Autumn in Patagonia lasts a few weeks at most. The peak — when the lenga beeches turn deep red against granite and ice — is narrower still. I spent seven months in El Chaltén before I understood how to meet it.

The Moeraki Boulders sit on a tidal beach on New Zealand's Otago coast. I photographed them at sunrise, forgot about the RAW file for a decade, and came back to find a completely different image.

El Chaltén in winter is a different place — the hikers gone, the trails frozen, the Lenga beeches stripped to bare wood. A winter sunrise on Fitz Roy rarely matches expectations. I almost didn't go.