“Where Have You Been?”

Photography is exploding in popularity, driven by smartphones. Ninety-three percent of the 2.1 trillion photographs taken last year were smartphone images. Only 7% were taken with “big” cameras like mine.

Smartphone cameras are always there and foolproof. I use mine all the time for family, friends, and special moments photography. The image quality when viewed on a small screen or a small print is terrific.

But smartphones have limits. One major limitation is that you cannot take extremely wide-angle shots or telephoto shots due to the limitations of their permanently attached lenses.

My big camera, on the other han,d has interchangeable lenses that cover a vast range. And there are specialty lenses for unusual cases, such as low-light astrophotography.

But there are downsides. Every time I change a lens, dust can get into the camera and onto the sensor. This creates ugly dust spots that need to be tediously retouched during post-processing. Which brings me back to the quote at the top of the blog.

Last week, I picked up my two cameras after sensor cleaning at the local camera store. The technician was curious as he handed the cameras back to me. “I’ve never seen so much dust inside and outside a camera before. Where have you been?”

The answer: Saudi Arabia. Along with friend and fellow photographer Jon Christofersen, we were in and around the tiny village of Al-Disah at a photography workshop in January.

Al-Disah is the red pin on Google Maps.

The Shot

We were blessed to have two excellent Saudi desert photographers as drivers. Farhan was assigned to drive the car Jon and I were in. It was a pleasure getting to know him and learn about Saudi Arabia as we drove on and off road for a week together.

Me, Farhan, and Jon Christofersen during one of our stops in the desert.

This shot was made possible by the same dust that eventually found its way onto my camera’s sensor. A windstorm just before we arrived created haze in the air with the potential for photogenic sunbeams.

On one of our cross-country drives, we spotted this simple tree backlit by the sun. The foreground and background shapes were symmetrical and pleasing. But the alluring sunbeams were the star of the show.

As I changed to a wide-angle lens for this shot, I knew a sensor cleaning was in my future. But I also knew it was going to be well worth it!

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus

Differences

As an amateur photographer, I usually visit a location for sunrise or sunset. Occasionally, I’ll be there for an entire day. After that, I’m moving on to my next location.

What sets professional photographers apart from hobbyists is their dedication. Landscape pros spend as much time as it takes to capture an image with a refined composition and captivating light and atmosphere.

That means spending days, weeks, months, or even years in pursuit of that one stunning image. In addition, pros usually are out with their cameras every day, increasing the odds of capturing a special image.

Mount Fitz Roy in Argentina’s Patagonia region is a photographer’s dream. There are so many ways to compose this stunning peak. And if you’re lucky, beautiful light and atmosphere will be present.

Perhaps my favorite composition is using the Rio de las Vueltas (river of turns in English) as a leading line to the mountain’s peak. The river flows through El Chaltén, the only nearby town. Most tourists and photographers stop at a viewpoint just off the highway outside of town.

My first glimpse of this location was a black-and-white photo in a college geography textbook about South America in 1970. That’s when my dream of visiting Patagonia began.

That dream came true in 2014 when I took a Patagonia photography workshop. I was delighted to finally see Fitz Roy. Our group stopped at the classic photo location just off the highway outside El Chaltén. While I enjoyed my experience, the mountain in the distance is too small, and the foreground is too dominant in my image.

Fitz Roy Flaming Sunrise
My Fitz Roy image from 2014 

When I returned in 2024, I took advantage of a professional photographer’s dedication. His location had a much better balance between the river in the foreground and the mountain in the background. And the S-curve of the river's leading line is even more sumptuous there.

The Shot

This location is known as the Andrew Waddington viewpoint. Waddington is an English professional photographer who spent four years photographing Patagonia. One entire year was spent at the location I visited on the morning of April 10, 2024.

It’s an inconvenient location. You have to climb over a barbed wire fence and hike into the park for about a mile to get there. When you arrive, you’ll see the remnants of a stone hut that Waddington built to stay warm and out of the wind when he lived there.

