Landscapes
For the final two blog posts on the Atacama Desert, I am sharing my images of the Altiplanic Lagoons. This place was a stark contrast to the rest of the desert landscape, with lakes peppered throughout the arid landscape and sparse, brightly-coloured vegetation surrounding them. It also seemed to be a hotspot for wildlife, that gathered around these lagoons in greater numbers than anywhere else on the Atacama landscape.
This weekend, I’m sharing a few more highlights of the Atacama Desert. First, some aerial photos of the Death Valley, followed by an incredible sunset at the Amphitheatre in the Moon Valley. The Atacama is one of the most unusual landscapes I have ever photographed, and I would have loved to spend longer there to capture more of its arresting beauty. I hope to be back there again some day soon!
The blog has had to take a bit of a hiatus lately, but will be back up and running every Saturday for the next few months.
This weekend I am sharing some of my favourite images of the incredible Lagunas Escondidas de Baltinache we photographed at the Atacama Desert. I hope you enjoy these images of spectacular hidden lagoons and alien moon-like landscapes.
Our final stops in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve were Laguna Colorada and Termas de Polque. Both spots amazed us with their scenery and provided yet another opportunity to see wild flamingoes.
Both these locations provided excellent opportunities for flying the drone and getting some aerial images, although we did keep it quite high so we didn’t interfere with the wildlife.
Here are some images from both land and air of these two locations, our last stop in Bolivia before we headed to Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Besides the stunning wildlife, the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve is dotted with many spectacular lagoons. Following on from Laguna Hedionda, we made our way through several more, such as Laguna Charcota and Laguna Verde. Most lagoons provide the opportunity to spot flamingoes, as well as other local wildlife.
During our trip through Bolivia we stayed at a small hotel on the edge of Laguna Hedionda, home to hundreds of wild flamingoes. We had planned to photograph the sunrise at this location but upon our arrival it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen: there was torrential rain and a thick cloud cover over the mountains. Luckily for us, the cloud cover brought fresh snow onto the mountains and then swiftly disappeared by the next morning. It was an extremely cold shoot at 5am, but definitely worth it!
Keep scrolling for some beautifully pink-tinted skies and similarly pink flamingoes.
The Siloli Desert is a wonderfully dramatic landscape. It seemed almost surreal to walk through its vast planes and occasionally encounter a completely new and colourful scenery. One of my favourite spots was the Sol de la Mañana Geyser, which is a magical sight from both the land and the air.
Here are some of my photos, featuring the Salvador Dalí Desert, the geyser, and the Montaña de Siete Colores (seven-coloured mountain).
The way from Uyuni to the Andes is a bumpy but magnificent one. It’s a long drive through the surreal landscapes of Camino de las Rocas until you reach the Siloli Desert in the Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. I will cover this scenery in a few separate blog posts over the next couple of weeks, as I came away with too many spectacular images to fit into a single post.
Here are some highlights from the road and Árbol de Piedra (stone tree) in the Siloli Desert.
Not far from the village of San Cristóbal, there is a spectacular little-known valley where women dressed in traditional Bolivian fashion shepherd their free-ranging llamas. This was by far the best surprise of our recent travels through Bolivia - an unplanned and spontaneous suggestion by the local driver.
On our way out of the village our driver asked, “Would you like to see some amazing llamas?”, to which we responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!”.
Little did we know the scenery would be this breathtaking. I hope you enjoy these images of llamas in their fantastic natural setting.
When thinking about Uyuni, the first picture that comes to mind is of the white salt flats stretching to the horizon. However, there are other incredible landscapes in this extremely arid part of Bolivia. One of them is the fantastic Train Cemetery. A couple hours’ drive away lies San Cristóbal, a traditional village on the ride to the Andes from the salt flats.
Below are some of my favourite photographs from these two locations (and see this for tips on how to best explore Uyuni and its surroundings as a photographer).
