When most photographers think of Patagonia, they envision rugged wild landscapes, extreme weather patterns and incredibly beautiful light. After having recently spent 3 weeks traveling throughout the Patagonian region of Southern Chile and Argentina with my wife…I can tell you that those ideas are not far from the truth.
However shooting photography in Patagonia is like shooting in Yosemite National Park in California. Both are incredibly beautiful locations that photographers from all over the world seek to document. As the photography industry itself continues to shift into more of a pro-summer market and more and more people carry around DSLRs, the challenge of capturing unique images in locations like Patagonia is only going to increase. Fortunately or unfortunately for others, Patagonia is not nearly as accessible as Yosemite. Located near the tip of South America, it takes most people at least one or two days of flying alone to get to there and typically that isn’t cheap. You also won’t find roads that take you as close to the highlights of the region like you do with Yosemite Valley, instead forcing people to hike on average of 10km up beautiful but sometimes steep mountain paths. But in the end, people still come and during the summer months (January – February) I can guarantee you that the local towns aren’t hurting for business. In this day and age, all photographers should embrace these new challenges and strive to push the creative boundaries of what they think is possible to capture with a camera in hand.
Research
Like any good professional landscape photographer, I spent months planning this trip. Unlike colleagues of mine that spend the bulk of their time in studios shooting in controlled environments, my locations tend to leave me cold, wet and exhausted…and that is on a good day! Shooting in Patagonia is no different. In fact it is even more challenging then usual because of the completely unpredictable weather. It is not uncommon to experience 100 mph winds, freak snowstorms and pouring rain and that is in the summer (January – February) when the weather is supposed to be calm…er. Bringing the right equipment is paramount especially when you are planning on camping up in the mountains for 3-4 days at a time. Having a good sleeping bag, pad and tent is an obvious must.
Landscape photography, like all genres of photography, is about light. Yes, composition is incredibly important, but when you break things down, photography is about the controlling of light at a given moment in time. It is for this reason that I am so meticulous in my planning and packing. I check weather patterns and average rain fall charts for a given season. I also bring my Garmin GPS unit with me when I shoot so that I can keep up with not only sunrise and sunset times, but also phases of the moon and what time the moon breaks the horizon. I took a wide variety of Cameras and Lenses, which were certainly heavy, but allowed me to be prepared for just about any shot. As I mentioned before, Patagonia is known for its extreme weather and that means dramatic skies. Packing my GND LEE and Hitech filters was a must!
Locations
For the majority of our trip we concentrated out time and energy on two main locations, Los Glaciares National Park and Torres del Paine National Park. At a rough size of 6859 sq. km combined, there was certainly plenty room for us to explore during our 20 day adventure.
Los Glaciares National Park
Definitely the less popular of the two, Los Glaciares National Park is located in Southern Argentina and was only established back in 1959. The town of El Calafate is your starting point as that is the closest location with an airport. Located just 80km west of El Calafate is the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. While it is certainly not the largest glacier in the world or even in Argentina…it is probably the most dramatic. Because of its location and a series of walkways that stretch 4km, you have the ability to view the 250 ft face of the glacier from an incredibly close proximity. The Perito Moreno Glacier is also one of the few glaciers that have continued to expand despite global warming. Standing at the closest view point, you can hear the glacier stretch and crack and if you are lucky, catch a huge chunk of ice calve off the face and splash into the water below.
Located 140km North West of El Calafate is the unofficial trekking capital of Patagonia, El Chalten. This beautiful small outpost town is growing substantially every year because of tourism, which is both a positive and negative for the area. With cheap hostels and trails that literally lead you from town to some of the most beautiful locations in the region, it is no wonder that it is growing so fast. This area is home to both Cerro Torre and Mt. Fitz Roy, two of the main jewels of Patagonia. Both are located a mere 10k outside of El Chalten, in different directions, which makes them more accessible the most highlights of the region.
With the weather being as unpredictable as it is in Patagonia, my wife and I ended up camping for at least 3 nights near both Cerro Torre and Mt. Fitz Roy. This gave us the opportunity to have enough patience to wait for both the light and weather to be just right. It both locations, we arrived to a stormy welcoming, but in the end the weather cleared and offered us amazing vistas and beautiful light. I took advantage of the clear skies for at least one night in each location, allowing me to capture the vastness of space over these beautiful landscapes.
Torres del Paine National Park
After spending eight days exploring Argentina’s side of the mountains, we jumped on a bus and made our way to Puerto Natalas, the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park. After resupplying and talking to some local guides, we met up with one of my friends, that happened to work at one of the Eco Lodges in the Torres del Paine, and ended up bumming a ride with him to the park the following morning.
While equally as dramatic and beautiful as Los Glaciares, Torres del Paine is not nearly as accessible unless you have rented your own vehicle (which is insanely expensive). The main mode of transportation is bus, which at least to some extent, doesn’t give you full access to all of the parks highlights. Mix that with the fact that things are much more spread out and you could have a very interesting experience as you attempt to explore the park. It is probably for this reason that the two most popular hikes are multi day adventures in the backcountry. Most take the “W” which hikes up all three main valleys or they go for the full circuit, which takes you up and around then entire mountain range in the park. We choose to concentrate on a few locations so that we could again maximize our time with waiting for the light and weather to work in our favor.
We started on the west side of the park and made the hike up to the camp site below Las Torres, which is a series of beautiful towers located 11km up into the mountains. We camped here for one night and caught sunrise on the towers the following morning. Using a mixture of filters and blending in post processing, I was able to bring out the details in the shadows of the photo below.
After staying the following night at my friends Eco Lodge, we jumped on a bus and headed for the ferry terminal that took us across Lago Pehoe. From there we began another 11km hike up to the campsite just short of the Grey Glacier. In the end, we could of done without this side trip. After experiencing the Perito Moreno Glacier, we were not to impressed with the views. We turned back the following morning and enjoyed re-walking the entire 11km path, back onto the ferry and across the lake.
This is were things got interesting. You see, in Torres del Paine National Park, the majority of bus routes, which is the main mode of transportation, flow only one way. So aside from getting us to the Ferry terminal located in the center of the park, there was no way for us to travel South to get to the location where I wanted to shoot the famous Cuernos del Paine Massif, also know as the “Horns”. Eventually we realized this and ended up walking the 4km distance. While the plan was to find the campground located in this area, we ended up opting for a stay at the luxurious “Hotel Pehoe”. While it was a little outside our budget, it offered the best views of the horns in the park. We showered, cleaned up, ate a real meal and then proceeded to shoot photography for the next 14 hours. We were again lucky with the weather and got not only a beautifully dramatic sunset, but clear skies throughout the night and morning for sunrise. My GND filters were in full use along with my six stop ND filter to allow me to slow down my shutter speed enough to give the water on Lago Pehoe a glass like feel. I was like a kid in a candy store and took advantage of every second we were there.
After having such great luck with the weather and being content with the work that we got, we left Torres del Paine after a mere five days.
In the end, both of us fell in love with Patagonia. Between the unpredictable weather, dramatic skies, soft light and unbelievable landscape there isn’t much not to enjoy as a photographer. Needless to say we are already planning our second trip down to the area…although this time we will have to make a stop at Tierra de Fuego and the tip of South America.
© Colby Brown
About the Author
Colby Brown and his wife live with their Dog, Denali, in Denver, Colorado.
You can see more of Colby’s work at his website: http://www.colbybrownphotography.com/
Colby Brown just released his 2011 Wall Calendar that contains work solely from Patagonia. You can preview and purchase it HERE
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Tags: concept, conceptual photography, creation, idea, meaning, photography
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