The many faces of penguins

Our last thing to do in South America (that I took photos of with my DSLR before running out of memory) was to visit the penguins in Punta Arenas. They were adorable little penguins that waddled around the island and were incredibly fun to take photos of! Here are the many faces of the penguins...

Canon EOS 50D f/11, 1/500 ISO 200, 160mm

Canon EOS 50D, f/8, 1/800, ISO 200, 200mm

Canon EOS 50D, f/8, 1/800, ISO 200 200mm

As mentioned above, after this point I had filled all three of my memory cards and between this point and arriving in QLD we did not have a chance to copy them to my portable hard drive so in Santiago I just had my smartphone. It was OK really, we just visited Christmas markets and the like.

So that's the end of the South America photos. After blogging about it, I realise that my photos were more rewarding than I had anticipated while taking them. Even though they are not professional quality they serve as a reminder of the good memories I have of taking them. We had a great holiday and are grateful we are home safe and sound now.

I leave South America with another favourite, because of it's adorable quality. Guess who it reminds me of?

Canon EOS 50D, f/8/ 1/800, ISO 200, 80mm.

Day Nine in Torres Del Paine

The last day of our trek was really just the journey to Punta Arenas. It also happened to be a glorious day. We were lucky in that we had a great bus driver who was so enamored with the day he stopped to let us out to take photos at the last view of the towers. It was spectacular - definately one of the highlights and I was most pleased with the resulting photographs. One of those dancing for joy on the inside moments that you can't plan, they just happen like a subtle hint from God that he doesn't mind giving you little treats every now and then.

Torres Del Paine. Canon EOS 50D f/9, 1/1000 ISO 200 50mm. Two landscapes stitched. 

Ok, this photo is definately my favourite. I think. One of them at least. I know I've said that for about five different photos now, so maybe I should just leave it at the fact that I love this photo. Of course, it has been enhanced in Photoshop, but I love the colours, they really were that vibrant when we were there. It may have been enhanced but I promise you it is not by much - just a little contrast and a teeny bit of vibrance. It was just a gorgeous day.

Canon EOS 50D f/9 1/1000, ISO 200, 50mm

And what gorgeous day is not complete with flowers and a barbed wire fence? Of course! Why we didn't have weather like this while we were hiking I will never know...

Composing the Towers

Having an hour at the lakeside of the three towers of Torres Del Paine was a great chance to scamper around and try and get the best shot. I have never before been so thankful for my polarizing filter that made the sky blue and the lake so green! But good composition for landscape requires interest in the foreground. This proved quite a challenge on the slopes of a moraine looking over a lake!

To clarify - 50 years ago the green lake was not there it was in fact a glacier. You can see what remains of the glacier below the towers. The slope we were on and that you can see to the left and right is what is called a moraine - rocks and debris that were pushed up by the glacier when it existed, and now it has retreated it has left the moraine in tact, and a glacial lake that is coloured by the minerals from the glacial water.

Panorama - portrait shots stitched together. Canon EOS 50D f/9, 1/320, ISO 200, 18mm

I like this photo because it inspired me to get a wide angle lens. It is a stitched panorama of three photos. I like the foreground with the rocks, leading your eye into the lake and up the towers. It is a pity the mist decided to cross at that precise moment, but otherwise I am happy with this composition.

Canon EOS 50D f/9, 1/400 ISO 200 18mm. Polarizing filter.

 I must admit this is another favourite. Maybe not as well composed as the first, the colours are what grab me in this one. With a polarizing filter and enough clear sky for that blue to contrast with the towers. Magnifique! I have this on a canvas on the wall. For me colour beats composition and even this composition is not bad. It almost fits the rule of thirds, kind of has a leading line in the lake...getting there.

Canon EOS 50D f/9, 1/400, ISO 200, 18mm. Polorazing filter

Finally, an alternative. I found myself taking a lot of portrait landscapes. I don't know if it is Pinterest influence or what, but I quite like a portrait landscape. This one is quite good with the rocks in the foreground, although the rock is a little too soft. I haven't quite mastered the depth of field thing yet. One thing at a time.

Why go to Torres Del Paine?

Torres Del Paine is beautiful but it is right down in the Antartic region of South America. Why go there and hike for seven days? What is the main attraction?

