Portfolio
Ten years chasing light across South America and beyond — from the granite spires of Patagonia to hidden waterfalls deep in the Amazon.
When the Stars Align
I spotted the natural spiral this tree created from a hundred meters away, as it sat perched on a ridgeline high above the road. After sunset, I hiked over to it, knowing from experience that the dead branches with a backdrop of stars is a natural combination. I played around with poses, and eventually settled on this one, feeling that the direction and placement of my arms almost continued the natural spiral formed by the tree. The bright star in the center adds the final touch to the image.
Island in the Sky
When I shoot “portraits” such as this, I always try to find creative ways of tying the pose and placement of a figure together with the rest of the image. This stone just so happened to sit perfectly within the reflection of the orange glow in the lake, providing a nice pocket to fit in a figure. The lone star in the sky provides a sort of “reflection” to the lone figure sitting on the rock.
Rainbow River to the Stars
Northern Argentina
Having seen several photos of this Northern Argentinian landscape beforehand, I noticed that the landscape had only ever been photographed from a distance. Like many desert landscapes, vegetation and water were sparse. Hoping to photograph the landscape in a new way, I hitchhiked to a small town several hours away from the colorful peaks. From there, I hiked several hours into a valley below the peaks. There I found boulders with colors which mimicked the colors of the distant peaks. An S-curve in the river mimicked the zigzagging rock layers. These features combined to create an image that felt cohesive from near to far.
Stargazing
One of my personal favorite images. This image was made in a forest which had been through a forest fire. The fire left the trees stripped of bark, and the charring had left unusual patterns burned into the wood grain. I strive to create symmetries in images to make them feel more cohesive. I’d always wanted to create a symmetry between a long exposure showing the rotation of the stars, and some sort of other element. There are not many elements in nature offering much of a “mirror” to this sort of a sky. The charred base of this tree was one of the few things that I’ve seen which provided a unique counterbalance to this sort of sky. I made the images of the base of this tree trunk, as well as myself standing in the scene, during the blue hour of the day. Leaving the camera in the exact same position, I then waited for the stars to appear, and then shot a 3 hour long exposure, which I then blended together with the images I’d made earlier.
Reflection Rock
El Chaltén, Patagonia, Argentina
A favorite scene of mine, taken in El Chaltén, Patagonia. I have photographed this scene countless times, under many kinds of light. This version is quieter. A 30 second exposure shows water and cloud motion, but keeps the stars static.
The Adventure Which Awaits
Peru
Taken on my first ever adventure to Peru. A friend and I climbed up the side of a mountain in the dark, hoping to get to the top of a ridgeline which seemed so close, silhouetted against the stars. Judging distance and height is never easy in the dark… After 2 hours, we gave up, sat, rested, and as the clouds parted, I snapped a couple photos capturing that moment. Little did I know at the time, that trip to Peru was the beginning of a new phase in life, and I would spend the next years coming back countless times to photograph.
Dreaming
It’s not often that a photo works out on a first attempt, and even less so when I haven’t spent time planning it out in advance. But I remember spotting this stone as I hiked back in the dark after photographing a different scene. It was a relatively unremarkable stone, under the light of day — but some things just have a pleasing shape to them, and with a backdrop of stars, can make for magical images.
Twilight in the Andes
The Andes
Stars slowly light up in the sky as the last light of day falls across the top of a remote peak in the Andes. I exhaled the thin air with care, to prevent my breath from fogging up the camera lens on this frigid night.