Atacama Desert | Fotoeins Fotografie

Pisco Elqui, Rio Claro, Estero Derecho, Rio Elqui, Elqui river, Region de Coquimbo, La Serena, Chile, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in La Serena: Pisco Elqui

I’m highlighting the La Serena-Coquimbo area in north-central Chile, where I lived from 2006 to 2011 after many visits to the area between mid-1990s and the early aughts.

On the paved two-lane road (D-485) next to the Claro river, this view of the Paihuano area by the side of the road faces south and upstream towards the town of Pisco Elqui. The colours provide reminders that (1) the Andes aren’t very far, and (2) this region is at the southern edge of the Atacama desert. Red-wine grapes don’t do well here, but unique soil chemistry allows pisco grapes to thrive from which pisco brandy and the very familiar “pisco sour” cocktail are made.

I made the photo above on 9 Aug 2008 with a Canon EOS450D/Rebel XSi and the following settings: 1/400-sec, f/8, ISO200, 55mm focus (88mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-jLp.

Embalse Puclaro, Puclaro, Rio Elqui, Elqui river, Region de Coquimbo, La Serena, Chile, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in La Serena: Puclaro dam & reservoir

I’m highlighting the La Serena-Coquimbo area in north-central Chile, where I lived from 2006 to 2011 after many visits to the area between mid-1990s and the early aughts.

In 1999, the Elqui river was dammed to control water flow into agricultural lands downstream and beyond to the twin cities of La Serena and Coquimbo. The reservoir behind the dam drowned a number of villages. The view above from the dam faces east to the Andes, the continent’s raised mountain spine.

I made the photo above on 13 Sep 2009 with a Canon EOS450D/Rebel XSi and the following settings: 1/80-sec, f/13, ISO200, and 18mm focal length (29mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-jLl.

Coquimbo, Cruz del tercer milenio, La Serena, Region de Coquimbo, Chile, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in La Serena: the Coquimbo Cross

I’m highlighting the La Serena-Coquimbo area in north-central Chile, where I lived from 2006 to 2011 after many visits to the area between mid-1990s and the early aughts.

On previous visits to La Serena, I’d always been curious but never thought to ask. As new resident of the area in 2006, I finally make my way to the imposing cement structure. I’m up at the elevated platform where additional viewing areas provide a complete panorama of the area. At the foot of the cross there’s a chapel and a museum of religious art.

Inaugurated in 2001 on top of the hill Cerro El Vigía in the town of Coquimbo, the cross stands 93 meters high and 40 meters wide as one of the largest religious monuments to Catholicism in South America, and marks the calendar’s transition into a new millennium. That’s why the Coquimbo Cross is formally called la Cruz del Tercer Milenio (the Cross of the Third Millennium). In clear transparent conditions, the cross is visible to the naked eye from mountain observatories 60 kilometres to the east.

Avenida del Mar, Playa del Mar, La Serena, Coquimbo, Chile, fotoeins.com

Standard view of Coquimbo from the beach in late-afternoon light – 15 Sep 2006.

I made both photos above with a Canon PowerShot A510 on 15 Sep 2006 and 1 Apr 2007. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-jLd.

Playa del Mar, Coquimbo, Cruz del tercer milenio, La Serena, Region de Coquimbo, Chile, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in La Serena: February summer sunset

I highlight the La Serena-Coquimbo area in north-central Chile, where I lived from 2006 to 2011 after many visits to the area between mid-1990s and the early aughts.

5 Mar – Playa de 4 Esquinas (Beach at the 4 Corners).
12 Mar – Cruz del tercer milenio (Cross of the Third Millennium).
19 Mar – Embalse Puclaro (Puclaro dam and reservoir).
26 Mar – Pisco Elqui.

The shallow J-shaped bay and the 10-km long narrow strip of sand facing the Pacific Ocean is very popular in summer with visitors streaming into town from Argentina, Brazil, and other parts of Chile, ballooning both people- and vehicle-numbers. Always worth spending is time on the beach on a calm sunny morning or on a windy cloudy afternoon. The image here is late-afternoon on a beautiful warm late-summer day in February with the sun setting over the Coquimbo peninsula across the bay.

I made the photo above on 22 February 2006 with a Canon PowerShot A510. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-jtG.

Ruta 5, Carretera Panamericana, Panamerican Highway, Region de Antofagasta, Chile, fotoeins.com

Under the desert sun

Above/featured: Ruta 5 (highway 5), a ribbon-like cut through the desert in Región de Atacama, Chile – 24 Nov 2009 (450D).

It’s an interesting question: how does one consider, view, or photograph what’s under the sun? There’s a lot of room for interpretation. Modifying the theme for the desert sun, I examine the “quality of sunlight” within the Atacama Desert in northern and north-central Chile, and within the Sonoran Desert in southwest United States.

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