Fitz Roy to the right and Cerro Torre to the left, and Laguna Torre at the foot of the mountains. This was a tough morning starting in pretty cold weather and lots of cold sweats with 6+ miles of 10-20% grade. So, it isn’t that steep, but it is completely relentless. Round trip over 12.5 miles and 6,000+ vertical feet of up and down.
Not so hidden, but incredibly gorgeous….one of the main challenges shooting here is finding a composition that is not littered with other photographers. As many as 50 could be there at any given sunrise or sunset!
Hidden Falls is just a few mile hike from the town of El Chalten, and is one of those places that just doesn’t seem real. With Fitz Roy towering in the background, the vivid fall colors of Patagonia, and the falls and stream winding delicately through it all, it was a pinch yourself sort of moment.
El Chalten, taken with a long range lens from Hidden Falls. Not sure the name of this peak. Whenever I see cloud cover or snow blowing over ridges on peaks like this, I always think it looks like the mountain is taking deep breaths.
Beautiful morning with the Horns of Torres del Paine. I had this little cove all to myself. We were lucky to have several gorgeous sunrises during our trip to Torres del Paine in April 2019.
Lake Pehoe sunrise. I don’t what I can say to do this moment justice. Shane was a cove or two taking an amazing shot of his own. I managed to get myself perched and the tripid setup in a funky little ledge to get this fall foliage in the foreground. I am glad I didn’t drop my entire rig in the lake, which almost happened a couple times.
I literally did pinch myself a couple times during this sunrise. As the image title might suggest, I kept thinking about the Zeppelin track “Misty Mountain Hop”, as the low flying cloud cover migrated across the scene.
Final evening in Patagonia, Lake Pehoe once again. Compositionally sort of a wider framed idea of the Misty Mountain Hop comp. Decided to jump in and dig the moment for a rare self portrait. We were lucky to have the wind go almost completely dead for a good chunk of time during blue hour.
Lake Pehoe once again. We actually got a little faked on this sunrise. I am definitely not complaining, but looking at this image, you’d think “that sky must’ve blown up about 5 minutes later”…but the horizon got stuffed, and it went all gray! I am glad I was set up and firing when this touch of pink moment happened and only lasted about 60 seconds.
Laguna Azul is located in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia (Chile). It is a nice day trip from anywhere one might be staying in or nearby the park (by car).
We lucked out with the midday winds dying completely and the lake going sheet glass for several minutes.