8
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Eric Thiessen's picture

Breakthrough

After battling the forces of Patagonia, we had one remaining opportunity to capture the infamous peaks of Patagonia before making our long journey home. Bryce and I woke up well before dawn and we were treated with unpleasant, dull overcast skies. With what was seemingly a defeat, we both knew through experience from the trip that anything can happen in Patagonia, especially if it involves weather. With this mindset, we made our final push to this location in hope's to get one last look at the mountains. We were both completely drained, worked and ready to go home, but we had a mission, and we proceeded.

The winds that morning were higher than usual, but that amped up our moral as it provided two great opportunities: waves and a chance for the clouds to dissipate. We found our compositions and hunkered down, waiting for the mountains to appear.... and appear they did.

For nothing more than a few minutes, the clouds lit up and gave way to my favorite sunrise to date. All of the surrounding area was completely socked in, but we "lucked out" and had an incredible view of the Cuernos! Those few minutes quickly past, mountains were nowhere to be seen, and we found ourselves in a middle of a blizzard. 100km/h + winds, snow being hurled at us sideways, and the realization that we need to get the heck out of there. My tripod had another incident (accidental this time 😂), but we didnt have time to put the pieces back together as we were getting pressure washed by snow, so Bryce hysterically watched me run away from the snowstorm while trying to keep my tripod bits together! What a crazy and humbling our last day was. And all I can say from this trip is that God's creation is absolutely incredible, and never will it cease to amaze me. I thank Him for providing us with this memorable last moment in Patagonia.

Thanks for reading!

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1 Comment

I love the dramatic conditions here and i think you nailed the shutter speed to render the feeling of that wave. The warmer light on the mountains is also a great contrasting element, however i feel a bit that the distance between these 2 elements (wave and mountains) is a bit too much and offsets your composition. I also realize that my idea to improve it would mean getting a bit lower and that would almost certainly mean getting splashed by those waves :)))...so, sorry :)

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