Snow covered Andes … and a big bird!
(Originally published on August 2014)
From the apartment I live since January finally was able to get a decent view of the mountains. Living in Santiago, surrounded by Los Andes, this might seem like a given right, but it’s not. The apartment building density has grown too much and nowadays only the top floors or the first buildings in the front line really get the view.
Nonetheless, from this one I don’t have a panoramic view of the mountains, but I take the advantage of a gap between nearby buildings, by using a strong 300mm telephoto lens and narrowing the frame on a specific section of the mountain range Sierra de Ramon.
There I was, just a few days ago, trying this angle of the mountains with a fresh coat of snow from the recent storm, waiting patiently, until the clouds cleared enough for a good glimpse at these magnificent giants and setup the tripod and the telephoto. Here’s one of the photos of that day.
But I was to be treated with a nice surprise I only discovered when checking the photos on the computer. Just in a single frame I got, a small dot in the upper left corner caught my attention. A quick zoom in revealed what might have been an Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) or some other prey bird of a similar size.
Indeed it was a wonderful surprise, that hardly could I have anticipated it properly for a better shot. Actually, for a closer look at the bird I would have needed a focal lens near the 500mm range, which I didn’t have on hand at that moment. But the surprise of capturing the bird on the frame was the highlight of the day.
PS: An update 2 years later. Sadly a new building is now blocking the view to that section in the mountains. It was definitely great while it lasted. :-)
