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JOIN ME ON AN EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR AND ADVENTURE

An IP Travel Photography tour will take you to the most exotic locations on earth, transform your photography skills, and see you capture images that will define your creative legacy.

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Salar de Uyuni Hexagons at Sunset an award-winning image by Ignacios Palacios

An award-winning landscape photograph of Karijini Australia by Ignacio Palacios

EXPLORE MY COLLECTION OF AWARD-WINNING FINE ART IMAGES AND PRINTS

You’re invited to browse the masterpiece collection. A carefully curated selection of my signature photographs from around the world.

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Square Gorilla photographed in Rwanda by award-winning photographer Ignacio Palacios

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Check out my blog for all this and so much more.

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FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS

TRIP OF A LIFETIME IN SABI SANDS
November 2025

Embark on a Remarkable Wildlife Adventure.

THE ULTIMATE CHINA EXPERIENCE
September 2025

Photograph landscapes of China.

ZAMBIA
October 2025

Untamed beauty.

MOZAMBIQUE
November 2025

The land of the rising sun

JAPAN, LAND OF WEALTH AND BEAUTY
February 2026

This spectacular untamed land boasts some of the most abundant and diverse landscapes and wildlife.

PANTANAL AND LENCOIS
July 2026

A paradise for nature lovers and photographers alike. With its breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural heritage.

A GLIMPSE AT OUR ADVENTURES

TESTIMONIALS

“It is my pleasure to recommend Ignacio Palacios to anyone who is interested in doing sensational photographic tours. I have enjoyed travelling with Ignacio in the past, which is why I’m looking forward to future trips with him. Ignacio is a very competent photographer and also has excellent post-processing skills. He is a good teacher, so anyone travelling with him will be bound to learn some very valuable skills and techniques.”
Ken DuncanAustralian Fine Art Landscape Photographer

“I have travelled and co-lead tours with Ignacio to Patagonia, the Atacama region and the Lofoten Islands (Norway). All of them were really nice tours and I enjoyed travelling and photographing with him. Ignacio is a great photography instructor, tour leader and I am looking forward to do more adventures with him.”
Art WolfeAmerican Photographer and Conservationist

“I travelled to Patagonia with Ignacio and it was a blast! I think the mark of a good travel leader is how he or she deals with problems - and when we had a few small issues with transport and weather, Ignacio always found a solution! We visited some amazing locations and Patagonia is certainly on my return list!”
Peter EastwayAustralian Landscape Photographer & Editor

“This brilliant photography tour was led by Ignacio Palacios and Richard I’Anson. I cannot express my gratitude enough to both for their absolute professionalism, generosity in terms of their time and willingness to share their expertise and for making this such a fun and exciting experience.”
Clara from MelbournePhotography Tour Client

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Today is my son's birthday but it is also Pink Flamingo Day so let's celebrate with some pictures of flamingos that I have taken in Laguna Colorada, Bolivia

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Today is World Rainforest Day!
Rainforests are vital for the survival of life on Earth. We depend on the Amazon rainforest alone for 20% of the oxygen we breathe and the freshwater we drink. They absorb our carbon dioxide, stabilize climate patterns, and are home to half the world’s plant and animal species.

Yet every minute, we lose 40 football fields of rainforests, which threatens our biodiversity and imperils our planet’s health. Deforestation causes 15% of global carbon dioxide emissions that accelerate climate change—more than from all cars in the U.S. and China combined. Natural climate solutions like protecting and restoring forests, however, could reverse global emissions by a third.

The image is of the Amazon Rainforest and was taken in Brazil in June 2019.

If you want to act click on https://worldrainforestday.org/

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Today is World Giraffe day!

World Giraffe day is a celebration of these amazing and much-loved animals, but an annual event to raise support, create awareness and shed light on the challenges giraffe face in the wild. By supporting World Giraffe Day, you directly help save giraffe in Africa. With only approximately 111,000 giraffe remaining in the wild, the time is right to act NOW!

If you want to get involved: https://giraffeconservation.org/world-giraffe-day/

The images were taken in Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania during the summer of 2008.

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Today is World Croc Day!

World Croc Day is a global awareness campaign to highlight the plight of endangered crocodiles and alligators around the world.

The images were taken in Ranthambore national park, India and the Pampas in Bolivia.

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Dissecting Award-Winning Shots: Landscapes #20 (Lapland aerials) - Buy eBook here: http://ow.ly/qmtu50zYnzV

There are two different images in this post I will be referring to from two different trips to the same area. The first image was captured in Finnish Lapland during a photography workshop in February 2018.

It was taken from a helicopter and although the flight was only a short one, it was an amazing experience and we all managed to get some incredible images.

The temperatures were -25C and up there with the doors off, it was absolutely freezing. I had two pair of gloves and some mittens on top of them, but my hands still froze. I won’t lie - it was actually almost painful at times and it took a while for my fingers to recover after the flight.

The second image came from another tour to the same area, almost a year later. This time I organised the chopper ahead of time as I knew what incredible potential there was. Excitingly, the conditions were quite different. It wasn’t overcast at all and we decided to go just after sunrise to make the most of the sidelight and resultant shadows from the trees. Both of the images were received really well and achieved numerous awards.

Even when you return to the same location, there can be plenty of opportunity to get new and fresh-looking images. One of the main factors of course is how different the light and weather conditions can be, as was certainly the case here. I will speak about the two images in this article, one from each of the trips, making reference to whichever one best suits the point I would like to make.