The main attraction are the towers - the three towers above the green lake. They are a stunning sight to see. Of course, just to get there is a 22km return hike up and down a mountain but it is well worth it. We had about an hour at the lakeside to have lunch and take photos on our last hiking day. (so did hundreds of other people...don't even get me started on the French family that managed to photo bomb nearly every person's photo. At least there were limited camera nerds). Below is my favourite photo from that adventure. It is a vertical panorama - three landscape photos stacked on top of each other. I tried putting it on a canvas but the size was just a little too tight. It belongs to a post of its own though. Tomorrow, I will share the composition challenges I had in this place, but for now, enjoy my favourite tower photo!

Canon EOS 50D f/9, 1/400, 50mm

It's not very imaginative, but I love the colours. The green in the lake, the grey, the white, and the yellow and orange that top the towers. We were lucky enough to have limited mist as well - just enough to make the shot interesting!

Light, colour and perfect timing

While trekking in Torres del Paine we had the privilege of seeing one of the most perfect rainbows I have ever seen. It was complete and if you looked closely you could see it was double. The most incredible thing about this rainbow is the amount of time it stayed around for. It was also incredible because it looked so close! Most of my photos however, were complete with rain drops on the lens, rendering them useless. I did snap one of the closeness. The other, taken from further away is a smartphone job. Not bad I don't think.

Canon EOS 50D f/11, 1/250, ISO 200, 60mm

Smartphone!

Rugged Patagonia Panorama

On the fourth day of our Torres Del Paine trek, my husband and I got permission from our guide to go ahead. This was so nice to be out on our own in the countryside. It was a very freeing experience. We had a chance to roam free and play in this beautiful part of the world.

Torres Del Paine is in the Patagonia region of Chile. Patagonia is stunning. It really took us by surprise how beautiful it was and inspired us to visit Antarctica one day (something by the way, I have always wanted to do!)

I took this panorama that fourth day. It was just a beautiful morning and we were able to stop whenever we liked and I just fell in love with the light, the mountains and had to stop and take this photo! I was pretty pleased with the outcome - the stitching, the composition, the colour all seem to work nicely. I love how it has the path in the foreground, the mountains in the background and the unique colours of gold and brown are prominent and stunning, albeit a little dark.

Two landscape shots stitched. Canon EOS 50D f/10, 1/400 ISO 200 32mm. 

Good Morning Ice Castle!

After the precarious second day, we woke up the next morning feeling rather sore and sorry for ourselves. We sat on the balcony of the refugio and noticed that the peak of Grande Paine had fresh show atop. To me it looked like an ice castle and just absolutely stunning. It is awesome to see God's power in times like this - that places like Torres del Paine can be as breathtaking as they can precarious. This photo is interesting because the peak was so far away, I had to zoom right in. Still, I think it works.

Canon EOS 50D f/13, 1/500, ISO 200, 150mm

The walk that day was nice and easy with some spectacular scenery and we remembered why we were there in the first place!

Canon EOS 50D f/10, 1/400, ISO 200, 18mm

Path to Paradise

Along the Torres Del Paine hike were some stunning scenes. The track was not the best maintained track in the world but it did have its moments (both good and bad). On the second day we came across this bridge and stopped for a snack. It was the highlight of the second day. I loved taking this photo because I had time to think about it. I love paths and not knowing where they are taking me. Little did I know this particular one would take me through snow, rain, wind, mud, steep hills, flooded gullies, slippery rocks and near death. The second day was not pleasant, let's just leave it at that. This blog is about the photos - I didn't get many more after this point because I needed to concentrate on not slipping off a mountain. This photo reminds me that there beautiful parts to that day as well.

Canon EOS 50D f/3.5 1/160, ISO 200, 18mm

Taking off for a hike

One of the last adventures we had in South America was a 9 day trek around the circuit at Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. We crossed the boarder by bus (never doing that again...and you thought airport immigration took forever...) and headed straight for the park.

Hiking details were this: seven days of trekking, 140km, one mountain pass at 1200m altitude (through snow), mud and steep hills are common. The views were spectacular.

Day one was an intense slog of 30km to our first campsite. 30km in one day is a good effort. There were seven of us on our tour. At our lunch spot we were met with an interesting bird that looked like a cross between a turkey and a falcon. It is actually a Crested Caracara (I looked it up). This guy was really friendly, and I took some great photos of him except for one thing - he had a great lump of cheese in his beak. Who wants a photo of a native bird of Chile, stuffing his face with cheese? At least I got this shot below, that made me feel a little better. Quite a lot better actually.