Although I expected a much more dramatic sunset, our evening in Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia was nevertheless surprisingly pretty. The low clouds resulted in a pastel coloured sunset unlike anything I had ever seen before. The mirrored effect on the ground caused by a thin layer of rain added to the surreal landscape of the salt flats.
I only wish I had spent more time there to capture a variety of sunsets, as the merged land and sky makes for some truly spectacular scenery. Here are some of my favourite images from that evening.
If you are interested in travelling to the Bolivian salt flats as a photographer, make sure you check out our guide on Two Dusty Lenses to help you plan your trip.
Luckily, I experienced the best of both worlds at the Uyuni Salt Flats. Not only did I capture images of the crisp white landscape on a sunny day (see them here), but shortly after it began to rain. These salt flats are known around the world for their beauty in the rain - the water creates a thin layer over the salts, resulting in an endless mirror all the way to the horizon. Here are some of my favourite photographs as the grey clouds rolled in and covered the landscape in a fantastic mirror glaze.
To learn more about when to visit Uyuni for such images, head over to the complete travel guide for photographers at Two Dusty Lenses.
Following on from La Paz, the Bolivian adventure followed onto the Uyuni Salt Flats. We had sunny and dry weather when we arrived, resulting in an otherwordly infinite white landscape as far as the eye could see in every direction.
This was an incredible destination and if you’d like to learn more and plan your own trip to Uyuni, I recommend that you check out our travel guide for photographers over at Two Dusty Lenses, which reveals all the best tips for an unforgettable trip to Bolivia.
But before you head on over and start booking your flights, I hope you enjoy the photo selection below!
I recently had a chance to explore Bolivia for the very first time. The first stop of the trip was the capital of La Paz. In between several rainy days, we squeezed in a lucky visit to Valle de la Luna under a blue sky. This was a great place to explore a completely alien landscape from both the ground and from the air, with aerial photography.
Here are some of my favourite images from this location. I will be posting more selected photographs from the rest of the trip - including the famous Uyuni Salt Flats and the Atacama Desert - over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more!
I’ve been doing quite a lot of travelling and not enough posting, so it’s time to get my blog up to speed.
During my last visit to Brazil, I spent a few days in the beautiful city of Paraty. I didn’t get as much photography done as I would have liked, as I twisted my knee at the beach on the second morning, but here are some of my favourite shots from what I did capture, including the city itself and the nearby lavender fields.
During my stay at St Andrews, I went on a daytrip to Anstruther and took the ferry to the Isle of May. It was a very sunny day, and although the light was not at its best, it was still a great opportunity to see some truly amazing vistas (including many lighthouses!) and photograph some wildlife along the way.
Here are some of my favourite images from the Isle of May, featuring the island’s incredible landscape.
I recently had the incredible opportunity to spend two weeks in St Andrews, in Scotland, as a participant in the first ever Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute. Naturally, I packed my camera bag and tragged all my equipment to the other side of the world.
This was my second visit to Scotland and although I only had a couple of photography opportunities in my spare time, it again surpassed all my expectations. Here are some of my photos from an evening out in the city of St Andrews.
This is a more nostalgic blog post, with images taken a few years ago on my visit to Vianden, a charming town in Luxembourg, nearly on the border with Germany. The town is known for its 13th Century castle, built upon a hill. There is a chairlift taking visitors up to the castle, providing views of the town from above.
Here are some of my favourite images from many Summers ago, in this charming European town...
I did not expect much from Hot Water Beach, one of the destinations on our Coromandel trip, which made it all the better when the photos I took surpassed my expectations. These were taken on a beautiful morning, just after sunrise at the Te Pare Reserve.
The contrast between the clear green waters and orange sand dotted with geothermal pools is a truly unique sight. Here are some of my favourite images of this location.
The next stop on the Coromandel roadtrip was the incredible Cathedral Cove. The winding walk down to the beach surrounded by rolling hills and lush farmland, and fantastic 360 degree views. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, providing excellent photographic opportunities both from the ground and from the sky.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves, this was a truly spectacular location, even on a cloudy afternoon...