His Flickr gallery says, “I probably spent far too long in El Chaltén, but that place gripped me like no other.” Living and working from his hut, he bicycled into town in every kind of weather every few days for supplies. The reward was unfettered access to daily views of Fitz Roy.

His dedication is evident in his gallery Patagonia | Flickr. Many of the images are taken near his stone hut.

After my hike to his location, I appreciated how special this spot was. The foreground and background were balanced, and the S-curve in the river was much more prominent.

Once the inspiring peak was kissed by the warm light of the rising sun, I forgot about the cold and the wind. It was a gorgeous sight. If I were a professional, I would have returned every morning until I captured the “money shot” featuring flaming red lenticular clouds stacked like plates over the peak at sunrise, like Waddington.

As an amateur, I had the gift of witnessing the sun rise on Fitz Roy from the Rio de las Vueltas from two beautiful locations, capturing two pleasing images. And being there twice was more than I had ever imagined possible as I listened to and watched with rapt attention during that college geography course five decades ago.

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus

Another Slice of Norwegian Pizza

I mentioned that Norway leads the world in per capita pizza consumption in my October 24, 2025, Friday Photo. I thought all you “aficionadoughs” out there “kneaded” to know more.

A fraction of the size of the US, Norway’s 5.3 million inhabitants consume 47 million frozen pizzas annually. And an astounding 50% of those pizzas are Grandiosa brand.

From Nå er det priskrig på Grandiosa

The brand is so ubiquitous that in 2004, 20 percent of the population considered Grandiosa an unofficial national dish. Some devoted fans substitute it for the more traditional Christmas Eve dishes such as pinnekjøtt (cured lamb ribs) or svineribbe (pork ribs). So, how did a humble frozen pizza brand become a national treasure?

Frank Pepe, an illiterate Italian teenager from the Amalfi Coast, immigrated to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1909. He went back to Italy to fight in World War I. After returning to America, Frank and his new wife Filomena opened Pepe’s Pizzeria in 1925.

At Pepe’s, an employee named Louis Jordan sharpened his wood-fired pizza-making skills. Louis and his wife Anne then decided to move to Norway, opening Peppes Pizza in Oslo in May of 1970. Their nine varieties of American/Italian pizza attracted a strong following.

Soon they had 78 locations, and today they are one of the most popular pizza chains in Norway. At the same time, an influx of Middle Eastern immigrants made kebabs ubiquitous.

According to Erlend Brandshaug Horvei, a Gastro Obscura contributor, “Every little town or village has a pizza restaurant of some sort, usually a combined pizza and kebab shop. With a kebab shop within 20 minutes of almost every house, getting a pizza is never really an issue.”

Norwegian pizza restaurants are known for fusing traditional Italian pizza ingredients with corn, cashews, pineapple, spinach, and eggplant. So are pizzas adorned with kebabs, topped with French fries, and drizzled with Béarnaise sauce.

From Fries-Kebab-Pizza with Bearnaise sauce instead of stock one. : r/MenuHacker

Even with the success of Peppes, many Norwegians in the 1970s had yet to try their first pie. So, how did Grandiosa’s humble brand become a national treasure?

It turns out to be luck. Their factory manager agreed to manufacture frozen pizzas without knowing what a pizza was! In February of 1980, the first pies sized to feed a family rolled out of the plant. By the 1990s, sales doubled, and Grandiosa became part of Norwegian food history.

The original pie, topped with mild tomato sauce, Jarlsberg cheese, and paprika, accounts for 9 million sales annually. A local hack involves adding additional cheese and drowning the pie in ketchup.

From Erlend Brandshaug Horvei

The Shot

Last October 13, our photography group stopped at a Geirangerfjord viewpoint. The moody weather (described last week) made this shot possible by simplifying the background with haze and producing a photogenic flow of water in the distant waterfall.

After this image, it was on to the town of Geiranger, where we boarded the ferry to our next destination. On the ferry, I had a chance to try another local taste treat, the Norwegian signature hot dog.

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus