Every photographer has a bucket list, dream destinations that capture his or her imagination and inspire them to create. Often these locations are out of reach. They are too far away. Too cost prohibitive. Or require physical demands that our bodies may not be ready to overcome. When I first saw photos of the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes, it immediately became one of those bucket list locations for me. The towering snowcapped peaks, the deep glacial blue lakes, and some of the darkest skies on earth; the images of this place literally took my breath away. Despite my dream to tell visual stories about this incredible place, I worried it may be out of reach because of the physical demands. Specifically, capturing these iconic landscapes requires nearly a weeklong trek over multiple 15,000-foot passes that are not for the faint of heart.
Throughout my life, I have maintained decent physical condition, but I never considered myself an athlete. In my 40’s, I moved from sea-level up into the Rockies. Despite being a strong hiker, I never quite felt comfortable over 12,000 feet, where the shortness of breath and lack of oxygen always humbled me. However, if there is one thing that defines me its stubbornness. I have never nor will I ever let doubt or fear get in the way of something I want. So, as I approached a landmark birthday in 2025, I made the decision of a lifetime to trek the Cordillera Huayhuash.
The preparation alone for this trip taught me so many things about myself. A full year ahead of the trek, I began dedicating endless hours to training, strengthening my body to push through challenges. I squatted, lunged, and biked my way to new physical and mental heights. When the departure date arrived my fear had dissolved, replaced by a level of self-confidence and security that had previously eluded me. The first couple days of trek were largely spent preparing and acclimatizing, making several hikes over 13,000 feet and eventually pushing to 14,000. It was also spent refining our gear and minimizing weight because literally every ounce mattered. After all the preparation, anticipation and excitement, the departure finally arrived.
The Huayhuash trek as its colloquially known begins at Quatelhuain. After driving sinuous roads that never seemed to end, we arrived and I immediately felt like I had been taken back in time. The mountains towered like ancient stone monoliths above a valley of green pastures. We quickly set camp and some of us rested for the days to come. As soon as night fell, my attention immediately turned skyward as stars shown so bright that you could see your shadow. That first night I barely slept, capturing photo after photo as the Milky Way arched overhead. My love for landscape photography has grown deeper over time, but nothing is quite as remarkable as standing under a clear dark sky and capturing our universe in its most primal and raw form. These moments of stillness transcend space and time and create a recognition of how infinitesimally small we are in the grand scale of the universe. It’s these moments of reflection that guide my visual storytelling.
The subsequent days of trekking became a blur of turquoise lakes and the most incredible peaks I have ever and likely will ever see in my life. With each breathless pass and miles of leaden legs, I captured landscapes I had never dreamt possible. This trip afforded me hours a day lost in my own thoughts contemplating. Those moments of reflection left me thinking deeply about destination photography, about how and why we should chase our photographic dreams, and about how we overcome our deepest moments of self-doubt. While not all the lessons learned from this trip are profound, they are great reminders about how we approach new destinations and our photographic journey.
First, fear is often the greatest enemy of progress and belief in yourself can be incredibly powerful. In life, we are often our own worst critics, and photography is no different. By believing in and investing in yourself, you can overcome fears and learn to embrace new challenges. This may be traveling to a new destination, seeing a composition in a new light, or challenging yourself to learn a new technique.
Second, as I highlighted earlier, we often covet beautiful locations and imagine the images we will create. Peru reminded me that nothing is given in photography and that destinations don’t the take photos, you do. That means putting in the hard work, be it hiking, scouting, finding the great composition, and investing the time in post-processing.
Third, while I’ve always believed in investing in great gear, this trip solidified the importance of carrying the right tools to meet my needs. When trekking weight mattered the most, I knew my landscape and nightscape photography couldn’t sacrifice prime lenses or a bullet proof tripod that delivers on stability. On this trip my RRS Ascend-14 with an integrated ball head was a perfect balance of size, weight, and stability when paired with a Sony mirrorless body and G Master Prime lenses.
My photographic approach often has me “getting low” to capture unique foregrounds or use barrel distortion to highlight mountain scenes. The Peruvian Andes took this approach to new heights as the sheer size of these mountains necessitated low angles and ultra-wide lenses to capture the scale of these scenes. Again, these approaches require a tripod that allows flexibility to shoot low to the ground or even invert your tripod column to find that perspective.
Finally, this trip continually reminded me the truth of the age-old adage, “It’s more about journey than the destination.” The lessons and experiences gained along the way often teach us more about ourselves, our creative process and our vision than does the final mountain summit.