I started my Chilean trip in Santiago, which is such a fabulous city and i ended up staying there for about a month in between going to Patagonia and going home. I lived in a district right in the centre in a most fabulous small hotel in one of the back streets nearby the Castillo Hidalgo and univercity of Santiago. It was safe, clean, cheap and full of life.
Climbing the hill up to the Castillo Hidalgo, gave you such a great view over santiago. This is such a christain city, you see crosses and artifacts all over the city.
Although its a fairly low built city, with very few high skyscrapers, its built over such a vast area, on a clear day, you can see for miles, though with the low lying smog, it can look pretty polluted
Now each sunday in santiago, they shut down some of the main roads that go through various neighbour hoods and allow people to cycle, skate or just jog through the city. The route was about 8km long and i cycled it on such a fabulous day. I dont know why more cities in the world dont do this as it attracts loads of tourists and families out into the streets and keeps them healthy and fit to boot.
As i said previously, they took all sorts of transport out on the streets this sunday
The doors of santiago and their fabulous deisgns
I met this guy one day and he was dressed in binbags and i wonder how he managed to fall so low in life
For street photography, then santiago is such a fabulous place to wonder with your camera and i dont know how many miles i trudged through various districts in search of myself and some images.
There are vibrant paintings and colourfull walls through out the univercity district
When i came across this image, i had to look closely to see what i was seeing
Having arrived in Patagonia after a 4 day ferry ride and having been holed up in my cabin for those days, due to bad weather on the journey, i saw these old pillars of a by-gone pier as i walked to my hotel room. Having set my alarm, for sunrise the following morning, my journey into patagonia, started with this fabulous sunrise.
Patagonia, such an honour to stand before these mountains
The actual Torres Del Paine mountain range, is about 100 km from the nearest town, although there are a few hotels within the park, such as this one, the prices to stay here are rather high. The views though are so incredible on any given day.
The hotel i did stay in for a few days within the park, was here
Having hired a car, i drove the 100km into the park from Puerto Natales, where i was staying and when you round the corner and see this sight, it does take your breathe away. I drove all day and i drove around, through and out the other side of this park. I drove for hours and hours and i never seemed to get any nearer towards the town again. As it got dark, i did begin to panic, as there was mile after mile of nothing and i was shattered by then. Eventually i saw a sign that said 90km to the town and i almost passed out at the thought of such a drive, after almost 8 hours of walking and driving. I saw the whole of the park within one day.
Oh the sunsets
I saw these horses far from the dirt track road within the park and stopped my car to walk towards them to take a few photos. Having got quite close, i managed to get a few shots of them, only to turn around and see a busload of people walking towards me with their cameras out, looking to steal my shot. I walked back towards the horses to scare them away and then returned to my car, knowing they would not get their shots lol
I stood one day in front of this river and the noise was deafening, but the feeling of standing here, when once id only seen it in photos, was something i cant describe. The wind in this region, is unlike any other in the world and it comes at such a brutal speed from nothing, its likely to blow you right over as it did me and my tripod this day. I lost some of my filters and they were never found and most likely are somewhere out there still in the bushes.
On my first day driving towards the Torres Del Paine, i was blessed with a rainbow
As is usual in all these spectacular places nowadays, there are hundreds of tourists doing the selfie thing
Trees cling to the rocks, trying to stop themselves being blown away. Anything that can survive here has my full respect
The other side of the park after i started to drive away. This is about a 60 sec long exposure
Walkers venturing back from the mountains
I strayed onto the road to Argentina one day and drove for quite a bit, thinking perhaps there was something to see here, but there never was, so i stopped going nowhere
Having left Patagonia, i took a bus down to Punta Arenas, which is probably as far down as you can go, without using boats and planes to get to the very bottom of chile. I stayed here 5 days it think, which was the longest days of my life. There was nothing to do here and i wasnt drinking anymore, so there was no social life. I hired a car and drove down the coast as far as i could, looking for things to photograph, but outside of this little ship graveyard, there was nothing. I returned once more with a friend a few days later and we shot these images
a salvage yard at the bottom of the world
a long exposure gave me a little bit of indication that these boats sit and rust, while time passes slowly by.
This ship just reminded me of a gutted fish, that was rotting away on a beach somewhere
i drove my car to the loneliest place in the world and stood outside and was crushed by the emptiness of this country. I didnt stay long after this, but i took what i needed in terms of growth for myself and i flew back to the uk not long after this, stopping for a few days in paris to be around people.
Pretty weird seeing lamas by the side of the road in Patagonia
I drove around the Parque Nacional Alerce Andino, which is half way down Chile and this was such a fabulous area to drive aimlessly around looking for images. I'm a coastal landscape man and i just loved the shots i got around here.
I stayed in one of these hotels on stilts in this colorful town, but im damn if i can remember where it was in Chile lol
Fabulous big skies, just so reminded me of Mokpo in South Korea
Wooden churches are everywhere in the countryside in Chile
Sunsets and sea in the Parque Nacional Alerce Andino made it one of my favourite areas to visit.
More boats, more coastlines, more small villages and great light
Boats and seagulls
Pucan and my first real volcano