Canon EOS 50D, f/8, 1/800, ISO 200, 140mm

I love this photo. I nearly cried when I saw it. I didn't see it until after the hike because I was preserving battery and not looking back over my photos except for a quick glance after shooting. Even though he is a really ugly bird, I love this photo, I love his wings, and his feet coming into land. I have one disappointment though - his left wing. I just missed the tip of his feathers! So frustrating! But otherwise I love it when I fluke it like this! (remember, birds and animals don't like posing for me!)

To give you a sense of the country side we were hiking in, see the picture below also taken on the first day. We walked up that valley, through some incredible wind. This wind made you feel like you were skydiving. Cold, windy, stunning hard slog pretty much sums up the trek!

Canon EOS 50D f/11, 1/800, ISO 200, 32mm

Glacial Panoramas

I took an awful lot of photos that day at the glacier. I feel ashamed in a way. There were squillions of people and heaps and heaps of camera nerds. Camera nerds require their own category. I mean, having a little hobby and a blog is one thing, walking around with two DSLRs and a compact is another. It was pretty insane. And kind of intimidating. I would love to know how many of those camera nerds just had awesome cameras because they could afford them and they really just use them as a point and shoot, or how many of them were really serious photographers. Surely if you were a fair-dinkum serious photographer, you wouldn't be on the same paths as literally thousands of other people, surely you would be going for the unique shot...

Anyway, end rant. I took an awful lot of photos that day. Mainly because the place was so huge I had to take panoramas to fit them all in! This is quite challenging when you have to deal with people and no tripod. Still, here are the results

The Southern Wall. Canon EOS 50D f/13, 1/640, ISO 200, 18mm. Five portrait orientations stitched together.

Canon EOS 50D f/8, 1/800, ISO 200, 18mm. Now, if you were a fair dinkum pro, would you be down on that boardwalk? I don't think so, you would be up a tree. 

Snapping gets lucky

While roaming around the glacier and the forest that lines it I was happily snapping away trying to get great photos. I think I have shared previously here the difficulty I faced getting good photos, especially on tours as we were constantly rushing on.

Well, once, I got lucky!

Old mate random person just happened to walk into my shot, and stop. I took the shot and it became one of my favourites of the trip. I have no idea who he is, but he gives my shot perspective of the huge nature of the glacier. You look up at it and almost feel overwhelmed. You can't help but think - man, that's a huge chunk of ice! This photo I feel kind of captures that feeling.

Canon EOS 50D, f/9, 1/1250, ISO 200, 170mm

The Colour Blue

Colours are amazing. What they are is light. Different colours are created when the different frequencies that make up white light are absorbed and reflected. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and so on all have different frequencies.

I'm not so good at explaining the science, but here I go. The best way I know how to explain it is by using the diving example. My husband and I have our PADI scuba diving tickets. As soon as you dive down below 10m colours start to change. This is because not all the frequencies can penetrate to the depths. Red is first to go - blue is last to go - hence why the deeper you go, the bluer things are and if you have a GoPro, you need a red filter.

I'm all about colours and creation - colours are amazing. It is a gift that we are able to see colour. We have done our fair share of diving and I thought I had blue ticked off the list.

Then we visited the glacier in Argentina.

Oh my goodness! Aside from being stunningly icy, cracking, calving, monolithic and inspiring, the glacier was the bluest blue. In parts at least - the parts where the sunlight could penetrate through the drain holes, but not all the colours could. Only blue. The bluest blue you have ever seen. The only word I have to describe it is pure. Pure Blue. Amazing.

Canon EOS 50D f/11 1/400 ISO 200, 18mm

 The above is just one side of the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is a constantly moving, constantly calving (dropping ice) glacier and it is spectacular!

Canon EOS 50D f/11, 1/400, ISO 200, 178mm

 The brown lines in the ice are where the glacier has picked up sediment. There is a very clear distinction between what is blue, and what is not blue!

Canon EOS 50D f/13, 1/250, ISO 200, 18mm

 I really like the above shot. We trekked on the glacier for about half an hour and all I could think of what how the glacier looked like a frozen ocean. Or or frozen tidal wave.

Canon EOS 50D f/13, 1/640, ISO 200, 35mm

 The bluest, purest blue you will ever see!

Clap if you see the love heart! Canon EOS 50D f/13, 1/1250, ISO 200, 200mm