Cinnamon Bay Beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands

Cinnamon beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 1/50 sec @ f/14, ISO 200, polarizer

Given the current temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska this morning, which weighs in at -40 below zero, this scene is about as far away from my current view as possible. My week on the Island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands was filled with views of aqua blue water, and temperatures between 75-85 degrees. That is 125 degrees different that today. Alaska, its a land of extremes, and that’s one of my favorite things about living here.

It may look like this picture has been heavily saturated, but in fact, I added zero saturation in lightroom, just a little vibrance and contrast. It really does look like that along that stretch of beach.

My dreams of the expansive and crystal clear views under the Caribbean were not fully realized on this trip due to some stormy waters and the resulting turbidity. However, I spent some time snorkeling in the 80+ degree water, which yielded awesome sights of underworld creatures like, octopus, coral, squid, sharks, brilliantly colored fish and and a colorful sea floor.

I took this shot with my EWA Marine housing, having left my larger Ikelite housing at home in order to travel light. The great barracudas would hang out just off the reef, keeping fairly stationary in the water, and somewhat easy to approach. Basically, there is no way around it, underwater photography is challenging. I’ll be going back there some day to focus more on underwater views. In the wake are some great times in this aqua blue, marvelous island landscape.

Great barracuda, St John, Virgin Islands. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L (35mm), EWA Marine housing. 1/500 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400

Cinnamon beach, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 1/80 sec @ f/13, ISO 200, polarizing filter.

When I left Fairbanks for a little tropical reprieve in the US Virgin Islands, it was minus 35 degrees below zero. What a contrast to this Caribbean scene! My journey, although short, was partly a vacation although a photographer is never really free from the addiction of picture-taking. Significant rain and clouds in the first few days kept my DSLR in the pack, and I shot mainly with my Iphone. However, when I saw these clouds forming, I ran for the camera. Although the polarizer filter was helpful for the water, I rarely like it’s influence on the sky, specially with the 16mm lens. It is never a uniform representation and tends to vignette to the opposite side of the sun’s direction.

This picture was taken along a popular beach in a National Park which covers a good chunk of the Island of St. John. And that is a good thing or the whole island would be covered with houses, much like it’s neighboring Island of St. Thomas.

I’m back in snowy Fairbanks now, with the temperatures to drop well below zero again. It sort of feels like a dream looking at this picture… meanwhile, I’m getting ready for a cross country ski.

The views of los cuernos, or “the horns” in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile are astonishing. This picture was taken just a short walk from my hotel, along the Pehoe lake, which is a beautiful aqua blue color (not so evident from the angle of this picture), but often in raging white-cap waves due to the high springtime winds. Finding perspective and compositional lines are often the most challenging part in good landscape photography, presuming you have a good subject to start with. Whenever possible, a colorful foreground element can help considerably. In this case, some spring blooming wild pea served as a spark of color which helps this scene. It was very windy, and for reasons lacking a good excuse, I was without my tripod. So, I stabilized the best I could and shot this hand held at 1/20th of a second., at f/18. The foreground is a little soft, but the color is still engaging. What a gorgeous place.

For an Alaskan, glaciers are not a new sight. But even so, they are always impressive, forceful features that make and mark the geological landscape. The Gray glacier is one of the easily accessible glaciers in the park, and I took a short boat ride past it’s face after a 10 mile hike up along its northern moraine. During my visit, I encountered a surprising little amount of rain, and certainly less than I planned on seeing. On this overcast and rainy day, the blue face of the glacier is brilliant and the gray skies contribute a foreboding feel to the landscape.

The towers (los torres) are one of the most popular hikes and sights in the Torres del Paine National Park. It is about a 12 mile round trip, with some notable vertical gain on the final ascent to the towers. I would have preferred to be there at sunrise, but that was not an option that day, so I photographed the scene in mid day, under overcast lighting. I was at least fortunate enough to see the towers, since clouds are common in the mountain summits. With the absence of strong color drama, I was curious how the contrast would render in black in white. It’s not bad actually, considering a mid-day time frame. And, regardless of the light and color, it was a really fun and memorable hike to a very magnificent, other worldly, view!

