Differences

As an amateur photographer, I usually visit a location for sunrise or sunset. Occasionally, I’ll be there for an entire day. After that, I’m moving on to my next location.

What sets professional photographers apart from hobbyists is their dedication. Landscape pros spend as much time as it takes to capture an image with a refined composition and captivating light and atmosphere.

That means spending days, weeks, months, or even years in pursuit of that one stunning image. In addition, pros usually are out with their cameras every day, increasing the odds of capturing a special image.

Mount Fitz Roy in Argentina’s Patagonia region is a photographer’s dream. There are so many ways to compose this stunning peak. And if you’re lucky, beautiful light and atmosphere will be present.

Perhaps my favorite composition is using the Rio de las Vueltas (river of turns in English) as a leading line to the mountain’s peak. The river flows through El Chaltén, the only nearby town. Most tourists and photographers stop at a viewpoint just off the highway outside of town.

My first glimpse of this location was a black-and-white photo in a college geography textbook about South America in 1970. That’s when my dream of visiting Patagonia began.

That dream came true in 2014 when I took a Patagonia photography workshop. I was delighted to finally see Fitz Roy. Our group stopped at the classic photo location just off the highway outside El Chaltén. While I enjoyed my experience, the mountain in the distance is too small, and the foreground is too dominant in my image.

 
My Fitz Roy image from 2014

When I returned in 2024, I took advantage of a professional photographer’s dedication. His location had a much better balance between the river in the foreground and the mountain in the background. And the S-curve of the river's leading line is even more sumptuous there.

The Shot

This location is known as the Andrew Waddington viewpoint. Waddington is an English professional photographer who spent four years photographing Patagonia. One entire year was spent at the location I visited on the morning of April 10, 2024.

It’s an inconvenient location. You have to climb over a barbed wire fence and hike into the park for about a mile to get there. When you arrive, you’ll see the remnants of a stone hut that Waddington built to stay warm and out of the wind when he lived there.

His Flickr gallery says, “I probably spent far too long in El Chaltén, but that place gripped me like no other.” Living and working from his hut, he bicycled into town in every kind of weather every few days for supplies. The reward was unfettered access to daily views of Fitz Roy.

His dedication is evident in his gallery Patagonia | Flickr. Many of the images are taken near his stone hut.

After my hike to his location, I appreciated how special this spot was. The foreground and background were balanced, and the S-curve in the river was much more prominent.

Once the inspiring peak was kissed by the warm light of the rising sun, I forgot about the cold and the wind. It was a gorgeous sight. If I were a professional, I would have returned every morning until I captured the “money shot” featuring flaming red lenticular clouds stacked like plates over the peak at sunrise, like Waddington.

As an amateur, I had the gift of witnessing the sun rise on Fitz Roy from the Rio de las Vueltas from two beautiful locations, capturing two pleasing images. And being there twice was more than I had ever imagined possible as I listened to and watched with rapt attention during that college geography course five decades ago.

Thanks for looking,

Chuck Derus Zenfolio | Chuck Derus