Phaspani | Sky Above, Sky Below | Driving in the wet season in Salar de Uyuni, it feels like you are in a sailboat on the ocean - splashing in the wat

light - Fernwayer Travel Stories & Experiences

Bolivia

Driving in the wet season in Salar de Uyuni, it feels like you are in a sailboat on the ocean - splashing in the water and watching mesmerizing reflections of the sky. It’s incredibly surreal.

The newly discovered planet Crait in The Last Jedi was set in this breathtaking and luminous salt-covered land. We stay in a gleaming Airstream parked on the salt lake, and are greeted by a salt version of R2D2 that apparently starred in the movie.

On a still day at the start of the rainy season, a thin layer of water covers the salt, forming a great mirror reflecting the sky. It’s disorienting, because you can’t judge distance or perspective. 

The Salar is so flat across its 10,000 square kilometres, that the surface is used to calibrate the altimeters on board earth’s satellites. At dusk, we watch the International Space Station slowly cruising past in the sky above us, like a bright star, and we watch lightning in the horizon all around us.

Sky Above, Sky Below

United States

Faroe Islands

Getting there on a little ferry tossed around on the surging Atlantic Ocean needs courage. As the boat uses all her resources to maneuver into a tight, rocky harbor, I wonder if the captain, who does this twice a day, is either extremely brave or completely suicidal. We step on to what looks like the sets of a Disney fantasy movie. Twenty colorful grass-roofed homes, one little schoolhouse - which has one child - and a bridge over the Atlantic.

I meet my guide Harald - a septuagenarian with poise to rival the curious sheep we see hanging precariously over the cliffs. Harald leads our little group on a 4-hour hike across the island to the lighthouse at the westernmost point of the Faroes.

Birds are everywhere - puffins, fulmars, kittiwakes, gannets - on the green hills, riding the ocean waves, occupying every inch of cliff space, filling the air with their calls, and circling the sky.

Beakful of fish

Guatemala

The spectacular Mayan ruins of Tikal overrun by miles of  unspoiled jungle are extraordinarily rich in wildlife incl. the elusive jaguar. 🐆 

It’s one of the few UNESCO World Heritage sites that combines both cultural and natural richness and the 500+ sq km contains numerous remains of the Mayan civilization scattered across wetlands, savannah and tropical jungles teaming with birds and monkeys.

It was a thrilling experience to wander in a place that was one of the great cities of the world around 700 AD and wonder how people lived at that time. 

We went late afternoon to take advantage of the magical light falling on the structures and our guide, Daveed, was very helpful in highlighting the important sites and the life at that time. We enjoyed watching the sunset from the top of Temple IV. A perfect filming location for Yavin 4 in Star Wars.

After the sunset, we walked in the fading light to the spectacular Grand Plaza, relieved in Daveed’s assurance that the 🐆 is shy of humans.

Pyramids of Tikal

Iceland

I love Iceland for many reasons. The road trips are magical - and so is the light - perfect for photography. These are my recommendations for a drive from Reykjavik to the South of Iceland. 

1. Þingvellir National Park: Go to the Visitor’s Center for a great view, and get a driving map, or suggestions from there. Find Almannagjá – the space between the North American and Eurasian continental plates. I love the little church. Lots of easy walking paths.

2. From Þingvellir to Dyrhólaey: Stop at Seljalandsfoss (easy stairs to climb behind the waterfall), Skógafoss (set your tripod in the water to take an iconic waterfall photo, then climb up to the start of the lava from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption), Sólheimasandur (for haunting pictures of the airplane that crashed on the black sand beach, there’s no sign but the coordinates are 63 27.546-19 21.887).

Part 2 coming soon.

Icelandic Road Trip - Part 1

United Kingdom

Italy

On a sunrise photo-walk, we are at Piazza San Marco. At 5AM, it’s empty, other than for a few pigeons, and a photo enthusiast like ourselves. And we run across - with tripods - to get to the Canal looking out towards San Giorgio Maggiore Island.

Our objective? To watch and photograph gondolas swaying in the canals of Venice. It’s perfect for long exposure shots. The gondolas and docks are lit up by street lights and the sky has the perfect blend of dark and light.

We then rush over to the vaporetto stand near Europa & Regina Hotel overlooking Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, for another Gondola scene (pictured) while the light is still good.

So, how many gondolas can you get into one frame?

We head out down the Grand Canal to the Rialto Fish Market. Some sellers are packing up after a good morning, but we’re able to get some great shots of everyday life. 

We walk back over Rialto bridge (great for photos of activity on the Canal) back to the hotel for breakfast.

How Many Gondolas?

Japan

Late evening photo session at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. Its 10,000 torii gates cast criss-crossing shadows into the night. 

⛩ ⛩ ⛩ ⛩ ⛩ 

This Shinto shrine has a very mystical quality, especially when it’s pitch dark, with no people around. Perfect for long 20-second exposures to capture the light and the shadows. Or “light painting” with a flashlight. 

That’s me brandishing a lightsaber and painting with it  Now imagine this as a Star Wars location for a fight scene. 

