Join Leica Store Miami for a photographic adventure to Patagonia! We’ll travel to the far reaches of South America to photograph one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. With barren, wind-swept plains, ethereal glaciers, the imperious Andes mountains and the rain forests of Chile, this magnetic destination has it all. On this photography tour to Argentina and Chile, you will witness spell binding glaciers, snow-capped mountains, majestic lakes and winding rivers. Get ready to cross this off of your bucket list because our autumn adventure to Patagonia will be a trip of a lifetime.
Leica experts David Farkas and Colin McKinley from Leica Store Miami along with expert photographer and guide Raymond Hoffman will be on hand to give assistance and advice as you photograph everything from glacial sunsets to the peaks of the Andes.
This is not a workshop where you spend most of your daylight shooting hours sitting in a classroom. Why travel to one of the most beautiful and picturesque locations in the world just to be stuck indoors? Instead, we will focus on making the most of each and every day to capture as many great photo opportunities as we can.
To balance out all this shooting and help you get the most out of your images, we will spend some time showing you the secrets of processing Leica DNG files in Adobe Lightroom. Each participant will also receive one-on-one Lightroom instruction with his or her own images to see how much of a difference good post-processing technique can make in your photography.
This is primarily a photography trip. We will be shooting some days from before sunrise until after sunset. We will cover a fair amount of ground each day with many stops along the way to get out, explore and shoot. At each destination, there will be plenty of time to set up your tripod, compose your shots and get in some quality photography.
Weather in Patagonia is highly unpredictable and conditions and temperatures can often fluctuate without warning. But this unpredictability can generate some amazing photographic scenes!
Our Leica Photo Adventure to Patagonia will begin in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas. It’s known as the gateway to the breathtaking Torres del Paine National Park. Your arrival airport will be Punta Arenas Airport (PUQ).
*We recommend arriving a day early, on April 16th, for this trip just in case there are any airline/airport delays. Most likely, you’ll have to enter Chile through Santiago (SCL) and take Latam Airlines to Punta Arenas. You can book your extra room night directly with the hotel.
We’ll meet for dinner this evening to get to know one another and talk about the trip ahead. After dinner we’ll settle in for the night at the Hotel Cabo de Hornos Punta Arenas.
After breakfast at our hotel in Punta Arenas, the group will start the journey toward towards Torres del Paine National Park. As we make our way through the otherworldly scenery and near the peaks of Torres del Paine, we’ll hope to see plenty of animals including guanaco, ostrich and armadillo (and maybe even a few pumas!).
As we get closer to the park, the landscape will become more wild and the imperious ridges of the Andes will begin to loom on the horizon. Naturally, we’ll take plenty of time to stop and shoot the local flora and fauna. The last part of this day’s journey is made on a gravel road, as we traverse through the inner territories of Torres del Paine.
Upon arrival in the park, we’ll check in to the Pampa Lodge, which will be our home for the next four nights. *Pampa Lodge is unique in Patagonia because they let guests fly drones behind their property so if you want to bring one, this will be an amazing opportunity.
We’ll have a short rest before heading out to our sunset location. Autumn brings with it the end of the tourist season, so it’s likely that only photographers will be left in the park.
So much depends on the weather over the next five days and four nights. Because we want to make the best of the national park and ensure the group captures as many locations as possible under perfect conditions, we will plan our days on short notice and choose locations depending on the circumstances and the forecast. We will look to photograph the following (including sunsets & sunrises):
After breakfast on day six the group will leave Chile and cross the border into Argentina. Our destination is the small village of El Chalten. The journey is around 7-8 hours including the border crossing.
We will spend two nights in El Chalten and be based out of Los Cerros Boutique Hotel. Our first evening will be spent watching the sun go down over a nearby canyon, which offers incredible views of the Andes and the majestic river flowing down below.
*Please note that the waves of the sea at Reynisfjara are highly unpredictable and we thus urge uttermost caution and following safety instructions to the fullest.
Before breakfast on day seven, the group will head back to our favorite canyon for a spectacular sunrise shoot. We will again witness the incredible views that stretch toward the Andean ridge. With the Fitz Roy towering in the distance, it’s an incredible way to start a day!
The rest of the daylight hours will be spent exploring the Lago Desierto area, well known for its many waterfalls and a river that undulates through the landscape. We will spend the entire day in the shadows of mountains and glaciers. As sunset looms we will visit a panoramic point on the Fitz Roy massif, one of Argentina’s most famous walks.
This morning will begin with breakfast and a 2.5 hour drive. Our destination is El Calafate. We’ll have lunch there before heading out to photograph the mighty Perito Moreno glacier.
There aren’t many more spectacular ways to end a photography tour than with a visit to Perito Moreno. On a sunset stroll through the forests we will indulge in one final goodbye to Patagonia’s dramatic landscape. After the sun sets, we’ll head to El Calafate for our farewell dinner.
Our final night will be spent at the Hotel Kosten Aike in El Calafate.
oday is the last day of what will be an unforgettable photography adventure in Patagonia. Departure flights are from El Calafate Airport (FTE) to Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP) – we recommend a morning departure on Aerolineas Argentinas. All international flights back to the United States will fly out of Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini Airport (EZE). If you’re not staying the night in Buenos Aires, we will organize an airport to airport transfer.
I have been with Leica Store Miami since 2012. I was born in Philadelphia, (go Eagles!), lived in Miami for 13 years and currently reside in Chapel Hill, NC. My interest in photography began while traveling the world as flight attendant for United Airlines. I was a photographer and creative manager for Miami-Dade County for six years before joining the Leica Store Miami team. I love my family, Sam Cooke and the Ramones (and a whole lot of music in between), John Hughes movies, dark chocolate and good bourbon.
David Farkas is a self-admitted Leica junkie and an avid photographer since he was seven years old. He also owns and operates leading Leica dealer Leica Store Miami in beautiful Coral Gables, Florida with his wife Juliana. David has years of experience shooting with just about every Leica camera and lens made within the last few decades.
Patagonia blew me away. No literally. I was blown off of a ridge into a frozen lake
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