Behind the Image
2007 Photographing flamingos in their habitat is tougher than it sounds – particularly when that habitat is the windy Chilean Andes.
Chilean flamingos fly high in Patagonia
Aphotograph can evoke a vivid sense of place – but one thing that’s tricky to capture on camera is wind. Yet it has a huge impact on animals and photographers alike, as Ben Hall discovered while tracking flamingos in the Torres del Paine massif in Chilean Patagonia.
“We drove up to a point on Mont Almirante Nieto from where we hiked as high as we could, up to about 1000m,” he recalls. “The temperature dropped as we climbed – but it was the driving wind that made conditions most testing.”
These jagged peaks experience powerful katabatic winds that Chilean flamingos must battle when migrating between alkaline lakes – and Ben found himself fighting the same icy blasts.
“I tried using a tripod, but gusts of up to 50mph made it impossible to compose accurately. So I increased the ISO and shutter speed to reduce camera shake, changed to a more manageable 100–400mm lens, and hand-held the camera to capture this shot.”
This adaptation to the tough conditions proved serendipitous: “The smaller lens meant I was able to include more of the environment in the frame, highlighting the relationship between the birds and their dramatic habitat.”
Think pink
The most southerly flamingo species is found from Peru and Uruguay down to Tierra del Fuego, and from sea level up to 4,500m in the Andes. Gregarious birds forming flocks of many thousands, Chilean flamingos migrate between shallow alkaline lakes where they feed on tiny diatoms. They’re classified Near Threatened due to illegal egg-harvesting, hunting and habitat loss.
“For me, this image speaks of both the beauty of the birds and of the hostile conditions they endure in this harsh but spectacular environment,” says Ben.