Valparaíso Waterfront, Chile
Fujifilm GFX100S II, 100-200mm zoom, f11 @ 1/400 second, ISO 640

We arrived after breakfast in the coastal city of Valparaíso, Chile. It’s a short drive from Santiago where we were overnighting in between tours, so we hired a photo guide. When we arrived in the centre of the old town, it was a little disconcerting to meet both the guide and an off-duty police officer who tagged along with us for the entire day, a gun clearly visible in his holster. While the locations we were visiting are very touristy, apparently visitors are great fodder for pickpockets and other less savoury characters!

The sun was well and truly up. And there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so we were dealing with harsh light and lots of reflections off the harbour waters. It wasn’t an ideal situation for classic long shadows or warm, moody light, so you have to adapt to what you’re presented with. For me, it was strong contrast and bold colours.

I’m sure 20 or 30 years ago, these dinghies would not have been so attractive, with their fresh paint and unmarked gunnels, but add the patina of age – a few knocks, scratches and faded paint – and these same vessels become more interesting, more photogenic. I guess it’s a perverse side of our nature to pursue things that are a little battered and broken, rather than pristine and new.

Two points of interest. First, the exposure. In these situations I am underexposing, sometimes by one or two EV (stops). I am trying to keep any specular highlights under control. Subject areas with very light or no tone dilute the tonal range. You’ll notice in the rendering above (as much as you can on a phone or computer screen which isn’t calibrated or capable of good reproduction) that there are no real highlights. Yes, there are areas of white paint, but on a scale of 1 to 100, the ‘white’ is really a light grey of, say, 80%. In bright sunshine which can really swamp our subject, controlling the highlights is paramount,

The second point is my indecision about which photo I liked the most. Both work for me, so rather than making a choice, I created a simple diptych. I re-cropped the images to line up the oar with the gunnel, creating a more obvious connection.

But I think I like better the two images separately.