This is my first day back in Patagonia in more than six years. My last trip here was in 2018. I’m staying in the lovely little town of Puerto Natales, and for the next four days I will be making photographs of Gauchos (Chilean Cowboys).

I’ve been dreaming about making some portraits now for quite some time, and I remember talking to my good friend Sabine who lives here about doing a special trip to make photos of gauchos. That was as far back as 2016. It has taken this long to decide to do this.

I have a week off between tours, and so I figured I should come out early to Patagonia and go see some gauchos. My friend Sabine not only lives in the area but she knows many of the gauchos personally. So it was very nice to be able to go in as less of a stranger.

The shot above is a quick mock up with my iPhone. Hosé was very kind and posed for me inside his kitchen. I found the three gauchos I visited today to be very funny guys, lots of humour, and also very hard working. Their homes were very rustic and had a lot of character to them. I so wished I had brought some reflectors with me to help with the light, but we got by, re-arranging things in the houses a little to make use of the best light.

For those of you whom have travelled with me to Patagonia before, you may recognise Sabine above. She is such a nice person and I’ve been good friends with her for about a decade now. It has been very nice to hang out with her today and go drive around gaucho houses together.

I hope this won’t be the last trip to make photos of gauchos as I feel each encounter requires a thawing out period, then a sense of familiarity before they truly relax and be who they are. The more I return, the more I am sure the relationships will develop.

I would like to think that this is maybe the start of a new project for me.