I have a younger brother who is living in Santiago Chile for two years. He is teaching Bible, math, and the sciences at an american college prep school in Chile. A few months ago he asked if I would be interested in hiking the Patagonia with him. I quickly googled "Patagonia" and a few months later we found ourselves at the bottom of the world hiking Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. It was a fantastic experience with breathtaking scenery. One of the highlights for me was trying to capture the essence of the trip with picture. Over the next few months I will be doing a photography series on the trip. Today starts out with the destination picture from our first day. Enjoy!

You can never quite capture the beauty of a particular moment with a picture. However, the great thing about pictures is the beautiful moments rushed to the forefront of your mind. For you (the reader), this picture just looks like a picture of an average sunset. For me, this picture brings back the great memories of our latest family vacation. The picture was taken on the beach of Santa Barbara. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The farmer markets, famous downtown shopping, and the beautiful sunsets were well worth the twenty-four some odd hours that I spent behind the wheel. As my eyes linger on this picture, my memories begin to expand and every enjoyable moment of our two-week trip floods in. Pictures are snapshots, no pun intended, of a bigger reality. This is the case with almost all the arts, which is something we can talk about later. For now, I will continue to enjoy the sunset.