How did your interest for wildlife arise?
I have been in touch with nature since I was born. Until ten years ago, my family lived in the middle of the countryside. After that they moved on to a little town called Norberto de La Riestra in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Because of that all my childhood passed between these two places, full of nature. I spent a lot of time there, in contact with the wildlife although at that moment I did not realize it. I remember playing with my brother in the middle of the forest, climbing trees, riding a horse for leisure or to go to school, or swimming in a lagoon in the summer.
I am currently living in a big city, and I am really sure that all those special moments of my childhood are the ones that made me return to nature through my camera. Certainty that this is the place where I enjoy spending my time the most.
How do you describe your journey as a photographer and a person?
In 2012 I bought my first DSRL camera and without too much knowledge I began to study the manual and taking pictures of everything around me.
In 2014 I had the opportunity to travel to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador for the first time, the reason why I decided to take a course exclusively on nature photography.
Before the trip, I spent a lot of time learning about to the behavior of every different species that I wanted to take pictures, the place where they lived, in which time I would have more chances to find them and any other data necessary to not miss anything. It was an amazing experience in an incredible place. After that I knew great Argentinian photographers who shared their knowledge, and I took the advantage to take every course I could with some of them.
That allowed me to improve the pictures I have been taking. From that moment every trip I make, no matter how short it can be, the camera travels with me and the places I visit always are related with nature, wildlife and the desire to continue learning and discovering the beauty that surround us.
That is how I started to feel like a passionate photographer of nature, and I never stopped.
What is your view on Wildlife Conservation? How can we, as wildlife photographers, help to protect our Mother Nature?
As I see it, wildlife photographers have in our hands a powerful conservation tool. Now a days, it is very easy to share a picture with a lot of people living in different places of the world almost in the same moment that it was taken. Using it together with the increasing use of social networks and other current digital media can help us to quickly spread the problems facing Mother Nature.
The essential point is people take care of what they know about. We can take a beautiful picture and share it with friends, however if we use it to tell a short story with interesting data about the animal, the species or the place in the photo, perhaps this will help more people to know about it and they will be able to understand why it is important to preserve it.
Speaking from my own experience, I was able to confirm this by sharing photos taken in my town with people who have lived there all their lives and they were surprised because they had never seen it before or didn’t know about a certain characteristic about the animal.
Can you give our readers the best wildlife photography tips? Do you have any recommendation on settings or gear for wildlife photography?
Be patient and Study! These are the best tips that someone has ever given me, and I try to remember every time I am in a photographic trip.
We can have the best photographic equipment in the world, but if we are not able to know how to use them, or we do not have enough information about the species we are going to photograph, we will return home with nothing, that is for sure. Wild animals show themselves to us only when they really want to. Due to that we need to be patient. If we add knowledge about the animal behavior, its environment, what is the best time of the year to find it, what hour of the day it prefers to rest or feed, then we are closer to take the desired photo.
Another good recommendation may be to explore areas around us. Not always is it necessary to go far to take a good picture. After the coronavirus quarantine I began to visit Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve. I had never gone there before. I discovered there a lot of new species of birds and every time I go, I came back home with a “lifer”, this in the middle of Buenos Aires’s City!
What plans do you have in the future related to wildlife Photography?
For now, I will continue traveling through my country every time I can. I really enjoy being surprised by each new discovery and I am looking forward to the next trip no matter where it is.
If we are talking about dreams I have too much. I would like to know Central and South America rainforest, like Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and Brazil, the Big five in Africa, India, Borneo…the list is very, very long.
Tell us something about the gears you use?
I use a Sony A7RIV camera with a Sony FE 200-600 mm F.5.6- 6.3 G lens. This is what I use the most. For macrophotography I use a Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G Oss and for landscapes I use a Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM.
