Visiting the Sacred Valley and seeing the colors of Peru!

As I mentioned in the first Peru blog post, those images were just the tip of the iceberg, with the best coming in upcoming posts. After a full day in the city of Lima (at sea level), we flew to the city of Cusco, landing at the airport which sits at 11,000 foot altitude. We could feel the difference in altitude almost immediately when getting off the plane. But the first thing we did, was get on a bus and head down 4,000 feet to our hotel. This was our base for the next 3 nights, and gave us a chance to get acclimated to the height. This made a huge difference for the rest of the trip. Many people on the photo tour were worried about the altitude and even brought altitude sickness pills, but none of those were needed.

Upon arrival at the Sacred Valley, our first stop was a viewing spot looking over the fertile land. 

We then drove out to visit the circular terraces of Moray, which was created by the Incas around the year 1500. It is thought that the circular patterns were a way for the Incas to test farming in different soils and temperatures, as the temperatures vary from one level to another. 

We walked around the entire area and I used this as a photography lesson for those who wanted to try something different. We saw this snow capped mountain in the background, so I focused on the nearby cactus to show the difference in temperature and terrain from the Moray to the mountain tops of the Andes.  

This is a wide shot showing the circular patterns and the snow-covered mountain top in the distance.

Our next stop was a visit to an area where locals were making the famous Peruvian rugs and clothing out of the Alpaca wool. 

They showed us how they boil natural plants to dye the wool.

Those natural dyes provide amazing colors.

Once the yarn was dried, the local women would start the process of creating the rugs and clothing.  

This women was selling the end products. I really loved the colors of her outfit and the surrounding colors of the products, not to mention the light coming in behind me. This photo really shows off the colors of this country.

In the afternoon, we headed to an amazing restaurant for lunch. Not only was the food amazing, but this restaurant has a large herd of llamas on the premises and are even let inside certain areas.

We all had a blast photographing these animals against these amazing backdrops.

Another classic Peruvian photo!

After lunch we made our way to the Salt Mines of Maras. In this location, there are more than 4,500 salt wells in varying terraces, each owned by local families in the region. All the salt is taken from the wells to the top of the mountain by hand. You can see the one lady hauling a bag of salt from her well.

You can also see many bags of salt in this photo. ready to be carried up to the top. These salt mines have been in existence for more than 1,000 years! And yes, I purchased some of the unique salt from here and use it every morning in my eggs. 

Our last stop in the Sacred Valley was a home which has feeders and viewing areas for the local hummingbirds. 

As you know, I spend a lot of time down in Costa Rica and have photographed many hummingbirds...

...but I REALLY wanted a photo of the Sword-billed hummingbird with it's long bill. It is the only bird that has a beak longer than its body. It was late in the day and we only saw a couple, but I managed to get this shot at ISO 6400 (using the Canon R6 Mark II and RF 100-500mm lens). I hope to get better photos on the next photo tour in 2025. And I hope that you can join me down there! You can find all the new photo tour info here.

Next blog post - Machu Picchu!

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• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Asia and more. 

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Want to hear my stories from the Summer Olympics in Paris?

You have seen all the images, and maybe even been subjected to some photos of me at work at the Games, but you have probably not heard any of the stories behind the photos of the Paris Olympics. This is the first time that I will be doing a LIVE presentation via Zoom to share my experiences with you all.

I will be doing the Zoom interview this Thursday at 11am PST. It is FREE and I will be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Come join me on the SlickPic Zoom call at:

https://www.slickpic.com/blog/photos-stories-from-the-paris-olympics-with-u-s-team-photographer-jeff-cable/

I look forward to seeing you all there!

__________________________________________________________

• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Asia and more. 

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Just before the Olympics, I led my first photo tour to Peru!

A couple of weeks before I left for the Summer Olympics in Paris, I lead my first photo tour to Peru. This was a test trip which included family and friends so that I could test things out and see if this was a tour I wanted to include for the future. I was partnering with a new tour company in Peru (well...new to me) and I wanted to see how everything went before taking groups to this new location. Without getting ahead of myself here, I can tell you that everyone LOVED the trip and I am adding a trip back to Peru next year. You can find that information here.

We all flew into the city of Lima, where we spent the first couple of days. We had a great time walking around town and seeing the colorful sites.

We had overcast weather which made it easier to get photos like these without any harsh shadows. For this trip, I took my Canon R5 and Canon R6 MII cameras. All of the photos in this blog posts were taken with the Canon RF 24-105mm lens.

It was a quiet morning with very few people on the streets.

We all enjoyed the artwork on the buildings.

I saw this mural which was sandwiched between a door and a window, and thought it would make for a good photo. I saw this man walking towards the building and waited for him to come into the frame and took a bunch of photos. I liked his purposeful stride in this photo.

Dan, our guide showed us some really pretty murals and I thought they would make a nice backdrop for portraits, so I took photos of everyone. Here is a photo of my brother and his wife, Kath.

We visited a couple of the local markets, which I always love to photograph. 

I can not say enough about the people of Peru. 

They are incredibly friendly... 

... and very photogenic.

Here is our group in the streets of Lima. The guinea pigs of tour number one!

We walked through this one tunnel and I saw Sara taking a photo. I decided that she added an extra element to the other "people" in the frame. 

Towards the end of the day, we went to the coast and photographed some of the local fishermen.

One-by-one the boats would come in with their fish.

This man was cleaning and sorting the local catch of the day.

We all walked around and photographed the people at work.

