For years, I said no to workshops. People asked, and I declined every time because I did not feel like the right person to tell anyone what to do. I am not a teacher. In my view, a workshop in a studio ends up being all about where you place your lights and how you direct a model, and that never felt right to me.
Then Kaat Celis of De Donkere Kamer started asking, and she kept asking for years. What changed my mind in the end was the nature of her proposal. It was a full week on the road with a small group of photographers in an almost otherworldly place. I will photograph alongside you and, along the way, I will demonstrate how I approach a project: the planning, observation and decision-making processes.
This is more than just a workshop. The week requires independence and your own plan. Nobody will be taken by the hand. You work, I work, and at the end of every day, we sit down together to review our work and talk about photography in that setting.
The location is Estancia El Condor on the shores of Lago San Martín in Argentine Patagonia, at the foot of the Andes. It covers 40,000 hectares of untouched forest, lakes, mountains, rivers and open pampa. The nearest village is 360 kilometres away and the nearest airport is almost a five-hour drive away. There is no phone signal. The estancia generates its own power and runs its own kitchen, using vegetables and meat sourced from the land itself. There are condors here with a wingspan of four metres.
The journey is part of the experience. We spend the first night in El Calafate and then drive to the estancia ourselves in two 4x4s. Kaat drives one and I drive the other. She brings a Starlink for emergencies. Beyond that, we’ll be offline for the rest of the week.
The days are spent taking photographs of the gauchos and the landscape. Individual guidance is available whenever you want it, and there are group reviews in the evening. One day is spent on horseback, and Kaat gives a talk on the business side of a photography practice. I am particularly looking forward to the portrait work: a session with the whole group and some of the gauchos, the traditional Argentinian cowboys.
I hope that you will all learn something from the way I work. If even a small part of the evening reviews, feedback and my view of photography is useful and you carry it into your own work and style, and it improves your photography, then the week will have achieved its purpose.
The practical details:
Patagonia with Bastiaan Woudt
13–20 February 2027, seven nights, eight days
Estancia El Condor, Argentine Patagonia
Maximum eight photographers, five twin rooms with private bathrooms
€4,999 per person, excluding 21% VAT.
Included: accommodation, all meals and transfers. Flights and insurance are not included.
Applications are made via portfolio submission, and you will receive a response within a week. After acceptance, a 30% deposit confirms your place.
Apply now via donkerekamer.com/patagonia.
Kaat talks about the location in episode #282 of De Donkere Kamer,
and you can listen to our full Dutch conversation in episode #248.
If this opportunity sounds right for you, send us your portfolio. I look forward to seeing who the eight will be.
— Bastiaan