Fall Winter 2020: Patagonia

As our first photo location, we had chosen a glacier in the middle of the fjords of Chile. To get there, we had to travel 9 hours from Puerto Natales into the wilderness. First, we had to walk for a bit, then get on a boat, continue by car, then take another boat, go on a first hike, catch another boat, go on a second hike and then take one last boat, which dropped us off at the base camp boat.

One of the great things of faraway countries is that there are often fewer rules. On this trip, for example, our guide stopped at a large cave in the rock. "Climb in there," he said. As soon as I entered the cave, he pointed to a big bird in the sky. “Look, now you're standing in the condor's nest.” Meanwhile, the condor was circling the nest with its wingspan of three metres. "Oh yes, I can see him... and he keeps looking this way too..." I didn't really feel at ease, but then again, this is a once in a lifetime experience. And it was also quite instructive. Especially the fact that condors are not aggressive was very enlightening.

On the base camp boat, where we will spend the night, they receive us with a welcome drink. There are rough chunks of ice in our drink. My guess as to where the ice comes from turns out to be correct. Every now and then they chop a bucket of ice from the glacier. The drink is lousy hooch, but I think that in a three-star restaurant, they would bend over backwards for it.

On the ship was a cook who took care of our creature comforts. Early in the morning, a loud farting sound suddenly came from the small kitchen. The cook rushed outside and apologised. He spoke Spanish, so we didn't understand exactly what he was saying. A bit later, we heard loud sex noises coming from his kitchen. The cook rushed out again, crimson with shame. This time he had someone explain in English what was going on. His brother had put together a playlist for him to listen to while he worked. As a joke, he had put fart and porn sounds between the songs. The stuff you experience when you travel...

We drove a total of 1800 kilometres through Patagonia. Down there, one landscape is more beautiful than the next. But still... after a while, you just don’t want to see any more landscapes. So, I’ll admit that I binged through two seasons of the Italian mafia series Gomorra in the car. When we arrived in Buenos Aires after more than a week, I was 100% certain that I was a tough mafia boss.

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Patagonia

Campaign shoot

Behind the scenes

When we are on the road for our campaigns, we go through a lot. The campaign photos always look amazing, but the reality is somewhat different.... Here are some snapshots we took during our trip. Simply click on them to get more info on what you’re looking at.

Our Patagonia trip

BEHIND THE SCENES