Kingdom of the Wind

Recently, I traveled to Patagonia to photograph and make a first (of many) expeditions to scout the area's peaks, weather and more. I spent 25 days there, rented my own vehicle for flexibility and guided myself around, which proved somewhat interesting especially considering my complete lack of any Spanish. Aside from a few minor mishaps, like accidentally entering Chile illegally (a long story in and of itself), the conditions I found there were everything I expected and more. I saw some of the greatest light I've ever been fortunate enough to capture on nearly half of the days the entire trip, among other things! I came back with a large collection of images that varies between new takes on some classic scenes and viewpoints of the landscape I've never seen altogether. My next trip there will be considerably more adventurous, as I will return in mid-winter of next year to get into more remote areas, but I felt good after this first foray went smoothly enough.

My favorite thing about Patagonia was the weather, and in particular the violence with which windstorms will come through. I experienced a few such incidences during my stay, and I offer the following excerpt from a personal journal I wrote detailing this account of shooting this image:

"I arrived and thought they’d missed the forecast a bit as the skies were indeed going very, very dark and a heavy rain moved in, but little wind. It can all change in an instant here though – So fast that if you had not experienced such places before, you’d have a very hard time believing it. Around 3 it happened.

The skies started breaking open and furious squalls, the like of which I have very rarely seen, in a lifetime chasing such things, moved in upon me. On the drive up, the car was being hit by rocks plucked off the gravel roads with such fury it damaged the windshield. I picked up the pace, driving towards one of the region’s enormous peaks. Trying to stay on the road, I could see the lakes with 6-8ft high rolling waves crashing some 50ft high or more some of the most exposed rocky shores. I could see areas over the water where white walls howled across the surface, mini-vortexes of swirling spray hurled violently about. At least it had stopped raining!

I made my way as fast as possible down near the shore and had the time of my life. The best photography was to be done right at the water’s edge on an leading outcrop of large triangular boulders, a prime seat in the middle of the action. I jumped right in, getting hit thigh-deep every third wave and blocking the camera with my body, which was of little use. The camera repeatedly got soaked but I had stuffed my Gore-tex pockets with an enormous supply of absorbent cloths which took all the focus I could muster to use often enough. Three fourths of all the shots would be lost to spray but I took hundreds, taking a vicious pounding in the process (some might say the ruined shots tell the story better). After 10 minutes that seemed like hours, holding onto my tripod to keep my balance, a particularly dense one of the huge white walls moved in on my position. I’d taken a few strong gusts previously I’d estimated at around 65-70mph while grasping the tripod for balance, but this one was much stronger. The last visible pictures show a few rocks up close and nothing but blurs and white. I was knocked clean off my rock into an indentation in the adjacent rock, filled with 2-3ft of water, still cradling the camera at the chest and landing on my knees. I kept the camera out of full submersion somehow (the camera is weather-sealed, but not THAT weather sealed) and took my bearings. It was a deafening roar, I would have to say close to a 100-mph fury that lasted not just for a gust but swirled around me in tornadic fashion for what seemed to be 20 seconds or more. It was the the strongest wind I could ever recall. Years ago I recorded a 91mph gust with a wind gauge on a ridge high above Glacier, and this felt stronger.

After that incident could not contain my exuberance and enthusiasm, yelling to the wind, soaked with adrenaline. Soaked also, head to toe, I dried the camera thoroughly and headed back for the car. As I was nearly back, another such gust caught me and I first leaned my back into it, then simply sat on the ground, as the full brunt of it passed me."


Anyway, I hope that helps put this in perspective and I must say that while I had much more dramatic light than this throughout much of the trip, something about the few images I managed to make of the surf this day and others are the ones I'll remember most from this trip, as I think they best illustrate the experience.


Thanks for your thoughts.


Nikon D800, 14-24mm at 14mm, two exposures taken very close together blended. Note that the water color is natural and due to its glacial origins.