Tim December 6th, 2007

Dec 04-07 2007

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After driving for 4 1/2 hours from Punta Arenas, Chile on mostly good roads we arrived at our Hosteria ( Hosteria Lago del Torre) in Torres del Pine National Park at around midnight. The last 2 hours on a windy washboard road that jarred my teeth from their lodgings. Although we knew we were driving though some of the most dramatic landscape on this planet we would have to wait like children at Christmas till the early morning to get a true sense of where we had arrived. For the most part the final 30 minutes were a bit stressful, in part due to the unknown extreme windiness of the road exposed to the extreme, and with parts descending into unforeseen depths just inches from our tires as well as the frequent startled rabbits racing the headlights for safer land in front of the car…..get out of the way!! go left, go right, but not the same direction as us! There were plenty of the flatter versions of rabbit from previous unconcerned Chileans driving at side slipping speeds far in front of us. Debbie was white knuckled with concern in the passenger seat for the rabbits or any other unknown being to invade our headlights. This putting all the more pressure on me and my purported “male” driving skills. Now being in South America ,it is all the more important to maintain the fragile male macho perspective intact! Having grown up with a “Liberated” mother from the 60’s I was not sure I was ready to accept this new and weighty responsibility.

Upon arriving at our Hosteria they were waiting for us with kind patience for our tardiness and lack of adequate Spanish. We were shown to a cabin complete with fireplace and super bed with absolute cheeriness. I would have slept in a cave at this point being soooo tired that the toothpicks holding my eyes open were straining at the sheer weight of my exhaustion.

The next morning was met with the inevitable winds, moody skies and imminent rain. But we could see just enough of the famed mountains to inspire a exploratory drive through most of the park seeking out the best vantage points photographically speaking. This way when the weather turned for the better, we will have scoped out the best vistas ahead of time in order to proceed to them without delay, the light here being short and fugitive at the best of times.

During this drive we came across many types of wildlife seemingly unconcerned with our presence……”Great” said Debbie! She is the long lens ( Nikon 70 - 300mm VR ) animal buff and was in total excitement with the Guanacos grazing near the roadside.

Most of my first days shots were not very impressive partly due to the lack of light but also my adjusting to the area and how to present the perspective impact of the terrain before us. The next day was a different story and the following images are an example of the mutable dramatic moodiness surrounding us on all sides. It was hard to know where to focus.

Windy is the word when thinking of our few days in Torres del Paine National Park. Or in my mind it was like living in a tornado for most of the time. Except for a few hours one morning when the day started in dead calm only to render stronger wind and rain then previously experienced. You had to be conscious of topping any rise where the compression of the airflow came to a maximum and getting blown on your keester was a real concern. I do not use a tripod and am a big fan of hand held shots. I am not sure if a tripod would have been of benefit here anyway unless you had 30lbs of sandbags to anchor it down. The sheer weight and size of tripods has always been daunting, I just didn’t want to be limited as to the distance and speed of my travels by having that extra encumbrance on my back. So where necessary as in situations like this, where the wind vibrated your very teeth I optioned for less depth of field for some extra shutter speed to get as clear a shot as possible. I was also feeling my way in the timing of the shot, waiting for a slight lull in the gusts to click the shutter and holding my breath like a sharp shooter. Shooting numerous times the same composition helps as well, just in case. I was asked in one of the earliest posting whether I was processing these images before posting here.

The answer is yes, I do but mostly I try to keep it simple by adjusting the levels, saturation, sharpening and compositional cropping. Mostly if it is to much work I just go to the next shot. My idea is to shoot lots and get something good in the grouping mostly composing on instinct and long established patterns of habit from shooting 400-700 shots per session. I used to bracket all my shots + and - one stop but after a year of bracketing with the D80 I have a pretty good idea of the result of the image and manage to abstain from bracketing now and saving space on my SDHC card and a lot less images to process later in the day. Also the “Highlights” window on the LCD screen of the Nikon D80 lets me know when the shot is over exposed. Being under exposed is not as much of a problem and with the ND filters I mentioned before the camera has less of a spectrum of light to deal with making post processing a breeze.

Yesterday while we were searching for the ultimate wind blown trees to use as fore ground imagery, Debbie came across an Orchid that she has since found to be of a rare type nestled in the grass slightly out of reach of the horrendous winds. To be specific it is a Porcelain or Magellan Orchid. She has been a Orchid fan for years and has a keen eye for the floral world in our meanderings. Here is a shot of it below. Let us know if you have any other info on this amazing flower we would be keen to know more.

Porcelain Orchid

We are as I write this, in the process of packing and on our way from Chile, Patagonia deep in Torres del Paine National Park and off to the Antarctic via Ushuaia, Argentina. So in our haste I will for the moment just post a few shots from the last few days and come back to fill this posting with a little more description once we get a lull in the daily events.

For those of you that are interested I am traveling with 2 Nikon D80 bodies and 2 lens, a Nikon 12-24mm and a Nikon 18 - 200mm VR which seem to fill all my traveling needs weight wise as well as functionally. I am also using various Lee Filters. All of them are Lee 4×6 .3 .6 and .9 ND GH Filters. I have doubles of everything, to factor in the screw up factor. In the past while traveling I have found that things go wrong no matter the preplanning so it is best to blow the wad so to speak and double up on most things if possible. This includes 2 laptops and extra hard drives. Well my suit cases are beckoning and I need to run. Check back for more images in the next few days as the landscape here is unbelievably beautiful and I am biting at the bit to get it posted.

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• Tim Schumm