In August 2018, we traveled to Peru and Bolivia as members of an organized 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 24–80 mm lens and the second with an 80–300 mm lens.
On the day the bus stopped on the side of the road, we were allowed to contemplate this unbelievable scene full of layers, curves, lines, forms, and a beautiful sky. There was no water, vegetation, construction, people, animals, or visual distractions.
According to my GPS, I was at an altitude of 4,911 m. Look carefully—there is snow on top of the mountain!
Handheld, I composed and framed the image using a 160 mm focal length. To ascertain a perfect exposure (ETTR), I intentionally overexposed by one stop.
Before that trip, I thought that deserts were flat and dull landscapes. Looking at this scene and the others captured during our trip, I can say that deserts contain amazing scenery!
During that amazing trip, I captured lovely desert scenes. Once again, I was very happy to have two cameras ready to shoot!
