25 November 2011

Cerro Paine Grande; Torres del Paine


Shortly before 5 a.m. I got up and walked the short distance to the bridge at Campamento Italiano. The early light had already begun to colour Paine Grande, and over the next 15–20 minutes the mountain and clouds put on a gorgeous display.

I didn't realise when I photographed this that a male torrent duck was standing on a boulder in midstream (he's just discernible if you look closely) but soon after, the male and female both appeared right in front of me.



[21 November 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, 1/20 at f11]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is such a beautiful moment. I love the pink-tinged rocks, early morning splendor.

Relatively Retiring said...

Another wonderful result for early rising. I spy duck!

Zhoen said...

I feel unspeakably fortunate to have stumbled upon your blog all these years. This particular image is astonishing. If you show any better ones, I will have utterly run out of superlatives.


Call in 'Duck in Patagonia.'

Zhoen said...

(That was badly put, but you know what I mean.)

pohanginapete said...

Robin, thank you. I agree about the colours on the rocks — they balance those higher up. A truly wonderful morning.

RR, well seen! I've been fortunate I've woken so early; getting up for scenes like this hasn't been a problem.

Zhoen, I do know, and I'm so glad you can enjoy these moments. Actually, I'm running out of superlatives for Patagonia, too — I find myself scribbling words like "spectacular" far too often ;^)

Anonymous said...

Pete, I will hold this image in my mind's eye as we embark to the very same place in a downpour and leaden clouds. How happy I am for you to have had such good luck in this beautiful, wild place. Instead of looking for mountain peaks I will look for ducks:-)

pohanginapete said...

Maureen, I really hope you manage to see both!

Leonie said...

A stunning reward for rising in the early morning.

pohanginapete said...

Leonie, I was lucky — the early starts really weren't an effort, as I found myself waking easily at first light. I did feel sorry for all the other campers for whom an early start was clearly too much of an effort.