This article is part of the Complete Guide to Photography in Patagonia
Patagonia is a bucket-list destination for many photographers, and it can be a major adventure, even if you already live in South America. The potential for great photography is enormous, and it can take a lot of effort to get there, so there can be some pressure on any visit to Patagonia as a photographer.
I’ve spent many weeks exploring Patagonia with the camera, learning many difficult lessons about adapting to the region and getting the most from the landscape. This article contains the photography and travel advice specific to Patagonia that I would most want to tell a first-time traveller to the region.
Be prepared for hiking (especially in El Chaltén)
The two main photography areas of Patagonia are the national park Torres del Paine in Chile and the mountains around the village of El Chaltén in Argentina. While you can drive around Torres del Paine and access many great photography locations by car, you’ll need to hike around El Chaltén.
The challenge of hiking in El Chaltén for photography shouldn’t be underestimated, even if you are in excellent shape. The village is in a valley, and the photography spots are mostly among the surrounding mountainous foothills, so almost every day of photography begins with a serious hike.
An important feature of any hike is the elevation, and a 3km walk that rises 500m can be more challenging than a 7km flat walk. If you are not a dedicated hiker, and instead see hiking as a necessary activity for photography, it’s easy to underestimate the effect of elevation and the walking you’ll need to do around El Chalten each day.
Many photographers solve this by camping among the mountains for a few days, which helps to get you on location for sunrise and avoid a few of the steep climbs to and from El Chaltén. If you decide to stay in the village and walk to different photography locations each day, you might need to balance your days with easier and harder hikes, especially if some are before sunrise.
Stay longer and revisit locations
Spending more time and revisiting locations is always good advice for photography, but it’s especially important in Patagonia. Visiting the photography spots of Patagonia more than once is not just about improving your composition and capturing variety in the conditions; it’s also insurance against bad weather.
It can take almost three full days of travel to reach Torres del Paine from Europe, and it’s a long journey even from other parts of Chile or Argentina. You might only get one chance to visit Patagonia for photography. Planning a trip with only enough time to visit each place once means you will almost certainly miss some great locations due to heavy rain or cloud.
Many photography tours spend around three or four days in each of Torres del Paine and El Chaltén, and this is not enough to build a good collection of images from Patagonia in good light. Tours have to balance cost and the variety of locations they visit, but if you are travelling independently, I recommend more like six to eight days in each of the two major areas.
Practice shooting without a tripod
Patagonia can be extremely windy. A combination of its geography and position on the earth means that some days you might experience 50km/h in Patagonia, and you are almost guaranteed to spend some time shooting in high winds.
If you are used to shooting on a tripod, spend some time researching and practising photography without one. There is a lot of bad advice about tripods, much of which is based on studio conditions, and it can lead to the idea that an image will only be sharp if taken on a tripod. Developing the skill of hand-holding a camera can be a valuable practice before you visit such a windy destination.
I recommend practising at different shutter speeds and then comparing the results to the same shots on a tripod, preferably before you travel on a windy day at home. Look at the images close up on a computer and see if you can spot the differences at various shutter speeds on and off the tripod. Becoming familiar with getting sharp images by hand can give you the confidence to leave the tripod out on a windy day, and gain the advantages of flexibility of movement and composition.
Consider astrophotography
If you live in the northern hemisphere, visiting Patagonia might be a rare opportunity to capture the Milky Way at its best because the Southern Hemisphere has a better view, and the light pollution in Patagonia is very low. If you visit Patagonia between February and October (especially if your trip is in June, July or August), the Milky Way will be visible if the conditions are right.
The Milky Way moves through the sky in the same motion as the stars, and the core will appear in different parts of the sky as the nights progress. You can look up the calculated position of the Milky Way and use that to work out how to integrate it into various compositions. Not every spot in Patagonia works well with the Milky Way, but there is often some way to create a composition with the night sky wherever you are.
If you’ve never tried astrophotography before, I recommend one or two practice shoots at home before you travel. However, this can be another great way to get more from the landscape in Patagonia and take advantage of some time in the southern hemisphere if that is not already your home (if it is, you’re very lucky from an astrophotography perspective).
Bring the right gear
There is such variety in the landscape in Patagonia that I recommend bringing a range of lenses and photography equipment. You may need to adapt your camera bag for some of the long hikes around El Chaltén, and it’s always best to optimise your photography gear and minimise weight, but most of your standard pack will be useful.
However, this is my specific advice for adapting your camera gear for Patagonia:
Prioritise your wide-angle lens. If you’ve been considering an upgrade or don’t have a very wide-angle lens, this is the part of the range to prioritise. I travel with a Nikon Z 14mm-30mm, and it is often on my camera in Patagonia for discovering foregrounds and fitting the larger vistas into the frame.
Bring a spare body and batteries. It’s very tough to replace your gear in Patagonia, especially if something goes wrong while you are in the landscape and some distance from any town. Even the most populated areas in Patagonia will not have high-end camera gear for sale, and it can take several days to have something delivered. If there’s an opportunity to bring a spare camera body, it will be good insurance against technical issues or accidents. Also, ensure you have enough spare batteries - you may need them if you camp in El Chaltén, but they’ll also run down more quickly in the cold.
Don’t bring a drone. Drones are restricted in most of the best areas for photography in Patagonia, and it’s often too windy to fly. You can find places to fly a drone with the right permissions and insurance, but you may need to consider how serious you are about drone photography. If you are not a very keen drone user with a good understanding of the laws and permissions, consider leaving it behind and saving the weight.
Further photography advice for Patagonia
Most photography trips are more successful with some research and planning to get the most out of your destination. It’s easier to make better decisions about the weather and access the most interesting locations if you arrive with plenty of existing knowledge, even if you don’t have a firm plan for every day of your trip.
In Patagonia, the stakes are higher because the region is difficult to reach, and there is almost no limit to the quality of the images you might create. However, Patagonia has been thoroughly explored by excellent photographers, and there is plenty of information available to help plan your trip. If you are looking for the best locations to visit, check out these articles:
For more information on planning a photography trip to Patagonia, with a detailed map of photography spots and other useful travel information, check out my Photography Travel Guide to Patagonia.
コメント