In August 2018, we travelled to Peru and Bolivia as members of an organised trip.
Peru features a 1,555-mile (2,500 km) long, narrow desert strip along its Pacific coast, making up about 10% of the country and acting as one of the driest places on Earth.
For that trip, I carried two identical Olympus cameras, the first set with a 24–80mm lens and the second with an 80–300mm lens.
On that day, the guide took us on a flight tour over the Nazca region to contemplate the desert lines. On our way to the tour, the bus stopped on the side of the road to allow us to contemplate this unbelievable scene: a flat and vast coloured desert bordered by beautiful hills and covered by a textured sky.
Handheld, I took my camera. I composed and framed the scene using a 30mm focal length. To ascertain a perfect exposure (ETTR), I intentionally overexposed the scene by 1 stop.
I asked our guide, “I see lines on the desert. What are they?” He replied, “Nazca Lines. They were constructed more than 2,000 years ago by the people of the Nazca culture. Jacques, in less than an hour we will be up in the air and you will have a better view of these unbelievable lines.” In fact, one hour and ten minutes later, I captured this scene.
