Beyond the Scenes: "Dance of the High Plains" - Part 3 (The Altiplano)

The Altiplano, (Spanish for “high plains”) is an area in South America which occupies parts of northern Chile and Argentina, southern Peru, and the west half of Bolivia. With an average elevation of 12,300 feet, it is the largest high plateau area on Earth besides Tibet in the Himalayas. The Altiplano is a geologically diverse area with massive volcanoes to the north and west, the Atacama Desert—one of the driest areas on Earth—to the south, and the Amazon Rainforest to the east. Mining near the many salt flats and llama herding have been major industries since the fall of the Inca Empire.

All of the above photos are from Wikipedia

In order to capture the aesthetic natural diversity of this vast region for my cinematic music video, “Dance of the High Plains,” I knew I would need to commission a caravan of off-road vehicles and a team of cinematographers led by legendary director, Werner Herzog. Unfortunately, Mr. Herzog, was not available within my timeline, so I took it upon myself to complete the project without his help. I was able to mimic many of the Altiplano features by visiting such places as Death Valley in California, Jean Dry Lake Bed in the Mojave Desert of Southern Nevada, and the areas surrounding Kanab, Utah. Interestingly, Kanab was once known as “Little Hollywood,” because many Western films from the 1920s through the 70s were filmed there and starred such household names as Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood.

To learn more about my filming of “Dance of the High Plains,” please read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Since I didn’t take any actual “photos” during my trips, the following images are taken from the video footage I shot.