Premier Version – Behind The Lens: Patagonia – Barney

Words and Pictures by Barney

Back in January, Barney found himself in Patagonia for a few days for the Santa Cruz Hightower launch, which also doubled as the trial run for a new XC/Enduro-style event, the Aysen Rally. He wrote the story up in the feature “A Question Of Dust” for issue 105.

When riding on this trip, Barney could travel light. He was lucky enough not to need a huge camera with him on the trail, as ace photog. Gary Perkin was on riding-shot duty, so Barney just carried his trusty Canon S95 with him, and left his Nikon at the campsite for those atmospheric pre-coffee morning shots that rarely work. And even in Patagonia, most of them still didn’t.

Here, he takes us through some of his favourite shots which didn’t make it into the magazine – it’s hard to take bad photos in Patagonia, but nevertheless Barney did his best.

This was the first singletrack we were faced with on the first day. This is the bottom of the first descent; it’s steeper and more bermed further up, but it’s an extraordinary environment to ride a bike in. The old-men’s-beards covering the trees are even more substantial than this pic suggests. And yes, brown pow.