Valle Sagrado, the Sacred Valley

Larger view needed to achieve correct colors. I thought this image would

upload correctly, but it did not. Grrrrrr. This is a reasonable iconic image of

the Sacred Valley, Valle Sagrado. It is known as the sacred valley because

the Incas considered the Vilcanota River - also called the Urubamba River -

as the river of life. The Andean people, many are Quechua, are most

intereting and kind. There are many examples of Inca ruins in this area as

well. Tourists tend to visit the sacred valley on the way from Cusco to

Machu Picchu. Your comments are appreciated. Larry

The perspective is fantastic and the larger view reveals some great detail.  I am not sure about the sky colour in particular it looks somewhat surreal to me......is this what you mean't about the upload?

I wonder what time of day you took this shot as the light seems to be a bit harsh too.  A wonderful location though, dawn and dusk must look incredible! 

 

Best Regards 

 

Alf 

 

Hi Alf,  Thanks for weighing in on this.  This is a true tourist shot, mid-day at the harshest time.  The sky is as is; I did add a bit of ND filter in processing.  The color problem is in the image itself, the whole image, not just the sky, and it is an sRGB image.   Someday, I may figure out this color space mess.  Larry

Larry, when I spent a summer in Ecuador back in the late nineties, I always noticed that even the middle of the day gave great shadows.  I never got down to Peru that summer, but this area will definitely be on my list if I ever get to go back down that way.

 

This sacred valley leading toward the "holy mountain" in the background works wonderfully.  It isn't difficult to see how the ancients would worship the mountains and imagine that gods lived there.

 

--Lannie

Lanny,  Thanks for your comment.  Yes, the ancients (not that ancient) because the Incas were in the 15th and 16th centuries) and today's Andinos ( Andean people) still worship apus or mountain gods who can be saviors or wrathful.  We have not been to Equador; it could be on our future list.   Larry

Hi Larry-you hit the jackpot with this fine image. The colours are beautiful,the light soft greens are very appealing & nicely balanced by the blues in the sky & topped off with the snow covered mountain in the background.It's a visual pleasure to sit back & enjoy your fine image. Best Regatds-Ross. P.S. Thank you for your fine comments on my abandoned home image.It is a good idea to keep in touch.

Thanks, Ross.  I always enjoy your images.  I may be on line a little less, trying to decrease my screen time.  Larry

Amazing! I have a shot of the Urubamba Valley, the "Breadbasket of Peru", taken from exactly the same spot in July 1989. It was my first big travel "adventure". We travelled independently and did the Macchu Pichu trip from Pisac Market to Aguas Calientes by local train. What an experience!!

Anyway, your picture! The colours look quite different to mine. There must have been rain to make it so green. It's a great shot. Excellent detail - much better than mine, which was taken, on film, with a damaged Olympus Trip (a small accident climbing up to Sacsayhuaman!). Anyway, once again, Great shot! 

Larry, seeing your shot was a great incentive for me to go back to my South America journal. I first started to digitise it in 2010 and it still isn't finished. Every now and then, I go back and scan and edit a few more very bad shots. All the text is uploaded, but I still have some pics to finish. If you are inerested in seeing it you can find it at:

mytripjournal(dotcom)(forward slash)patsadventures

Apparently, I can't use URL's here! Hope you can understand it! You will probably need to add the w's at the beginning

There are several trips there, so just click on the South America title. The Urubamba Valley shot and the train journey to which I referred in the other message, is on the day entitled (July 2/89 An Amazing Train Ride". I am really motivated now to go back and finish the last couple of weeks worth of pictures! thank you for that!

Pat,  Thanks for your detailed comments.  It's great to share images of places we have in common.  I know what you mean about returning to old images.  Yesterday,  I looked at some images I took of Newfoundland on slide film with an Olymous OM4.  It's amazing how our skills change and develop.  Regarding the green,  we were in Peru in their fall or early winter just about a month after their rainy season ended. i will look at your travel journal.  Overall we enjoyed our Peru trip, although it didn't measure up to our expwerience in Argentina and Chilean Patagonia.  Thanks again for your comments.  Larry 

Lovely scene and capture. It is hard to explain the color differences when you change to the larger size. You are using the exact same settings as me when I load. The only difference is that I usually load 700 x 700 pixels (or less) which means that photo.net does not do any conversions when they create a smaller version. 

Tony,  Thanks for the sizing advice.  Now, I am using "save for web" which automatically converts the images to jpeg.  So far that seems to work too.  By the way, have you posted images on 500px?  I wonder what you think of it.  Thanks.  Larry

Beautiful and dynamic scene here Larry. You travel to such amazing places. Such a sight! I enjoyed the story of this place - thanks for including. :) best always, Gail