On Shoot: Photo Safari in Argentina

By Sarah Staples

Renowned photographer Ossian Lindholm, considered a pioneer in “photo safaris,” has been taking travellers to Quebrada de las Conchas for more than two decades.

Like two snakes curving in unison, Route 68 meanders alongside the Rio de las Conchas through a mountainous desert at the edge of the Andes called Quebrada de las Conchas. It’s part of a system of ridges and valleys stretching across northwestern Argentina, each with its own distinctive landscape.

Steep gorges rise from the riverbed below, exposing layers of red, blue and green sandstone shaped by erosion. A wide, golden layer, the Yacoraite Line, marks the extinction date of the dinosaurs, which is why geologists love it here. Photographers, too. This place is a visual feast – wild, colourful, and nearly empty except for our little tour bus.

“Ah, a beautiful composition, see? Did you get it? The colours are amazing,” exclaims Ossian Lindholm, one of Latin America’s most respected landscape and wildlife photographers. He’s observing the settings of my Fuji X-T2 camera.

With a few quick adjustments to shutter speed and aperture dials, Lindholm transforms the sandstone into vivid multicolour, and the bleached sky into a perfect robin’s-egg blue. “Pick the brightest point in the sky to metre to,” he continues, “and remember never to shoot at a lower speed than your focal length.”

Lindholm, author of five books and 14 calendars, and host of a weekly television show has been taking tourists to Quebrada de las Conchas for about as long as he’s been a professional photographer.

On any given photo safari, Lindholm caters to a mix of skill levels: beginner, skilled amateur, professional, and often spouses who aren’t photographers at all. “We’re living a boom in photography and photo-tourism,” says the Argentinian, who leads at least eight photo safaris a year to places like Machu Picchu in Peru, the Jaguarrich Pantanal wetlands of Brazil, Chile’s Patagonia, the Galapagos Islands, Alaskan bear country and the Tanzanian Serengeti.

He’s right; according to The Adventure Travel Trade Association’s latest travel trends survey, demand for photographythemed travel is on the rise. Photo tours are an immersive way to discover new landscapes – featuring detailed explanations of culture and history, too.

And where photography-based tourism flourishes, destructive local practices like poaching, over-fishing or careless land redevelopment are disincentivized. Thus, Lindholm adds, photo safaris have a role to play in encouraging the protection of pristine landscapes, flora and fauna.

Departing at dawn from Plaza 9 de Julio, the broad main square of Salta, we had watched the city’s well-preserved 16thcentury colonial architecture quickly recede into the vastness of Salta province. The region has a variety of ecosystems (from

high-altitude deserts to humid jungles) and nature preserves. Further along the highway, we pause to photograph a cavernous opening in the sandstone that locals have nicknamed The Amphitheatre; it’s one of several distinctive rock formations that attract tourists to Quebrada de las Conchas.

The world’s highest wine-growing region is situated at the southern end of Salta province, which reaches up to 2,000 metres of elevation. After lunch at one of the 35 area wineries, Lindholm takes us next into downtown Cafayate, a typical wine-route town not unlike Sonoma, to practice street photography in the heat of early afternoon. We step out into yet another leafy public square, where townspeople and tourists are relaxing and drinking espresso and mate (a strong energy tea) under shaded outdoor patios. Shops are selling ponchos and llama’s wool, quince and sweet potato, and there’s a brightly-painted Baroque church at the heart of it all.

The bus reaches a hiking area called La Yesera just as afternoon shadows are deepening the colours of scorched canyons that stretch to the horizon line. Capturing the best light is everything to a photographer – and Lindholm has clearly planned the day to bring us right here, right now. He’s already scouting locations for us to shoot from, DSLR in hand. It’s such a well-practiced routine, yet it brings a different result every time: that’s the magic of it. “Of all the landscapes I’ve seen,” he explains, “this one is my place in the world.”