Today, we’re featuring an incredible Patagonia travel story from Alex van Leeuwen. Here is more from Alex about taking on the difficult climate and hikes of the southernmost part of South America…
The initial idea for a trip to Patagonia – centered around the Torres del Paine hike – was my brother’s. But as soon as he showed me pictures of the landscapes and the hiking, I was very, very quickly on board. We fleshed the itinerary out with places like El Chalten with the Mount Fitzroy and Laguna De los Tres hikes and the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate, but the primary purpose was always the Torres del Paine.
In researching all of these places, and managing to pack three cameras to bring with me – admittedly not the best idea for several multi-day hikes with the weight… – I quickly settled on shooting exclusively Tri-X in my medium format. Something about the tangibility of the landscapes and the incredible varied level of timeless detail made black and white on the larger negative size of the medium format seem like the best idea; as did the fact that I was in a very full-on Sebastiao Salgado inspiration phase (my birthday present from my brother a few months prior to this trip was a copy of ‘Genesis’).
I was typically exposure compensating by a stop or two over for most of the trip to get the brilliant whites of the snow on the mountains, or the glaciers, metered as correctly as possible. It was quite unlike any trip I’d been on before, mainly from the sheer variability and inhospitality of the environment. I thought Norway, going to explore Lofoten, was challenging, but this was an entirely new level. With the altitude of the climbs and coastal positioning of the national park, the weather changed minute by minute – batteries were dying left, right, and center, and, sadly, my long-serving 35mm packed up on day three of the main hike.
But upon getting these scans back everything – from the weight of the packs, to the conditions, to the choice of black and white – was entirely worth it. These are some of the favorite shots I’ve ever taken. And they’re a particularly nice reminder – from the origination of the trip, to the choice to shoot black and white coming from that Salgado present, to the time we spent together [incidentally the longest stretch of time we’ve spent together in years] – of my brother.
Analog cameras and films used: Pentax 645NII (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay), Pentax ME Super (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Kodak Tri-X 400 (Find on Amazon)
Connect with Alex: Website | Instagram
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Blog Comments
Nathan Schneider
March 13, 2024 at 4:58 pm
These are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!
Gary
March 15, 2024 at 2:15 am
Very fine photos–some of the best I’ve seen on this site. In several shots, however, the sky appears washed-out. I wonder if you could have corrected this in post.