Success at Laguna de los Tres

Now that I'm back home, and have had some time to go through my images, I couldn't help resist posting these two shots of Fitzroy. The mountain is part of an impressive mountain range in the northern region of Los Glaciares national park in Argentinian Patagonia.

It's a bugger of a place is Laguna de los tres. This view point is at the top of a very steep hill which takes around 1 hour to climb. There had been a lot of snow fall during the week and the weather had been so bad that I'd given up. After 4 days of sitting around a hostel with nothing to do or see, I had returned to Calafate. But after a few days I decided that I needed to give it one last attempt (my third visit to the region). So It was with great surprise that on the morning I woke up at 6am, I started to climb up to Laguna de los Tres with my head torch and lots of warm clothing on. The path was very icy in places and I couldn't help wonder to myself why on earth I was doing it....

But I think the results speak for themselves. I feel grateful that it had been snowing. The entire landscape was covered, and it was such a beautiful moment to watch over an hour as the light began to hit the tip of Fitzroy and work it's way down the mountain. The snow was so deep that I couldn't really move around too much, so I just picked the best vantage point I could and tried portrait as well as landscape shots of the same scene. Notice the change in the mountains between both shots.

This has been a trial that I can now thankfully say is over. I've hoped to get these sunrise shots for over three years now and I think I can finally lay it to rest. Happily.

Success at Cerro Torre

I'm just back from el Chalten, the northern region of Los Glaciares national park. This is my third time here, because every other time I've come, the weather has played tricks with me - as it has done with other photographers and climbers alike. This region is notorious for really unpredictable bad weather, so I had no idea if I was going to strike lucky this time.

This is a file, straight from my Canon 5D. All I've done is set the levels in Photoshop.

I'm pretty knackered. I've spent three days hiking around this area with an unusually heavy backpack that has contained all my camping gear, head torch so I can see where I'm going in the mornings before sunrise, and of course, a lot of Canon lenses including a 400mm.

I've had mice rummaging around my tent at night - they've chewed spoons, cups and the nozzle of my camelback water carrier, and I feel sleep deprived - it's hard camping out when the temperature at night plummets below zero. I think it must have easily gone past -5 as winter seems to have come early to Patagonia. Then there has been the early starts, getting up in the cold, to trek over some glacier moraine with a head torch on in the dark, so I can make photographs. For what? I must be bonkers.

But it was a beautiful sight. Once I had chosen my spot (the foreground iceberg was so beautiful), I just watched as the light hit the glaciers (on the left hand side of the shot) and watched as everything just came together so nicely, almost like it was a film set.

In the image you can see Cerro Torre mountain set in the background to Laguna Torre which has some ice bergs in it. Last week the weather was so foul here that the entire Laguna froze up. It's a very wintery shot this, and I can vouch for it in terms of how cold I was in my sleeping bag each night.

All I did for this shot was put the tripod down very, very low, used a 17-40L lens at around f8 for 10 seconds with a 3 stop hard grad on and a polariser. I'm not usually a fan of polarisers, and even though this scene is directly facing east, the polariser really does change the blues in the sky to a more saturated colour.

And the last thing I did was shoot constantly. I was scared to move because I felt the composition was so good, and the light would perhaps be gone in a few minutes time... so I just shot, checked the composition and kept on shooting some more.

When I review the images on the screen of the 5D, it's interesting to see how the light changed so fast and how the best colours were so fleeting.

I'm over the moon about this shot. It's taken me 3 years, and three return trips to this godforsaken place to get this image. I couldn't have imagined it being any better.

Glacier Lagoon O'nelli

Most folk want to shoot in sunny weather. I love shooting in overcast light because there are no deep shadows. The light is much kinder to the camera's eye, which essentially isn't as dynamic as our own.

You have to treat the camera's eye with care and attention. Always looking for a moment when the sun has gone behind a cloud, or using early morning light to it's full advantage.

Of course, the problem with overcast skies, especially during midday is that there is often a lack of colour. That's why sunrise (personally, the best time of day - better than sunset), is so important. You get those soft tones, with no deep shadows, and if you're lucky, you also get very warm colours.

But beggars can't be choosers and if you find a strong composition during the day, and you're only there once - you have to shoot it.

In the case of this image, I spend a whole day in the freezing cold out near the face of many of the glaciers in Los Glaciares national park. This scene is from Lagoon O'nelli. It's basically the mouth of a lagoon where several glaciers deposit lots of bergs. The beach was littered with bergs and it just took a while to find a really nice composition.

And of course, to wait until the sun had done behind a cloud.

I'm off back up to el Chalten to sit around in the freezing cold in my tent for 4 days. I will be making prayer offerings to the gods in the hope that they show me just one morning's sunrise view of the mountains.

Wish me luck.

Lago Sarmiento

I’m a real sucker for stones. As much as I love the work of other landscape photographers, I try to do my own thing, but we all seem to have one thing in common; coast lines and rocks.

Perhaps this is because of an appreciation for the natural world, we as photographers see symmetry in nature. Stones and rocks have geological patterns, curves and different coloured contours that just grab our eye.

Lago Sarmiento is one such place where there is an abundance of geologically rich formations to photograph. I’ve been here a few times now, initially attracted by the work of Paul Wakefield, it is a place where I could easily spend a few hours.

With the Paine massif in the background, the very large calcium carbonate deposits around the lake edge make for striking compositions.

Chewing the Fat

I guess even Gauchos gossip. These guys certainly seemed to be dishing the dirt about somebody somewhere, or perhaps they were discussing the current political climate?

As part of the workshop, we were 'scheduled' to take photos of the Gauchos at an estancia at laguna Verde, but it turned out they weren't there. So it was with surprise that on the very last day we found them at Las Torres.

