Into The Caves Of Patagonia

New camera technology comes to the rescue when one of the world’s pristine wonders is photographed

By Kathryn Vincent Lepp With George D. Lepp, Photography By George D. Lepp And Linde Waidhofer

Labels: Camera Technique, How To

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Working from a small boat in open water, George Lepp captures the entrance façade of the marble caves of Lago General Carrera in a three-image panorama. The gracefully carved stone reflects the clear blue light of the sky and the intense color of the pristine glacial-fed lake, one of South America’s largest and loveliest. Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ/4L IS at 105mm, ISO 800.

The lake is bluer than the sky, and the sky is very blue indeed. Today the water is banded in saturated shades of azul: turquoise, cyan, teal, sapphire, aquamarine. Only yesterday morning its surface was a mosaic of bright tiles, frothed by wind into wavelets tipped with blinding white sequins. By afternoon, its turmoil had ebbed to an intriguing greenish waffle of opposing currents. But today, the lake is glassy and crisp, mirroring central Chilean Patagonia’s iconic mountains, their ragged black peaks capped with snow and caped with ice fields. We’ve entered a different time and place, where landscapes are drawn large and bold, and where mountains and water are all that separate people from the endless sky.

The Road To Patagonia
It’s summer here. A few days before, we had left our home in Colorado in the midst of a winter storm, our visions of sunshine, wildflowers and this lake calling us 7,000 miles south. Months previously, our friends, the landscape photographer Linde Waidhofer and her poet/graphic designer husband Lito Tejada-Flores, had shown us Linde’s haunting photographs of a group of marble caves accessible only from Lago General Carrera. We were intrigued by the unique and mysterious beauty of the place, but most of all, driven to photograph the collection of watery arches and grottos known as the Capilla de Mármol (the Marble Chapel). Linde and Lito, who live six months each year on the shore of the lake near the small town of Puerto Guadal, generously invited us to visit, and the plan was hatched.

More than 30 travel hours finally has brought us to the shore of a lake where we find a small house, two aluminum boats tied to a sturdy dock and an informal campground that harbors several two-man tents. And best of all, we’re enthusiastically greeted—¡Hola! ¡Bienvenidos!—by the owner, Pedro Contreras, who has agreed in advance to guide us to the marble caves this morning and for each of the next several days. Months of planning and days of packing gear and traveling are done. Now the photographic journey begins.

The Marble Caves

A whale’s breakfast. The intricate, jagged structures within the caverns evoke the ribs of a giant whale, while an extreme wide-angle lens opens the perspective. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II’s expanded ISO capability made the image possible while shooting from a rocking boat in low light. Canon EF 15mm ƒ/2.8 fisheye, 1⁄90 sec. at ƒ/11, ISO 800.

Not many photographers have worked on the marble caves. It’s not just that it’s difficult to reach them. A body of water as large as Lago General Carrera can develop ocean-worthy swells and waves. Because the caves can be entered only by small craft, conditions often make the trip impossible. But on this gentle day, Pedro helps us and our gear into the boat, takes his place at the outboard motor, and we scoot out of the protected little marina and along the shoreline toward two large mushroom-shaped islands. The spray from our boat blows back on us, and we move the gear out of the puddles forming around our feet. A moment later, Pedro cuts the engine, and we drift into the first cave.

A host of photographic opportunities and challenges hits us all at once. The caverns are made of gleaming white stone laced with veins and edged with delicate fins of brown and black. Light enters the passages through shadowy doorways and unexpected bright windows to the outside. All in one space, the sun hits the walls and the water at blinding angles while the blue light and the cyan water color the marble with an eerie glow.

Everywhere there are arches and grottoes, graceful curves, stilettos and jagged teeth, revealed as clearly below the water as above. A slender, fragile column rises from the depths to support the massive weight of the marble ledge above us. The only sound is of the wavelets that tap at our boat and lick the rocks around us. With quiet pride, Pedro watches us take in the place. His outstretched arm braces the boat against a smooth, cold wall of ancient marble.

We can see that successfully photographing the marble caves will require all the digital tools we’ve brought with us, and then some. We’re equipped with Canon EOS 5D Mark II bodies and a variety of lenses. After viewing Linde Waidhofer’s work on the caves, we’ve anticipated the problems of high contrast, low light and unstable platforms. Still, the complexity of the structures and the constricted space present obstacles we had not anticipated.

