Photography Lessons

With much debacle, I did end up with a Canon Rebel XS in hand the night before I left for Argentina. I had no time to learn how to use it, and in a moment of brilliance, I left the manual at home. The fantastic truth is that I´ve learned more in the past 4 dys through the people I´ve met than I would have had I studied the manual.

There is no better place to test out bracketing and exposure levels than Ushuaia with its reflective Beagle Chanel, the snow covered hills an mountains, constantly changing weather of snow, sun, cloud, rain, sun, rain there, sun here, snow over there...Ian and Andy have been friends for 35 years and have spent the past 5 years vacationing together with their wives and photographing their journies. The guys are the professional amateur photographers you see carrying around several lenses and gadgets. I´m hopeful that with the tips on bracketing and adjusting focal point I learned from them, I´ll have some great photos to share with everyone. Once I find a memory card reader.

And since the common rooms at the Posada had picture windows, what a perfect studio to figure out how to compensate for backlighting. Katrina and I played around in the living room this morning as we waited for our rides. I tought her everything I learned from Ian and Andy. We promised to send each other the best photo at the end our trips.

I have arrived in El Calafate. It is fucking amazing here. I´m sorry to be so crass but I can´t find other words. Muy benito. Already I miss Ushuaia. Yesterday, Jey Jey drove me up to the glacier, where because it snowing (!), you could not see the glacier. And in the middle of the night, music flowed in through the windows at 2, 3 maybe even 5 in the morning. Was I dreaming, or was Ushuaia serenading me to stay. Ok, maybe it was the group of people having a bonfire and blasting music without any concern of me. But to wake up (for the 4th time) to snow falling in the summer, I must be in heaven! Except for the fact that it doesn´t snow quite enough to snowboard or ski year round.

Ah, and now El Calafate, where the glacier fed lake glows turquoise from silt and silica against a backdrop of blue and purple snow capped mountains.