This cat was walking amongst the boats (probably looking for some leftover fish). I loved the way that it's eyes stood out in front of the colorful background.

I saw this man painting his boat and really liked that moment. 

And all of this was during our first day on the trip, and we had SO much more to come, including the Cusco Valley, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Puerto Maldonado and more. Those blog posts are coming soon.

As I said before, the Peru 2025 trip is now officially live on my photo tour page, as well as a long awaited trip to the islands of Galapagos. Check those out on the tour page!

__________________________________________________________

• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Asia and more. 

 _________________________________________________________________  

A bunch of fun "non sport" photos from Paris

I have been back home for almost two weeks now and I feel like I have been playing catch-up ever since landing. I was able to clear most of the email backlog and photograph two big events for clients. Life is getting back to normal. other than the media and podcast recordings and other stuff like that.

I was just looking at images on my iPhone and some other folders on my computer and thought I would share some of the fun "non sports" photos from Paris.

I was behind the scenes at the fencing venue when I ran into the mascot. I had to take advantage of this and get a quick photo.

I don't get a chance to hold the Olympic torch at every Olympics, but there was an area in La Concorde where they had a torch, and I stepped in for another goofy shot.

I took this photo inside the gymnastics venue, where all of us photographers were waiting for Simone Biles to arrive and perform on the beam. When I said there were no open spaces, I really meant it!

I can't remember which press room I was in when this was taken, since most of them look alike. This was my typical desk layout, with my laptop open, ProGrade memory card reader magnetically attached to the screen, and cameras surrounding me. Since the 16" MacBook Pro battery lasts for 20 hours, I rarely plugged it in to the power until I got back to my hotel at the end of the day.

There was one day when I had a couple hour break in between events, so I decided to walk to Sacré-Coeur. I asked a police officer to take this photo of me.

About halfway through the Olympics, a friend of mine sent me a text telling me that his son was really into the Olympics, and asked if I could send him a selfie of me at a venue. Later that day I was over at the Stade de France (Athletics stadium) and took one for them.

And that started a "thing" with them where I would take selfies of me at every location.

They were not great photos, but they did the trick. This photo was taken from the top of the press tribune section of the beach volleyball venue (where I took my favorite sunset shot). 

Weirdly enough, I came across a second Olympic torch towards the end of the Games. I was looking for the media center at the Kayak venue when I took a wrong turn and ended up in the volunteer's room. They were taking turns photographing each other with the torch and I asked if I could join in. They were very nice and took this photo for me. Much better quality (lighting and background) than the one earlier in this blog post.

This is the main street which runs from La Concorde to The Louvre, and it was closed off to most vehicles. I was taking a stroll this one afternoon (with just my iPhone and the Tiffen filter mount with the Tiffen 58mm polarizing filter) and thought that this was a unique photo. Normally this street would be packed with traffic.

Same with this area.

I grabbed some lunch from a nearby cafe and then strolled over to The Louvre. 

This is a panoramic photo from the iPhone. I love the way that the polarizing filter really accentuates the clouds above the iconic museum.

I walked into the central area outside The Louvre and saw the Olympic Rings. There was a long line to get a photo in front of it, so I just went next to the rings and took this photo.

When walking by The Louvre I saw the hot air balloon (Olympic Flame) in the distance, and it reminded me of the night of the Opening Ceremony. I walked to the exact same spot where my group of photographers were positioned for the lighting of the flame. They were not good memories, with the late night, the pouring rain, the soaked gear and the exhaustion. As you can see, the weather was dramatically different on this day, and I thought "Why couldn't the weather have been like this on that night?"

There was a long line of people trying to get into the area, but I was able to use my press credentials to go in the back way and get up close to the balloon for the first time.

About three days before the end of the Olympics, I was walking to the swim venue for one of the USA Water Polo medal games. I had the Canon RF 10-20mm lens in my bag, and I thought it would be fun to use that wide angle lens in the La Defense center.

This photo could only be taken with a REALLY wide lens. I went right up to the stairs, pointed the camera almost straight up, and took this shot. 

This was one of the closer train stations to my hotel, so I spent a fair amount of time in this square.

Just before getting to the swim venue, I turned around and took this photo of the Arch from farther away.

This is an exterior shot of the La Defense Arena (the swim venue) where I spent a lot of my time. 

After the women's last game, USA Water Polo had a party for the athletes, staff, family and friends, on one of the hotel rooftops.  It was the only time I saw the cityscape with the Eiffel Tower from a distance.

On the second to last night of the Games, one of my sponsors (Hahnemuhle - Fine Art Paper) had a party at their Paris office. I was able to stop by for an hour, in between all my other events.

My last day in Paris was a free day for me (since I did not want to deal with the crowds at the airport the day after Closing Ceremony). It was 97 degrees, but I had a good time walking around the city and being a tourist.

Since I knew that I would be walking more than 10 miles in the heat, I once again chose to take only the iPhone for photos.

You know what they say, "The best camera is the one you have with you" and I proved that point on this day.

This photo captures one of my favorite moments from the Paris Olympics. It was taken on the last day of the Games, right after the men of USA Water Polo won a bronze medal. As you may remember from that blog post, it was a highly emotional day for Alex Bowen (who I had photographed many times before). After taking photos of him celebrating with his teammates and with his fiancé, I said, "we have to take a photo together" and got this one. This is a great memory for me.

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• Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!

• You can now purchase Jeff Cable Photography images from my new fine art site at: https://fineart.jeffcable.com/

• If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.

• Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Asia and more. 

 _________________________________________________________________