A tango photoshoot in Buenos Aires: places, milongas, clothes and timing

A tango photoshoot in Buenos Aires is a photo session built around the city's own dance, in which a couple or a single traveller is photographed in tango poses and in an embrace on the streets, in a dance hall or with a professional partner, and it starts at $200 here for 60 minutes and 30 edited photographs delivered within 7 days. It is not a dance lesson and not a show ticket: the hour is planned around light, place and a handful of positions that read well in a photograph, whether or not you have ever danced.

What the session includes

An hour is enough for one neighbourhood and one change of clothes. A couple who also wants daylight portraits in another part of the city usually adds a couple session, from $120 for 30 minutes and 20 photos, or books the tango hour as part of an engagement session or a honeymoon session.

Where to shoot

San Telmo

San Telmo is the old quarter south of Plaza de Mayo, with cobbled streets, wrought-iron balconies and old carved doors. It suits a tango photograph because the background is already the right age: a narrow street, a carved door and a couple in an embrace need almost nothing else. The neighbourhood is quiet on weekday mornings and full of visitors on market days, so the session time follows the day of the week.

La Boca and Caminito

Caminito is a pedestrian street of almost 150 metres in La Boca, turned into an open-air museum in 1959 and named after the tango "Caminito", according to the city's official tourism site. Its painted corrugated-iron houses are the most recognisable tango backdrop in the city, and that is also the difficulty: the street fills with visitors and with dancers who perform for tips. A session there works best early, before the crowds, and a few minutes away from the main stretch the colours remain and the passers-by thin out.

A salón or a milonga

A milonga is a social tango dance, held in a hall, a club or a confitería, with its own organiser and its own rules. Each one decides whether a photographer may work on the floor, at which hours and with what kind of light, and the rules are not published in one place. We ask the organiser before the date is confirmed, and if a milonga says no, the indoor part of the session moves to a hall that can be booked privately before the evening opens. Photographing other dancers without their consent is never part of the plan, so a session inside a milonga is framed on you, not on the room.

Elsewhere in the city

A tango photograph does not need a tango neighbourhood. A Palermo café, a Recoleta stairway or the riverside at Puerto Madero all work, and the Buenos Aires locations guide lists the places that photograph best at each hour.

Light and timing

Buenos Aires has about 14.5 hours of daylight around the December solstice and about 10 in late June, so a summer evening session starts much later than a winter one. The session is booked for the hour of light the place needs, not the other way round.

What to wear

The clothes carry half the picture in a tango shoot, so they are worth planning.

• Shoes. Heeled shoes with a suede or leather sole for her, and leather-soled shoes for him, pivot on a wooden floor without catching. Rubber soles grip and spoil the line of a pose.
• Dress or skirt. A fitted dress with a slit, or a skirt that moves, shows the leg in a step. Satin and dark colours photograph well in low light.
• Trousers and shirt. Dark, well-cut trousers with a white or black shirt, with or without a waistcoat or a hat, keep the look classic.
• A second outfit. A change of clothes splits the hour into a street look and an evening look, which is the easiest way to get variety from 30 photographs.

Hiring a professional dancer

A traveller on their own, or a couple who wants more dramatic positions than they can hold, can add a professional tango dancer as a partner for the hour. The dancer leads the poses, holds the difficult lines and makes a beginner look like a regular. A professional partner is booked through us on request and quoted separately, because availability and the dancer's fee vary with the date. If you dance yourselves, bring your own shoes and the photographer will work from your figures instead.

Before you book

Tell us whether you dance, which neighbourhood you prefer, whether you want an indoor milonga setting and whether a dancer partner is needed. We confirm the location, ask any milonga for permission, and plan the hour around the light. The tango session page for Buenos Aires and the Buenos Aires city page show what the city adds; for a wedding day in the city, the wedding cost guide covers the bigger picture. When you know your date, book the session.