The Towers (Los Torres), Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 1/80 sec @ f/16, ISO 100

Black and white conversion. The Towers (Los Torres), Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8L, 1/80 sec @ f/16, ISO 100

The brilliant red blossoms of the firebush decorate much of the landscape around the lakes and hillsides in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Such a color is often a signpost of autumn in Alaska, but here it is prevalent just a few weeks prior to their summer solstice. What is also prevalent at this time of year are intense winds, which are evidenced by the blur in the red blossoms. And I mean wind! Sometimes its hard to stand up, let alone take a picture. On this particular morning, the summit of the distant mountain named Grande Paine is cloaked in clouds, which was a common fare for this peak, although the clouds were continually moving.

While the dynamic range was considerable in this frame, it is a single exposure with some basic graduated ND filter and brush applications in Lightroom.

Firebush and Grande Paine, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS (32mm), 1/5 sec @ f/14, ISO 100

Amongst the “blow your mind” views on this planet, this for sure is one of them. I’ve seem pictures from the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile for many years, but while they are luring, there is no substitute for being someplace, in person, connected to the broader sphere of senses that create real experience. This particular view reveals the Horns of Paine, or the Cuernos del Paine, in Spanish. Sunrise at this time of year in the southern hemisphere is about 5:30am, and the clouds that move across this mountain landscape create one of the most dynamically changing views I’ve ever witnessed. It many ways, it is like a theater, and I found myself just staring for long periods as the great spring winds blew cloud formations into continually changing shapes. The “Towers” which the park is named after, are hidden in the distant clouds behind the massif.

The park is located in the southernmost reaches of Chile, which is one long and slender country. For context, upon arriving to Santiago (about in the middle of the country), one takes another plane ride which is about equal to flying from Fairbanks, Alaska to Seattle, then getting in a vehicle and driving across the state of Washington to get to the remote park. So, a journey it is indeed, but one that will deliver appropriate rewards. Stay tuned for more views of the park.

Sunrise of "The Horns" Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, (84mm), 1/125 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 200

Trekking in Chile’s Atacama region was my first encounter with exertion at high altitude, and experiencing the body expressing its great hunger for oxygen. Surrounding Atacama, are a number of volcanoes that can be pretty easily climbed, provided you have sufficient time to acclimate to the altitude. After a few days of altitude acclimation, a friend and I climbed Cerro Toco, 5,604 m (18,386 ft).

Along the slow and methodical trek we passed through a series of dorsal fin-like snow/ice protrusions (I forgot their Spanish name) that have a shape defined largely by sublimation. They flank the mountain slope and due to their stratification pattern are more wisely navigated on a lateral plane.

The blue, cloudless skies, sun and wind are common companions in this region. The climb, although done in the morning, was not quite early enough to optimize that golden moment of light, but the views from the top, overlooking Bolivia were grand indeed.

Trekking through remnant snow on the slopes of Cerro Toco, Atacama, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, (35mm), 1/640 sec @ f/10, ISO 200

Remnant snow on the slopes of Cerro Toco, Atacama, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, (35mm), 1/200 sec @ f/14, ISO 200

Remnant snow on the slopes of Cerro Toco, Atacama, Chile. Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, (35mm), 1/200 sec @ f/18, ISO 200

The Atacama Desert is a region in northern Chile touted as the driest, (or second driest-next to Antarctica) place in the world. It’s unique topography of volcanoes, salt plains and wind eroded geology makes it an interesting landscape. It is however a place where few clouds appear, and the sun is a predictable presence on a daily basis. For this reason, much of the photography happens around sunrise and sunset. In a few cases, like this one, shots taken during mid day are doable. In this case I excluded the sky and used the shape and shadows on the landscape for interest. I converted it to black and white just to see what it looked like, and throw in the color for comparison. I did do a little horse back riding myself but it is a dry and dusty landscape and the supreme advice for the rider is to be the lead horse, not the one in the rear!

Atacama Desert, Chile, South America, Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, 105mm, 1/1000 sec @ f/4, ISO 200

Atacama Desert, Chile, South America, Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm f/4L IS, 105mm, 1/1000 sec @ f/4, ISO 200