I hiked the Salkantay Trail and part of the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu in Peru last week, 9/14 – 9/24/2010, with a group sponsored by REI Adventures partnering with Mountain Lodges of Peru. I had debated whether to take any books for reading, or just my sketchbook and camera. As it turned out, I had no time for reading, and hardly any time for sketching, because we spent so much time and energy hiking. Any down-time was consumed by rehydrating and recovering. I did get 3 hours to sketch in Machu Picchu Sanctuary on my last day there.
The friend who was coming with me on this trip had to cancel, so I was with people I didn’t know, but we all became friends. The group consisted of an incredible guide, Dalmiro Portillo Esquivel, and 9 people in addition to myself, ranging in age from 30 to 74 years old. All were well prepared, physically, and we all were well-motivated. Several other members of the group also were taking photographs, all of us being amateurs, but some with technical training. I myself have essentially no technical training in photography, trusting my instinct for composition and letting the automatic point-and-shoot camera do the rest. For the most part, I just take advantage of time, place, and light with the subjects I happen upon.
These are my sketches and a few of my photographs. Later I may put all of my vacation photos together in a photo-journal of sorts.
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Wow! It looks like a wonderful trip! The photos are terrific.
Are you going to paint some of them?
Thank you, Betty, I may work with some of them. I really like how many of them turned out as photos, so I will keep those in that format.
Each photograph is more beautiful than the next. Your sketches also brought me to Peru. You are so talented.
Thank you! Colleen is going to help me get a slide show together to show at Studio b.! I hope you can come.
You brought back some fantastic memories of Peru – many thanks 🙂