Vacation photography

The country gives every kind of backdrop within a few flights. In Buenos Aires, Recoleta, San Telmo, La Boca and Puerto Madero each look different within a short ride. In the northwest, Salta’s colonial centre, the coloured hills of Purmamarca and the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and the red canyons near Cafayate photograph like nowhere else. In Patagonia it is lakes at Bariloche, granite towers at El Chaltén, ice near El Calafate and the Beagle Channel at Ushuaia; on the Atlantic it is the beaches of Mar del Plata and Cariló and the whale coast at Puerto Madryn; in the northeast it is the falls at Puerto Iguazú.

Timing beats location. Busy landmarks are photographed early, before tour groups and cruise passengers arrive, and the first and last hours of light flatter everyone. The calendar is the Southern Hemisphere’s: from December to February the days are long and the northwest can be wet with summer storms, while from June to August the light is low and soft in Buenos Aires and Patagonian days are short. A session in the photographer’s favourite hour is worth more than one at the most famous spot at noon.

Some places are not public ground. The Iguazú falls, the Perito Moreno glacier and the forests of Tierra del Fuego sit inside national parks run by the Administración de Parques Nacionales, which regulates photography with a commercial purpose under Resolución HD 297/2018, so we confirm the park’s position before booking. Wineries, estancias and hotels decide for themselves whether an outside photographer may work there. If two of you are travelling as a couple and want something more intimate, the couple session is the closer fit.