High in the Andes, the deep blue skies can be deceptive. This was mid-morning and the lake in front of me was frozen. At night, the temperature regularly dropped to -20 Celsius. It was also breathless here as I was standing at over 4,200m altitude.
If you like desolate, abandoned places, the Atacama Desert is the place for you.
Last time I was in Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world, was back in 2010. I visited Argentina, Bolivia and Chile for a 20 day photography trip. I started in Tierra del Fuego and worked my way north.
Ushuaia is an industrial town, situated next to the Beagle Channel, nestled amongst the mountains. Whilst wondering along the waters edge, I cam across this old tug that had run aground. The scene felt as desolate as the wintry weather that was lashing it that morning.
High up in the altiplano plateau, within the Salar de Uyuni, there is a train graveyard. Rather than methodically removing locomotives and wagons, the local rail service instead runs them off the end of the line and leave them to rot in the salty desert.
The first time I visited this place, there was a simple yet eerie sense of otherworldliness. However, upon my return, all the trains had been graffitied and the whole area had become a huge rubbish dump, which was a real shame.
Last couple of shots from Iceland. On the day I finally completed my circumnavigation of the island on my trusty cycle, I went for a wonder around the shoreline of Reykjavik. I was treated to the most glorious light across the bay. The yellow light house a beacon at twilight just as it was at night.
Prior to arriving in the capital, I had camped on the shoreline of Jökulsárlón. This image was taken close to midnight. As Iceland is just south of the Arctic Circle, it has little darkness in the summer. However, even though it was meant to be the hottest time of the year, it was chilly, with temperatures still very much in single figures that evening.
Back in 2011, I was on assignment for Lonely Planet in South America, gathering some new shots for their online library. This was taken in the middle of nowhere in southern Bolivia, less than 100 miles form the Chilean and Argentinian borders, close to the Salar de Uyuni. It was late afternoon and the heat of the day in the altiplano desert was rapidly evapourating as the steely grip of night gathered traction.
Temperatures regularly drop to -20 degrees Celsius. That night was no exception.
The beginning of the hardcore cycling. Had planned to travel for two days and meet Dave in Egilsstadir.We have been going through the highlands so you are at altitude and it feels really really cold. We have been battling with more fierce headwinds.Every morning we look to the flags to check the winds and every morning they are blowing madly. There was NOTHING en route at all, not village, no shelter – nothing, just very big open plains at elevated level with non-stop winds pinning you back.
Cycled our hearts out for 45 kms and then stopped. It would normally take 3 hours to go that distance but it took 5 hours. It was unbelievable. Eventually we flagged down some locals to ask when the next town was. They said it was 35kms otherwise they suggested that I should cycle back in the direction I had come from. There was no way I was going to do that. In the end did we did 78km. Stopped in Moorudalur. It was 8km off of a main road on a dumpy gravel road. It was a tiny little camping ground but massively windy so we set about finding a sheltered place on a hillock, a challenge in itself! The camp had a nice little bar with wifi but no mobile connection. A lovely sanctuary after a very hard day.
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