. Most of the better stores have private security guards standing outside. An armored car drove down the street - the kind that carries money between banks. Not so unusual, but this one had an army escort. Two jeeps with three soldiers in each.
The people are universally friendly, and everyone seems happy. Teenage boys cluster together in areas and ogle the girls that walk by. Many of the teenaged girls, and quite a few of the guys, have their hair streaked with neon colors. Pink-streaked hair seems to be THE fashion statement for the girls, and blond or red streaks seem to be prefered by the guys. Drivers seem to take a perverse delight in screaming down the streets, playing chicken with pedestrians in the crosswalks. The pedestrians, in turn, seem to take a perverse delight in stepping in front of screaming cars. There hasn't been any gesturing or screaming of profanities as you'd expect, so I guess this is just what people expect.
Not much in the way of street performers. Just one lonely flute group. But I've seen a number of young gals walking around in female versions of santa costumes. Except these costumes would be right at home on any major league cheerleader in the US. It's a good thing the temperatures are in the low 60s. I'm not sure what that was all about, but I like it. In many ways this society seems more overtly sexualized than what I'm used to seeing in the US. I felt the same about the crowds in Buenos Aires, except here they don't have one or two lingerie shops per block as they did there.
Dropped into a cafe to get a light meal before attempting sleep again. Whoa. Smoke so thick you could almost cut it with a knife. Everyone seemed to be smoking. I ended up getting a mokachina espresso con latte - basically a mocha. Good thing it was in a teeny tiny cup, or else I'd have been wired for the rest of the night. 1000 pesos was the going rate at this establishment. That's about $1.50. A Chilean peso is worth roughly 0.15 cent. I have two hundred thousand of them burning a hole in my wallet. I could be a millionair down here easily :-)
OK, back to Hotel Tierra del Fuego to try to get some sleep. I tossed and turned some more. As usual when you're dog tired, sleep was elusive. I drifted in and out of consciousness. Around 8:30 local time, I started hearing Xmas music coming up from the street outside. Every time I'd drift awake there'd be a new tune playing. I'd listen for a minute or so, then drift off again. Silent Night. Rudolf... Onward Christian Soldiers (not exactly an Xmas song, but there it was). At one point there seemed to be caroling. All in all some nice background noise. I eventually drifted off with that in the background. Kinda nice.
Just a few more notes before I hit the road. First, breakfast is included in the hotel rate, but they don't make it easy on you. Instead of plates they use tea cup saucers. Instead of juice glasses they use shot glasses. Instead of nice roomy coffee mugs they use teeny tiny espresso cups. Second, Miami seems to be on the border between the english and the spanish speaking worlds. In the Miami airport, I was more likely to hear spanish spoken than I was english. It's a little disorienting, but in a pleasant way. Third, I took a mini-bus from the Punta Arenas airport to my hotel. The driver squeezed eight paying customers into the van, each at 3000 pesos. Of course, everyone is going to different places in the city, and as it turned out, my stop was the very last. So for 3000 pesos, I got a tour of the town. A number of people were staying in cheap hostels. The three we stopped at looked more like slums, in shady looking neighborhoods, and covered in graffiti. I normally like graffiti, but not when it's scrawled on the place I'm going to spend the night. Finally, the weather down here changes fast, as expected. This morning it was a solid grey overcast, very windy, and cold. The few people outside were bundled up and bent into the wind. Now, at 9 o'clock, it's all sunny blue skies, tho it's still cold out and windy.
OK, that'll have to be it for now. I've got places to go, things to see, and miles to drive. More when I get a chance.