This edition of Michael Clark‘s newsletter is a doozie. Aside from reminding me of my annoyance with Canon for not having a decent competitor to the D300, he has an inspiring article on shooting the Patagonia Expedition Race. This is wow.
The race is described on the official site as:
It is a journey to the end of the world, to the unknown, a trip to a virgin and wild territory, to southern Patagonia, the tip of the American continent. It is a race marked by the mystique of exploration, of discovery and facing the untamable Mother Nature. It is an adventure at the end of the world…
Reading that in isolation, I’m thinking “yeah, sure”. Reading that after Michael’s story and seeing his photos, I’m thinking “wow, Wow!”.
He quotes Kent Kobersteen, a famed photo editor from National Geographic:
The really strong photos come from those situations where the last thing you want to do is take pictures – where everything is going to hell, where the storms are raging and everyone is trying to hang on.
They were definitely in the right place:
And we were in an alpine jungle with trees so dense that not even a helicopter could find us in this valley.
Well worth a read (pdf). Or even just a download to look at the pictures!
A closing thought:
There are two basic ways to find inspiration. One is to go on a trip and the other is to put the camera down for a while.
– Jay Maisel, page 20