Below is a portrait of the Gaucho who you can see above on the right. Normally, I'd use an 85 or 100 mm lens for a shot like this, but I really do rate the Canon 70-200 lenses. I've owned the f2.8 (personally, too big and too heavy) and I now have the tiny f4 (Ideal for travel). They are both optically identical but the weight of the litte f4 brother is just right for lugging around when I'm off on my travels.

Anyway, the Gaucho is quite flamboyant. I mean, does he dress like that just for work, or is he looking for some attention?

I'm off to Argentina tomorrow to the northern edge of Los Glaciares. It will take me three days to get there due to the condition of the unsealed roads down here. When I get there, I'm intending on camping and trekking around the base of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy mountains. Last time I was here, I came home pretty much empty handed, so wish me luck.

Dingy flying over Lago Grey

A few days ago we took the boat up to the face of Glacier Grey in Torres del Paine. Most of the trips had been canceled that day due to 80km winds that were racing down off the Patagonian Ice cap, and onto Lago Grey. It was a hectic journey on the boat with everyone staggering back and forth on the upper deck or hiding under the roof to shelter from the spray and winds that would often take us of our feet. Literally.

At one point I managed to make my way to the back of the boat, and to my surprise I could see the dingy that was attached to the back of the boat almost flying in the sky. I know, it looks like it's been superimposed, but my workshop amigos will vouch for me on this one. It really was taken in one go. A lovely rainbow in the sky, a 17mm lens to get it all in, and an air born dingy.

I'm always intrigued by what is round the corner. I could have never anticipated this shot.

Now, if only my workshop amigos had captured me whilst I was outside trying to save my camera bag from disappearing over the edge of the boat in a pretty awful storm. I thought I had managed to rescue my bag whilst maintaining a degree of dignity (I got completely soaked!). I returned to the cabin where everyone hadn't seemed to notice, only to discover later on at dinner that everyone on the boat had been watching me with mouths agape, wondering when I was going to go overboard along with my camera bag.....

Horses below the Horns of Paine, Patagonia Workshop ’08

Today we had pretty bad weather in Torres and I think it’s always tempting to put your camera away and write the day off in terms of any photographic potential. But we were coming through the park, heading towards Lago Grey where we were going to photograph the ice bergs in the lake and I saw these horses. The Cuernos (Horns) of Paine were shrouded in rain and low lying cloud but occasionally we would get a hint of them.

Weather gives drama to an image. It can hold back light in certain areas and bring forth light in others. I love the moody light on the mountains in this shot.

But it’s only part of the story. You need a good composition also. Using a 70-200 lens with 1.4 extender for a focal length of 280mm, I got the composition I was after (I had tried my 400mm lens but it was too much for the scene). The horses were constantly moving across the pampas, so it took a bit of running up and down the road side in order to position them directly below the Horns of Paine.

Three Puma's

Boris, our driver from last year, and also this year, has just told me that three Puma's have been spotted at Laguna Armaga which is on the eastern side of the park. We're headed over there tonight after visiting the face of Glacier Grey, so I wonder if we will be double lucky to see them tomorrow?

Flying over the Patagonian Ice Cap

Hello Friends, I've just arrived in Punta Arenas without my camping gear, tripod and spare clothes courtesy of British Airways.

The trip down from Santiago to Punta Arenas was spectacular. The day was clear and I could see the mountains of Fitzroy and Cerro Torre peaking up from the massive patagonian ice sheet. But the most spectacular view was that of Torres del Paine. The pilot made a bee line for the place and banked the plane so I was looking directly down onto Glacier Grey and the towers.

How I wished I had taken a small camera with me on the plane. And I guess this just goes to cement the idea that a camera should be portable, convenient and with you at all times.

Perhaps next time.

Return to Patagonia

In just less than a weeks time, I'll be back in the southern hemisphere, probably standing at the waters edge of the Straight of Magellan looking out onto a windy sea. I'll of course be back in Punta Arenas, the gateway to the Chilean side of Patagonia.

The destination of my trip is Torres del Paine, an impressive national park situated on the edge of the southern patagonian ice cap.

I'll be conducting a photo workshop here for a full week with a small group. It's going to be a week of photography with lots of chat about the surrounding landscape, photographic techniques and above all else, a group of folk being able to immerse themselves in their passion with no distractions.

Containing granite spires, turquoise lakes such as Lago Pehoe (shown above - yes it really is that colour) plenty of wildlife - Falcons, Eagles, Guanaco - a relative of the Llama and if we're fortunate the Andean Puma, we're set for a great photo adventure.

At the moment, I've had to reduce this trip down to an annual one with the intention that I'll do another one next April. But I'm also thinking that next years trip may be extended to include Los Glaciares national park in Argentina. This I feel would make for an excellent trip because of the mountains of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy and not forgetting the Perito Moreno Glacier. Plans are still tentative, but this is what I'm currently thinking at the moment and when I have firmer plans, I'll be posting them up on the site.

This time though, I'll be away for just under a month.

I have some goals to try and achieve this time round. I'm hoping to climb to the Torres mirador for sunrise. The Torres spires are at the top of a strenuous four hour hike. If the weather is on my side, the towers will be basking in the glow of the sun rise because they face east. I've missed this shot a few times before so I'm under no illusions as to how difficult it is to get it. My plan is to camp just below the mirador for a few days and see what happens each morning.

The remainder of my personal time will be used up going back to the northern part of Los Glaciares national park, to camp and trek below the mountains of Cerro Torre and Fitzroy.

I'll be checking in from time to time on my blog, and intend to upload some posts during the trip so stay tuned!

Until then, adios amigos!