Every year insane people travel to the end of the earth to battle with winds up to 120 km/h to photograph the majestic mountains of Patagonia. In some ways I found this to be one of the most challenging places to shoot in my life, but fortunately I gave myself plenty of time to connect with this place, explore, be patient, and capture moments. I've found inspiration through many of the greats of our time, and part of me wondered prior to going on this trip, what I could possibly add. The greats of our time travel here regularly, and now I know why.
This area is both vast, and small. I felt like I could explore it for months, maybe even years, and still not know all it's secrets, but I also felt like I could cover most of the ground in a day (and did so regularly), if I knew exactly where I wanted to be. It's a very accessible place, in one of the most remote parts of the world. I think this is the primary reason this place is so popular. Anyone flying into the area can see how vast and remote the Andes mountains are. There are unexplored places deep in the southwest of Chile & Argentina that have yet to be put on the map. For now, I was content to explore Fitz Roy, and Torres Del Paine.
This photograph required deep exploration, and special permits. It also required multiple trips up nearly 1000 meters of back country climbing, first to scout the location, then to come back under better conditions. I've never seen a shot from here before, perhaps because it requires sketchy river crossings, backcountry travel, expert navigation, night hiking, steep grades, traveling through thick woods, and perfect conditions. This shot was taken at sunset, and is a single shot taken at a fairly rapid shutter speed to capture the circling condor above. I had to stretch/clone out part of a hill to fix the overall composition, and it didn't come out perfect as it's a somewhat rapid edit. Exgif: f/8, iso64, 15mm, 1/160, nikon d850