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Author Topic: Patagonia Drama  (Read 773 times)

pcgpcg

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Patagonia Drama
« on: December 20, 2017, 04:10:30 pm »

A good story makes a photo better, right? Well no, but I’ll share this story anyway…

Last winter my wife and I took our second trip to Patagonia. I promised this would be a five-week backpacking-only trip to consist of hiking/scrambling/exploring  some wild places with no photography allowed, other than occasional snapshots to document the trip. I tend to become very focused and anti-social when in photographer mode, and can spend hours ignoring my partner while searching for just the right shot, and have learned this does not make for a good husband/wife getaway vacation. For this reason, and because we were carrying everything for this trip on our backs, I brought only an E-M1 and the 12-40 PRO zoom, no tripod. We also planned an occasional hostel stay to take advantage of hot showers, real beds, and real food.

During one of these hostel breaks in El Chalten, and after almost four weeks of keeping my pledge of no serious photography, I realized the predicted clearing weather for the following day would likely provide for some interesting photography so I coaxed my wife into spending the day scouting for a photoshoot the following morning, when I would get up at 3 AM and head up to capture the sunrise while she could sleep in. We had a fun day bushwhacking around the hills above the cliffs east of town and I found what I thought would be a good spot to photograph the Fitz Roy Massif, which was still not visible and had not been for over a week. I recorded a GPS track back to town, so that I could easily find the location in the dark the next morning. I then arranged to have a key to the front door left for me so I could get out at my chosen hour, before the help arrived to open the building.

The next morning I discovered that the arranged-for key was not present. I paced around anxiously for an hour and a half until someone showed up at 4:30 to open the building. I was more than two hours from my chosen location (walking time) and an hour and a half late getting started so I shed my warmest outerwear, stuffed it in my day pack, and set out running up the hillside in the dark. I arrived as the sun was breaking, soaked with sweat, to the boulder I had selected as my shooting location . The temperature was right at freezing, the wind was screaming, and the morning firelight was illuminating the mountain as it went in and out of the clouds. The wind forced me to crouch low in the lee side of the boulder where I struggled to hold the camera still with frozen fingers.

At the time I was kicking myself for not bringing a longer lens and a tripod, which would have allowed me to stitch together some higher res photos. After less than an hour of shooting the light show was over and I was frozen. I had broken one of my rules by getting sweaty and now I was paying for it as I was beginning to shiver uncontrollably. I was excited about what I had captured, but alarms were going off in my brain due to allowing myself to get so cold. I wasn’t too concerned as the weather was clear and I knew the way back and as soon as I got away from the cliff edge I was also away from the wind.

Upon returning to the lodge and doing some chimping (I had no computer with me) I discovered that most, if not all, of the shots were out of focus or motion-blurred. My heart sank and I chalked the experience up as a learning one, attributing my failed shots to attempting to manual focus with tearing eyes in the frigid wind. A hot shower and delicious breakfast later and I forgot about the images.

When I got home and began exploring my failed shots in detail I discovered one I could salvage and, with some creative processing, am quite happy with what I got, despite it not being higher resolution. I still cringe at the images that were not useable, but am grateful for what I managed to get.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2017, 01:24:59 am by pcgpcg »
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degrub

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Re: Patagonia Drama
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2017, 05:14:23 pm »

which goes to prove that a great image is about composition and less about sharpness. i like the image.
great tale btw, i feel for your hands in that wind.
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MattBurt

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Re: Patagonia Drama
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2017, 05:28:53 pm »

Great story and I like the shot too. I've had similar adventures.  8)
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Alskoj

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Re: Patagonia Drama
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2017, 04:57:16 pm »

I feel for ya.  Great image!
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