For nearly a decade, I have returned to Salinas de Pullally, a coastal landscape of salt ponds and shifting skies. My intention this time was to capture water under clouds. Yet the absence of clouds left the ponds in harsh light, shadows cutting across the surface. Instead, my attention shifted toward an unexpected subject: cactus formations clinging to stone. These discoveries became the beginning of a new chapter in my Chilean cactus photography.
The Quisquito Rosado (Eriosyce subgibbosa) grows among rocks by the sea, its red blossoms vivid against granite. Their form seemed fragile, yet within each stem water was stored, sustaining life in the arid salt air. The flowers offered contrast to the sea’s silence, a reminder that resilience is often small and unassuming.
A week later, after a snowstorm cleared at Quebrada de la Madera, I found another cactus variety: the Quisco (Echinopsis chiloensis). Tall and monumental, these forms rose against a cloudless sky. Rendered in black and white, they revealed themselves not as plants, but as silent sentinels — guardians of hidden water in a stark landscape.
Although water remains the central thread in my work, these images offered a parallel reflection. Cactus hold water in silence, providing life for surrounding species. By capturing them, I discovered how endurance can become architecture, and how Chilean cactus photography reveals resilience in places where little else endures.
This collection, Where Silence Meets Reflection, celebrates the fragile union of silence and water. Each image shows how Orlando calm waters reflections preserve moments that often pass unseen.
Explore more works at gcs.photo — fine art photography where water, memory, and time become poetic meditation.
