Torres del Paine Via My iPhone

Even though it might seem otherwise from the title, this is really not about what technology works best for photographing a place as magical as Torres del Paine, the beautiful national park in the very south of Chile. It's more about sometimes just being in the moment and enjoying the journey without being burdened by heavy equipment, proper exposures and all of that. Now, don't get me wrong...that's still important to me. But I'm not selling this work. It's not being published in a book. It's not being enlarged to billboard size. It's just for me. Just to capture the essence of what we saw and did those wonderful few days in winter that we last visited this stunningly beautiful place. (Not to worry...I have plenty of those OTHER photos which I'll share, but for today it's iPhone time). And besides, that iPhone does a pretty stinkin' good job anyway. 

The heavy "real" camera didn't really lend itself to trying to focus in this crazy sideways wind. The trusty iPhone was perfect!

I guess that I should add that those chunks of ice were blown across Lago Grey from that glacier you can see in the background. The front edge of the glacier is a couple hundred feet high and about 3 miles wide, just to give you a little perspective. Those blue chunks of ice floating in the near background are big enough to be a $1Million home in California. The smaller clear ones were small boulder size. Yup, a little perspective can help.

Yeah, I'd say the iPhone did ok. 

Heading North to Go South

Toward the end of our trip, we planned to go south to visit Torres del Paine National Park. In order to get there from Coyhaique, we had to fly north to Puerto Montt. As we approached Puerto Montt, I could see winter losing its grip on the southern Andes, but the mountains were spectacular, nonetheless. 

As we got closer, I could begin to see Volcano Osorno, which always reminds me of Mt. Fuji, and Calbuco volcano, which erupted for the first time in 30 years last April.

After a brief layover, we continued our trip to the south, arriving in Punta Arenas, where we spent the night before taking the six hour drive to Torres del Paine. Still winter, albeit late in the season,  the sky didn't begin to light up until well after 8:00 am. And even when it did, it happened slowly, taking several hours before it was fully light.

We stopped along the way at a favorite spot of mine where there is a boggy area with lots of dead lichen-covered trees in the water. I've always been intrigued by the place and love to photograph its eery landscape.

We were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow during a quick stop in Puerto Natales on the Pacific.

After the long drive, we caught our first glimpses of our destination where we would stay for the next few days.