On a wild and stormy morning in Torres del Paine National Park I am hurtling down a rough gravel track trying to get to the turquoise shores of lake Pehoé before the magic in front of me vanishes forever. I’m on the road earlier than normal when I would expect there to be only a slight hint of light in the otherwise dark sky. Despite of this and for reasons that are still unbeknown to me the sky was already blazing red, as if on fire. To this day I haven’t witnessed anything quite like it! I put the pedal to the metal, I wasn’t going to miss this. A little panicked and bones shaken from the rough drive I arrive, jump from the truck and assemble my gear in a faster manner than I’m normally accustomed to when photographing landscapes. I managed to capture the scene and whilst it was one of the most incredible sights to witness it didn’t quite translate to the camera in the way I had hoped.
As the fire sky faded, the sun slowly started to rise and the dappled light illuminated the Torres range as the gaps in the clouds got ever larger, almost to the point it felt like theses storm clouds may clear entirely. After what I had witnessed just minutes earlier I had a feeling something special could be just around the corner of what had already been the most peculiar of mornings. I stuck it out in the wind and rain operating entirely on blind faith and sheer determination that something would happen. It wasn’t looking good and just as I was starting to think about calling time on the shoot the most perfect scene revealed itself to me. All to briefly the moment was gone but I knew I had been blessed to witness something amazing in one of the worlds most magical locations.
