Atacama Desert Travel Story by Anna Doshina

Today, we’re featuring a truly magical travel story from film photographer Anna Doshina. Anna traveled to the Atacama Desert in South America and captured the most stunning landscapes on medium format film. Here is more from Anna about her time in Atacama…

Atacama is the driest and the highest desert on earth that spreads across Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. Despite the harsh climate, unique flora and fauna inhabit this remote and rugged place. Here you can meet endemic and rare animals, like for instance vicuñas, viscachas, and various types of flamingos: Chilean, Andean, James. Furthermore, the Atacama is home to a chain of majestic snow caped volcanoes, salt mountains and lakes, as well as unique multilayered rock formations rich in various minerals.

I traveled to the Atacama desert in 2019 and left a part of my heart there. The silence of the desert was like music to my ears. The beauty and the serenity of this place left me speechless. I felt at the same time overwhelmed by the vastness of the desert but also attracted by its untouched and otherworldly nature.

Moreover, in my opinion, this place is made for film photography. The colors here are just incredible, and the relaxed lifestyle dictated by the arid climate and the high altitude goes along so well with the slow and almost meditative process of analog photography.

The fast pace of our lives filled with technology often disrupts our connection with nature. Even when we travel, we don’t always manage to disconnect from our every day life. We tend to continue being «online», we share and post instead of enjoying the beauty of the moment. However, in the Atacama everything is different. The uniqueness of this place makes us forget the day to day hustle in nature’s embrace.

Analog cameras and films used: Mamiya 645 (Find at KEH Camera with code SIWF21 for 5% off or on eBay), Pentax 6×7 (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon), Fuji Pro 400H (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Anna: Website | Instagram | Facebook

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