Skies just skies....

In Patagonia skies manifest themselves in a lot of fascinating ways. Evening, early morning or daytime, be prepared for some fantastic shows.

Clouds like rays coming from behind the mountains.

Or piles of cotton wool hanging above the landscape.

Turning more and more golden and orange as the sun sets very slowly.

Now this looks like an airplane to me..... it was flying over the Beagle Channel.

Something falling out of the sky? 

The unobstructed views are awe inspiring.

Sunset....

 ...... or sunrise; the skies are magnificent.

 The morning sun reflecting on the mountains.

But the most fantastic show I ever saw, was a long time ago in Puerto Natales. One evening the clouds looked as if they were on fire. Imagine people being inside their homes and missing this....

  

This is where the fox lives....

The fox knows we are watching, but he doesn't care because he is safe. This is the National Park Los Alerces (south of Bariloche in the province of Chubut - Patagonia). Endlessly beautiful. All you can wish for from nature is here. Nature like an enormous piece of art. Structures, surfaces and (reflecting) light are without equal. What more to say......

I would have liked to stay much longer. The fox just wants to play, while the summer lasts; snapping at flies. Performing for us in the sunlight until he sees something else more interesting.... 

Petrol in the Pampa

Roads through the pampas of Patagonia (Argentina) are long and lonely. No villages, almost no cars.... All cars driving fast; very eager to arrive at their destination. From the coast, Puerto Madryn, to the foothills of the Andes takes a day. Somewhere along the road is this petrol station where they also serve coffee and tea. A little girl is telling you all kinds of events in Spanish, while her mother is serving the customers.

A remnant of the past. Still functioning, but almost gone. 

Around the station lots of things that can be useful and chickens. Also a lonely turkey.... Surviving Christmas this time.

Behind all this just empty pampas...... Even behind the horizon.

Empty landscapes

Iceland

I was watching a writer explain that landscapes are important for the creation of the characters of his novels. And he liked empty landscapes. Suddenly I realize how strange it is to call a landscape empty.

Canada

Even the fact that we talk about an empty landscape… It suggests that there should be something extra in there. That something is lacking. Is nature not sufficiently filling the landscape? Can a landscape with animals, like a herd of cattle, be “empty”. Can you make it feel empty”?  Is a landscape filled when there are buildings in sight?

Canada

I can think of many ways to fill a landscape. Like the painters Jeroen Bosch or Salvador Dali fill the landscape with demons and dreams. Looking at paintings, the landscape is often filled with a story, a battle or some biblical scene.

Scheveningen

Looking at my pictures, I see landscapes that feel empty because they are filled. It might be the indication, suggestion, that people are absent that makes them feel “empty”. Sometimes you even need people in the picture to make you see the “emptiness”. But on the other hand a landscape empty of people can feel full when it is overwhelming.

Iceland

I am not a philosopher, so I won’t pretend I can explain. For me it counts what I feel when I see a landscape. The emptiness means different things in different times and different places. It can be filled and at the same time be empty. An empty landscape is free to wander in but also forms a kind of mental frame. It puts you in a certain mood. A kind of mental peace; no noise, no action. Maybe some loneliness. It certainly makes you believe in space, in freedom……

Patagonia