Category:Solo South America

Photo of the Day: Blue Arrows

Sony A7RII : f/4.5@250th : ISO 200 : EV -0.3 : FE 90mm f/2.8 I suppose I’m going to have to admit to myself that what I do is not your usual travel photography, if what you want from a photograph is to get an idea of a place. I was walking round the streets of Salta in north-western Argentina and, rather than photograph the street, it was these two blue arrows up above me on a street corner that […]

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Cordoba

Cordoba on my mind

When I was down in Bariloche, fellow photographer Eliezer Gonzalez was staying in the same AirBnB as me and we got on so well that he invited me to stay with him at his place in Córdoba, if I ever headed that way. I took him up on his offer and arrived at the bus terminal very early one morning, after almost 12 hours on an overnight journey from Mendoza. It still surprises me how huge a country Argentina is. Luckily, the overnight buses are a […]

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Mendoza

Time out in Mendoza

First of all, the bus journey from Santiago to Mendoza takes you through some impressive landscapes so try and get a seat upstairs near the front so you can take it all in; it’s well worth the effort of booking and reserving a day or two in advance (unlike yours truly, the last minute specialist). I’d arranged my accommodation, also at the last minute, through AirBnB and was lucky that Carolina, the host, and her parents, Camila and Enrique (whose apartment shares the same […]

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Santiago

Aiming high in Santiago

My first visit to Santiago was when I was fifteen years old, on a family ski trip to the resorts of La Parva and then Portillo. Good skiing, great après-ski, amazing views, incredibly strong sun at that altitude that I remember burnt my exposed neck worse than I’ve ever been burnt before (imagine an oozing turtle-neck skin!), it was a good time to be an irresponsible teen. My visit this time was a little less exclusive, arriving bleary eyed on the […]

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Puerto Varas and the Burn-out

The Boat and the Border From Bariloche, I hopped on a boat and crossed the border into Chile, heading for Puerto Varas. Having read a few reviews before undertaking this leg of the journey, I would like to point out that the boat rides themselves, with the necessary bus intermissions to join up the lakes, are not that particularly impressive or luxurious – they do the job, nothing special. It is what nature throws up in front of you that takes the […]

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Argentina

Bariloche, a slice of paradise

After the spectacular scenery of Patagonia, I took a bus back from El Chaltén to the airport at El Calafate and flew up to Bariloche, or San Carlos de Bariloche, to give it its full title. This was going to be my last flight for a while, until I reached Peru in fact, but I had decided when back in Helsinki that it would take too much of my time to bus that far down into Patagonia and then back […]

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Grafitti Tree

Photo of the Day: Love Scars

Sony A7RII : f/9@500th : ISO 4000 : EV +0.3 : FE 55mm f/1.8 I’ve seen trees with one or two carvings scratched into their trunks before, but nothing quite like this one. It’s literally covered in love scars and I don’t really know why this particular tree has been singled out for so much attention. It’s in a spot in the middle of the central park in Córdoba, Argentina, surrounded by a moat that is only accessible from a handful of bridges along its perimeter. Admittedly, it […]

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Laughing Poster

Photo of the Day: The Laugh Lasts

Sony A7RII : f/5@250th : ISO 2000 : EV +0.7 : FE 55mm f/1.8 An image cut from the same cloth as an earlier post, a detail of the remains of a poster on a wall, but this time without the extreme colour or the B&W elements. I love the textured tone of the wall, the lo-fi print quality of the poster, the iconic sentiment of the laugh… This is another image that I think would look great as a large […]

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Lines and Curves

Photo of the Day: Organic Curves, Lines and Dynamic Range

Sony A7RII : f8@400th : ISO 320 : EV -0.7 : FE 90mm f/2.8 This is another photo from my enjoyable and rewarding wanderings round Mendoza in Argentina. As I was walking through the park, I noticed the organic curves of the trees’ foliage acting as an interesting counterpoint to the straight lines of the building in the background. I liked the amount of detail that was visible throughout the image but was concerned about the dynamic range required. There […]

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Poster parts

Photo of the Day: Eye on the Wall

Sony A7RII : f/5@250th : ISO 640 : EV +0.7 : FE 55mm f/1.8 There are times when you are walking around with a camera and you just can’t seem to find something worthwhile to shoot. Over time, I’ve come to realise that the problem is more to do with my mind’s eye not having clicked into focus yet than there actually not being anything out there to capture. It’s not always about the big picture and it takes a mental effort to […]

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