Distant Journeys Through South America
International documentary photographer and explorer Daryl Hawk will give a special photography presentation and lecture entitled “Distant Journeys Through South America”. This presentation is a culmination of many of Hawk’s favorite excursions throughout South America. He will be sharing work from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Patagonia, and Cuba. He’ll discuss his nonstop, day-to-day adventures, experiences and discoveries, and the valuable lessons he learned on these incredibly spiritual journeys. Hawk will share his style, philosophy, and the various techniques he uses when photographing subject matter. Equipment, lighting on location, environmental portraits, and travel tips on South America will all be covered.
For the past thirty years, Daryl Hawk has explored some of the most remote and isolated places in the world telling stories with his camera. His photographs often appear in numerous magazines and publications worldwide. He is a member of the Explorers Club, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and member of the Professional Photographers Association. He has been featured several times on NBC’s “Today Show” and Fox 5 television.
Hawk is the author of five published photography books. “Distant Journeys” consists of 250 color images from the Arctic, the Andes, Patagonia, Antarctica, Bhutan, New Zealand, India and much more. “Quiet Moments” is a compilation of 150 black and white images of nature, nautical scenes, New York City, and images from around New England. “White Pond” is a tribute to a small lake in New Hampshire. “Manhattan” is a color retrospective with 250 landscapes, architecture, and street scenes of New York City. His latest book “Into the Heart of Cuba” consists of 300 images from his recent solo circumnavigation around Cuba.
Daryl is the former host and producer of the television show “The Unconventional Traveler” which features some of the world’s leading explorers, travel photographers and filmmakers sharing their work from various expeditions and documentaries. He produced over 100 shows over a 10-year period and some of his guests included Jane Goodall, Buzz Aldrin, Reinhold Messner and George Schaller.
For more information on Daryl Hawk, please go to his websites: www.darylhawk.com.
Speaker Summary
“Unconventional Traveler” Daryl Hawk took us on a photo tour of South America and Cuba while sharing his philosophy, inspiration, approach, and goals when undertaking his photo trips. He showed photos from Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia before ending with a detailed presentation and discussion of his special passion for Cuba and, especially, the Cuban people. Throughout his talk, his dual focus on capturing the natural beauty of the countries and the spirit, soul and culture of the people was very transparent, reflecting his goal of telling stories of substance and beauty.
Hawk’s journey began years ago when his primary medium was slide photography. With a grandfather that was a photographer and parents that were travelers, Hawk knew early on that he wanted to be a travel photographer. He talked about being inspired by travel (versus nature) photographers and made several references to the style and material he found in National Geographic.
Daryl talked about having a loose but thoughtful plan for his 2-4 week trips that enable him to hit the ground running while offering enough flexibility to react to opportunities that presented themselves. He emphasized the importance of a driver that knew the area well to get the most out of his time spent seeing places in new ways, with his camera as his way of capturing his view of the world. He mentioned several times about making each trip an immersive experience.
Hawk shared many portraits of the typically happy, smiling, engaging faces of people he encountered, generally dressed in colorful garb and often engaging in the cultural activities of each country. Within his South American photo collection, he spent the most time sharing images of the natural beauty of Patagonia in southern Argentina with especially stunning photos of the Fitzroy range.
Daryl then transitioned to a detailed photo essay of Cuba, focusing primarily on Western Cuba where he shared engaging photos of a country and people in many ways still reflective of the Cuba of the 1950’s. There was a great focus on the colorful and beautifully restored (or so it seemed) classic cars of this era (he referred to this area of Cuba as “car heaven”). He then spent a great deal of time talking about his connection to the Cuban people, his love and support for their resilience and warmth despite their challenging lives, and how it inspired him to return regularly with the explicit goal of finding ways to help these people and support local businesses and entrepreneurs. This has led him to create a private tour business making annual trips to Cuba which he has visited 8 times since 2014.