In between sets of Torii Gates, there are family shrines which are even more special, complete with miniature Torii, candlesticks and kitsune. 

🦊

Snow is falling, it’s ethereal, and the shrine’s spirits are no doubt watching.

10,000 Gates

Morocco

In Marrakech, explore the labyrinth of the medina, lined with market stalls and craftspeople, and full of secret places and contradictions. 

Anonymous, windowless, fortress-like walls enclose luxurious riads built around tiled courtyards, complete with fountains and gardens.

Happily, my wonderful guide Khadija of Morocco Private Experience, encourages my curiosity. She leads the way across the medieval labyrinth of chaotic alleyways - to the souks where centuries-old skills continue to flourish. 

I am intrigued about how all the craftspeople are clustered together by trade. We watch a metal craftsman shape a pair of gnawa cymbals. A leatherworker allows me inside his workshop for a better view. There is an entire street of ornate lantern sellers - the bronze-latticed lanterns competing with the palm-leafed roofs of the souks in throwing light-and-shadow patterns all around.

Heart and Souk

This is the view of The Red City, Marrakech’s medina from the panoramic terrace of Maison de la Photographie.

The museum of photographs is fascinating in how it came about – two famous photographers, Patrick Menac’h and Hamid Mergani, brought together their common passion for vintage Moroccan photography, and pooled their photos for the public to admire. Here I realize how black-and-white photos can dramatize the light-and-shadow effects in the medina.

From the terrace, you can have a glass of mint tea, and wonder about the thousands of satellite dishes that dominate the view. 

It’s peaceful here. On a clear day, you can see the snow-clad High Atlas Mountains. But you can’t see the chaos of Djemaa el-Fna, or hear shouts of ‘Balek!’ whenever donkey-carts come through laden with heavy goods. You can’t see the ‘hand of Fatima’ good-luck symbols painted on the carts after they have ambled past you. Or count the number of chickens being transported on the back of a groaning Vespa.

Pausing in the Frenzy

Norway

I N G R E D I E N T S 
One persistent cloud
Assorted resident ghosts
Longest fjord you can find
Pinch of recklessness

D I R E C T I O N S
1. Drive to Flåm. Navigate hairpin bends and tunnels alongside World Heritage fjords. If you plan well, you can even include the 24.5 km Lærdal Tunnel in your route – an engineering phenomenon, with psychedelic lighting.

2. When you encounter an astonishingly long cloud, you know you have arrived. “Flåm” means "little place between steep mountains”. Perfect for cycling and hiking.

3. Stay at the historic Fretheim Hotel – architecturally delightful, white wooden building located at the head of a mighty fjord. The historic rooms are described as places ‘where the atmosphere from the 1800s still lingers’.

4. Try to get up before 10 AM for an exhilarating RIB boat ride across to World Heritage Nærøyfjord.

5. Take the 2-hour round trip Flåm Railway to Myrdal. Climb 900m and see stunning views that only a hairpin tunnel that twists 180° can provide.

Viking Mashup

Staying at the Inn at Death Valley, we thought we would be able to get up just before sunrise and make a dash over to Zabriskie Point. In hind sight, we should have woken up a good 60 minutes earlier, since the viewpoint was packed with people as we got there. 


The stunning views of the badlands slowly fill up with yellow, orange, purple and brown colors - and every hue in between - as the sun comes up, totally makes up for the early rise. Once the sun has finished painting the badlands, it reaches out to color in the Panamint Range across the valley with gorgeous pinks and purples. If you want to avoid the crowds, do the 2.5 mile Badlands Loop hike. Right after the walk, you can drive the short 3 mile Twenty Mule Team Canyon loop drive before returning to Stovepipe Wells for breakfast. 

We had been told that the Death Valley National Park is all about extremes - and the Zabriskie Point is a visual representation of that.

Painting with Light

Antelope Canyon may be the most famous of Utah’s slot canyons,  but if you want to avoid the large crowds, go to Buckskin Gulch - harder to reach but possibly, more enjoyable.

Wire Pass, a gorge carved through the Cockscomb by Coyote Wash, is the most popular entry route into Buckskin Gulch. It takes 1.7 miles to get to the slot canyon from the trailhead. Wire Pass is short, less than half a mile, but its slot canyon is even more confined than Buckskin, and makes for spectacular photos.

Buckskin Gulch twists its way for another 13 surreal miles, but we turn back after a couple of miles to head back to the trailhead. We’ve stopped every few feet to capture various angles of the rock and light - and literally run out of time. You could certainly do a wonderful all-day hike here.

Bolivia

Potosi Department

Sky Above, Sky Below

Faroe Islands

Mykines

Beakful of fish

Guatemala

Petén Department

Pyramids of Tikal

Iceland

Southern Region

Icelandic Road Trip - Part 1

Italy

Veneto

How Many Gondolas?

Japan

Kyoto

10,000 Gates

Morocco

Marrakesh-Safi

Heart and Souk

Pausing in the Frenzy

Norway

Vestland

Viking Mashup

United States

California

Painting with Light

Utah

Through the Wire