Our camping spot in the deep canyons of Atacama

I recently posted about my first attempt at astrophotography light painting to illuminate the subject at night. I had a crazy idea to camp high up in the canyons of Atacama to light paint the giant cardon cacti with the milky way as the backdrop.

To get these shots that I so badly craved I needed to travel up to at least 3,000 m.a.s.l. where the cacti start growing. They grow in very specific terrain on steep canyon cliffs in pretty inaccessible locations so it wasn't going to be a stroll in the park. However, from my many years of guiding I know this terrain pretty well and I remembered a place by the river deep down in the canyon which could be a good camping spot from which to explore on foot.

My first attempt of light painting a cardon cactus

The first night was very tricky because the moon was very full and rising early so I had to take a shot with less milky way and more moon lighting up the sky but it was good practice nonetheless. tune in tomorrow to see how I got on...