What’s going on

Yesterday I went on my first ever photowalk. A photowalk is basically a bunch of photographers (in this case about 130) who stroll around the city and take photos. It should perhaps be called a photostroll as that to me sounds a lot more casual and my photowalk was certainly a casual affair. For me spending time with other like-minded people and just making new friends. That’s not to say that I didn’t take any photos I just didn’t take that many.

The walk started off at Hyde Park in Sydney and meandered it’s way through the streets to Observatory Hill near the Harbour Bridge. So we didn’t come across like a protest march and get ourselves thrown in jail the group was split into smaller ones. The groups kept meeting up with each other and converging at key points through the city. I am sure that as we split again I found myself following a different group each time, not that this was an issue as the whole thing was very casual.

The photowalk was organised by three photographers from Google+, Giuseppe Basile, Michael Sutton and Gretchen Chappelle.  Lockey McGrath from Google got wind of the event as it was being organised  and Google themselves kindly threw their weight behind it giving all participants a t-shirt, new camera strap and to top it all off put on drinks and a BBQ at the end of the day for anyone. I was very impressed by this from Google. They seem to be determined to take Google+ further than just another social media site and turn it into something more like a small online community. It has certainly become an amazing place to talk to fellow photographers, follow their work and get inspired by all the wonderful images on there. So in closing I just want to say a big thanks to all the organisers and to Google for making it such a fun day out.

I have never been overly thrilled with the way my website displays my panoramas to you. They always seem to be lacking a lot of detail, skinny little pictures that don’t really do justice to the original shot. Today I came across a viewer that should be able to change all that. Above is my first test of the Seadragon Viewer from Microsoft.  I would appreciate it if you could let  me know if you have any problems using it. At the moment it is running through zoom.it a website that allows anyone to set it up.

Barrington Tops National Park lies about three hours to the north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley, a region more famed for its wine growing.  The park is on the World Heritage List as part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. What makes the Gondwana Rainforests so special is that, according to fossil records, many of the species in the rainforests today existed on the Gondwana continent over 200 million years ago. The park has also been declared a Wilderness area and some of the rivers have been classed as Wild Rivers, meaning they are exceptionally pure and free of contaminants.

I spent a couple of days there in the south eastern section. Due to wet weather driving it wasn’t really possible for me to get too far into the park in my little city car. I stayed down near the Blue Gum Circuit and explored from there. The rainforest there is beautiful. There was a constant drizzle of rain and at times torrential rain but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Grey skies reduce the contrast and make for great photo opportunities inside a forest. One thing the rain did bring out though was an incredible amount of leeches. I have never seen so many before and it was near impossible to keep them off me. Whenever I stopped to take a picture they just seemed to launch themselves upon me. Somehow they even managed to get upon my face a couple of times.

Different sections of the park are supposedly completely different. The flora in the park varies from the rainforests through to alpine. In winter the high reaches of the park often get covered in snow. I certainly hope to get back there sometime soon, perhaps next time either better prepared for a longer walk or with a 4wd so I can get further into the park and experience some of the different sections.

I am very happy to announce that this week I won 2 Bronze awards in the Epson Panoramic Awards contest. One award was for Sunset on Long Reef Beach in the landscape category and the other of Northern Beaches in the urban category.

The contest is a worldwide contest with entries from over 60 countries. There is some beautiful entries and it is well worth a look through one of the galleries. 

Sunrise from the banks of the Rio Baker near the Northern Icecap, Patagonia, Chile

Imagine driving down a single-track unsealed road, the only road through around for miles. No cars, no traffic. In the snow-capped mountains above large glaciers spill from a hidden icecap, one of the largest expanses of ice on the planet. Temperate rainforests cover the mountains’ lower slopes punctuated only by waterfalls spilling off the cliffs above and crashing their way into the valleys below. In the valleys fast flowing rivers surge, their waters a delicate azure from the remains of glacial debris, make there way  out into fjords spectacular enough to rival those of Norway or New Zealand.

A storm builds over the Northern Icecap, Patagonia, Chile

A few years ago I had the pleasure of being able to travel with a group of friends through southern Chile, just such an area. This is the side of Patagonia that few travellers get to see as it is so isolated and the infrastructure for travelling here really doesn‘t exist. I have always I ranked it as one my favourite destinations.

In the last few years the area has become the centre of a heated debate regarding the construction of five dams on two of the regions major rivers, the Rio Baker and the Rio Pascua. The plans also include a clear-cut strip running for 2200kms to the north as a corridor for the power lines. This clear-cut strip will be the longest on the planet and run through some of Chiles most scenic landscapes.

On the side supporting the construction is HidroAysen, a conglomerate  who now own the water rights which were privatised back during the rule of Pinochet’s fascist government. In its bid to sell the dams to the public HidroAysen have started a new advertising campaign which some claim is a “terror campaign”. In the campaign HidroAysen claim that without the dams Chiles power grid will soon be unable to handle the demands being placed upon it and, as a result, the country “will be left in the dark”.

Just outside of Cochrane, RegionXI, Chile

Opponents say Chile has plenty of energy projects coming on line to satisfy future demand.  They also argue that the project will irreversably damage one of the world’s few remaining wild places. Recent polls hve shown that the majority of Chile’s population is opposed to the construction.  A study into HydroAysen’s environmental impact report has found more than 3000 deficiencies with the report. These include a failure to map exactly what area the reservoirs will cover, insufficient data on the impact of the local flora and fauna including the critically endangered Huemul estimated at only 3000 remaining and ignoring data regarding the seismic risks to the dams despite the existence of numerous fault lines and other unstable geology in the region.

While it is true that Chile may be facing an upcoming energy crisis other less destructive options are available to it. Chile is a country situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire and as such is high in volcanic activity. The possibility for geothermal energy is huge throughout Chile. It is one of the cleanest sources of energy, easily harnessed and abundant. The upper six miles of the Earth’s crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world’s oil and gas reserves combined. Factories for geothermal energy can be built on a small localised scale thus minimising the size of the area affected to make power and doing away with such large scale clear-cuts. Around 24 countries are now converting geothermal energy into electricity. El Salvador, another country on the Ring of Fire, leads the way making 26 percent of its electricity from geothermal power.

One of the beautiful landscapes that await travellers who get off the beaten track in Chile’s Patagonia

It would be a great shame and a great loss to the world if this region of pristine wilderness was to be damaged for the unnecessary construction of the five dams. The worlds wilderness areas are shrinking and becoming more like isolated pockets. At what point will the governments stop and think through all the alternatives and decide on what is best for the planet and not for the pockets. Hopefully not before all is lost.

More shots of Chile can be found here

Sources:

• NY Times
• Patagonia Sin Represas
• The Patagonia Times
• HidroAysen
• International Rivers
• Grist