467 - Izalco
Since I broke my foot, Haley and I had to come to an agreement. It wasn’t pretty, but our contract is settled and now we’re living it.
But before we get there, I need to give you some context.
Before we left on this entire 9 month road trip down the Pan American Highway, we made a vow to shoot photography five days a week, in an effort to avoid falling into the “extended vacation” trap. Landscape photography is one of those weird fields where you’re doing for work what everyone’s doing for leisure. So unless you set hard goals, it’d easy to fall into the vacation trap, because it’s what everyone around you is doing.
The system we had actively prevented that. Except for weekends. Because we're not fucking savages.
Thus, when I broke my foot, our clean cut system needed a hard revamp. No longer could I do the “epic” hikes up famous volcanoes and landmarks. But Haley still wanted to do them, understandably. And the thing about living in a van is that you’re always along for the ride.
After a little scuffle, what we ended up agreeing on is that for one day of the five adventures a week we were doing, she could do whatever and I’d chill in the van and wait. The other four days had to be an activity we both could do.
That way I could still shoot (at least) four days a week (a compromise I was willing to take,) and she could still hit some of the epic once in a lifetime stuff out here.
If you can guess where this is going, it means that for today’s adventure, I’m stuck in the van while Haley’s hiking a volcano that has a boiling sulfur pool in the top. Actually come to speak of it, that’s what’s happening now as I’m typing this report up. And I’m jealous as fuck.
But blah, blah, blah, there’s a lesson in here somewhere about still being able to get good shots, even if you’re not at a boiling turquoise sulfur pool on a volcano.
Oh, and fun fact, I didn’t mention this area is also infamous for armed tourist robberies, so a police escort is required to hike the volcano AND the drive in has several warnings online about not stopping on the road up to the National Park.
I’m sitting here hoping I don’t get fucking murdered and that Haley comes back in one piece. In the meantime, I figured I’d distract myself (and you) with some of the photos I took at our parking spot, yesterday at sunset.
Well, kind of. The first two were a few hours before sunset, because the whole basecamp area was a foggy abyss. This first one was of the volcano Santa Ana, which is what has the boiling sulfur pool at the top that Haley’s actively observing:
“Tangled Glow”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 50 ~ 70mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/1000s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Nice little classic layers shot for ya. I loved the speckled light line that hit that random spot on the hills. Added to the foggy drama immensely.
The second shot was of a tree that particularly stood out to me. It’s yellow leaves contrasted literally every other plant in this area, and it looked like something out of plant heaven. When the fog hit just right, I lined up this bad boy:
“Light Ray of the Sol”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 50 ~ 54mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/100s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
And finally, the grand shot of this lil’ adventure. (If you can call it that?)
The sunset. Which was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. Despite the eternally foggy afternoon, the light seemed to clear away at the perfect moment, and was hitting the neighboring volcano Izalco just right. It’s almost as if Mother Nature was like “Intricate, I’m so sorry you couldn’t hike the volcano even though you’re in an incredibly risky area, so here’s a beautiful sunset. Now get out your fucking drone before it’s gone.”
And that I did:
“Volcano Pinky Winky”
Taken on DJI Mavic Mini
[ISO 100 ~ 4.49mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
The way the light hit those clouds was incredible. I made sure to pull out that color in Photoshop to really send it home. Fuck. I’m about to cry just looking at how beautiful that shot is. That’s Mama Nature.
Who needs a sulfur pool anyway? If anything, the areas surrounding famous shit often are the most undershot. Because everyone just focuses on the one scene. Pro tip.
Alright folks, that’s all I got. I’m gonna go eat a habanero lime ramen with egg because I’m starving from sitting on my ass all day.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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