Page 1 of 4

12 3 4

20 Comments

Ivan Konar makes this comment

Monday 23 November, 2009

Hi, The images of your article remember my trip in the marble caves in 2007. I am photographer and photo-guide in the zone. I was luck at that time, because of the total inmovility of the water of the lake at the moment, so the reflects of the rocks was fantastic. It is nice to see that north american photographers begun to discover the "Andinian Patagonia" as we call here in Chile. I suggest to continue far south, it is a zone of a total virginity and plenty of a sauvage nature, the silence is the king and the surprise is the queen...
James G. makes this comment

Thursday 26 November, 2009

At the end of the article on the caves there was a mentioning of the 5D Mark II video capturing abilities, I own one and would have been extremely thrilled to have seen the videos. I am still becoming familular with the camera and haven't delved into the video much at all. But I have discovered that Zoom Browser is lacking on the part of its choices for developing/converting to the fullest extent of the video captured. Is there a (recomened) software program that can handle the large file size and completely render full 1080p HD resolution after developement and conversion to a suitable format?
LUCIANO GARRIDO makes this comment

Sunday 20 December, 2009

Hi, what do you think about packaging cameras, lens and batteries at Patagonian, at summer? Thank you.
Sam Wiedermann makes this comment

Sunday 14 February, 2010

Hi - Thought the pics were spectacular and enjoyed reading the article. Had a question about your mention of HDR and its subsequent dismissal as a viable technique. I understand the difficulties of shooting HDR from a moving platform. However, in such cases, and assuming you're shooting in RAW, wouldn't it be a viable solution to take one shot (say, perhaps for the highlights), and then create another 2-3 speparate images in some post-production software where the exposure is reduced by half stop increments. Then, feed the images into whatever HDR app you choose and voila, an HDR image with perfect allignment since all the images were created from the same source image. Sound good?
Lyla makes this comment

Saturday 20 February, 2010

Sorry. The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. Help me! Could you help me find sites on the: With a degree in criminal justice. I found only this - master degree in criminal justice administration. Criminal justice degree, research an victimisation with a course crime. The law means that the transfer cannot be a education that was approved, criminal justice degree. With respect :eek:, Lyla from San.
clippingimages makes this comment

Saturday 20 March, 2010

Oh ... Its awesome. The facade has created a heavenly drawing which is impossible by the humans. You are so lucky to enjoy the god's creation.
nike shox makes this comment

Sunday 9 May, 2010

good post
ed hardy t shirts makes this comment

Wednesday 12 May, 2010

this is a nice article
Ed Hardy makes this comment

Thursday 13 May, 2010

In America many people have a romantic idea of life in the countryside.
makechen makes this comment

Saturday 15 May, 2010

[url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]Best Handbags[/url] [url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]Louis vuitton Handbags[/url] [url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]Guccl Handbags[/url] [url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]Chanel Handbags[/url] [url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]womens hangbags[/url] [url=http://www.onlinebuycom.com]handbags[/url]fengcinianqing
metin2 yang makes this comment

Thursday 20 May, 2010

made by ksharp
wow gold makes this comment

Thursday 20 May, 2010

made by owen
metin2 yang makes this comment

Thursday 20 May, 2010

let's go party
wendy makes this comment

Tuesday 25 May, 2010

Last year, I know the game mixmaster by chance; I try to play it to pass the time. To my surprise, I get some12sky2 Goldlater ,my friend told me that how to get moretwelve sky2 Goldis very important . He taught me how to play the game well, and through buytwelvesky2 Goldto makebuy 12sky2 Gold,that holiday im very happy ,what is more ,earnedcheap twelve sky2 Gold.
cheap nfl jerseys makes this comment

Monday 31 May, 2010

Dear friends, thank you for visiting our website ,we are an international trade company,which specializes in NFL jerseys. Cheap NFL Jerseys China， such as Arizona Cardinal,Atlanda Falcons ,Baltimore Ravens,etc.You can buy cheap jerseys. Welcome to visist here . Website: http://www.cheapnfljerseys4u.com
discount nfl jerseys makes this comment

Tuesday 1 June, 2010

thanks for posting it.
asfasf makes this comment

Thursday 3 June, 2010

Of course, you can get much fantasy earth zero gold, Call on your friends to play and fez gold, Have you heard buy fez gold, it can help you beat the monster buy fantasy earth zero gold,
asfasf makes this comment

Monday 14 June, 2010

Had you know the voyage century gold, my mother told me need work hard then voyage century online gold, but I always fell that vco gold is different, also I do not know how to do voyage century online money,
Dallas Cowboys Jerseys makes this comment

Monday 19 July, 2010

thank you.
Derrick Schwan makes this comment

Wednesday 25 August, 2010

That's a great photo. I was really enjoy watching it out. Thanks