They both are images of compelling and unique subject matter, taken from an unusual perspective. Although they have great detail and rich features, it is far from immediately obvious as to what they are. Their abstract nature asks something of the viewer in terms of visual interpretation and a closer look is rewarded with more explanation through their intricate details and small reveals.

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Dissecting Award Winning Shots: Landscapes #19 (Tolbachik) - Buy eBook here: http://ow.ly/mqHQ50zYnzP

This is an image that I captured at sunrise in the Tolbachik volcano area in the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far east of Russia. Richard I’Anson and I were excited to lead a trip to such a remote and less photographed area of the world, but there were plenty of challenges I can tell you!
It took us a couple of days driving to reach this area on some very precarious roads. We also had legions of mosquitoes to keep us for company on the way…
The previous night we were sleeping in tents near some amazing lava fields and we all got up before dawn to climb the volcano so we could be in a great position to make the most of the early morning light.

I initially focused on photographing the craters and the beautiful wider landscapes as shown below. Although they are perhaps beautiful landscapes in their own right, they were not the special and unique type of images I was striving to create. I took a pause and began to think about how I could simplify and strengthen my compositions. My attention then gravitated to some of the angular lines of the volcano walls being kissed by the morning light and this image was born.

It is a straight single capture and has not been “photoshopped” to alter any of its form or shape apart from its square crop. When I first published it to social media it evoked a very interesting response. Many viewers were convinced it was some kind of creation, and most had no idea what the subject matter really was.
This image was part of the portfolio of images that won the NSW Professional Photographer of the Year in 2018.
The image is all about simplicity, minimalism and boldness of composition. It is intensely graphical and yet quite mysterious at the same time. The softness of light and lack of discernible features lend the image a somewhat mystical and otherworldly quality and the strong diagonal lines across the frame provide a concentrated graphical component.

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Dissecting Award Winning Shots: Landscapes #18 (Heartbroken) - Buy eBook here: https://iptravelphotography.com.au/award-winning-shots-landscapes-vol1

If I’m honest with myself, and courageous enough to say it, I feel that ‘Heartbroken’ is one of the best images that I have created in my career. I'm very close to this image emotionally, which no doubt impacts my judgement from an outward perspective, but it is a very special image to me for what it represents.

I was running a photo tour and I was looking forward to photographing the infamous “frozen trees” in the Riisitunturi Nat. Park. It had been a great year with lots of snow and the landscape and conditions were absolutely pristine. It felt almost like being on another planet with both the atmosphere and shapes amongst the trees.

I came across these two frozen trees which almost immediately spoke to me on a much deeper and more personal level for what they represented. I instantly saw and felt two distinct figures, both angry and in real confrontation with one another. During that trip I was having some issues with my ex-partner and I couldn’t help but project those feelings into what I saw.
The last couple of years before I captured this image had not been easy. I had parted ways with my wife, and I had also struggled to move forward into new relationships. This image in many ways, came together to symbolise the personal struggle and challenge I had been moving through.

So "Confront" was sent to the Head On Awards and I was selected as a finalist in the Landscape Category. I was happy for the acknowledgment, but I knew that I had done minimal work on the image and couldn’t shake off the feeling that I still had further to travel with it… Just as I felt I still had a way to go with the personal journey I was on in my life.

And then, “Heartbroken”, the next evolution of the image was created but the story of this creation doesnt' fit in this post and you will have to get the eBook to read it all about how this image was created... ;-)

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Dissecting Award-Winning Shots: Landscapes #17 (Valle de la Luna) - Buy eBook here: http://ow.ly/LeF550zYnzI

This is an image taken in the Valley of the Moon in the Atacama Desert in Chile - without a doubt one of the most stunning areas I have ever been to, anywhere in the world. This image was captured from a place called the Dead Valley lookout.

To give you some background, the Atacama Desert is one of the driest regions on the planet. It is hailed as the driest and the oldest desert on earth and has experienced extreme hyper-aridity for at least 3 million years. There are some regions where they say rainfall has never occurred in recorded history. Partly for this reason, much of the Atacama Desert resembles planet Mars – and not just the looks but the conditions as well. Water is extremely scarce and much of the desert is inhospitable to life as we know it.

The large sand dunes of Valle de la Luna and the nearby stone formations mimic the surface of the moon, hence giving the region its name. The unique colouring within the landscape is created by the unusual way these salt formations reflect the sunlight, giving the Valle de la Luna a constantly changing spectrum of bright blue, green, yellow and red colouring. The formations captured here are the result of centuries of sculpting by winds and other elemental forces acting on the sand and stone.
The compressed perspective and layering of staggered triangular features introduce a sense of dynamism and movement to an otherwise static subject. The square cropping and isolation of features from the wider view moves the interpretation into a pleasingly graphic realm. The exquisite lighting works beautifully to emphasise shape and form and also works with delicious subtlety on the tonal range to give a painterly feeling. The gradation of colour upwards from darker to lighter through the frame, combined with the angular direction of the structures creates a superb visual flow, up through the image, creating a sense of depth.

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IGNITING PASSION

PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS

FINE ART GALLERY

LIMITED-EDITION BOOKS

PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

IGNITING PASSION

JOIN ME ON AN EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR AND ADVENTURE

EXPLORE MY COLLECTION OF AWARD-WINNING FINE ART IMAGES AND PRINTS

A BOOK IS A DREAM YOU CAN HOLD IN YOUR HAND

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS

TRIP OF A LIFETIME IN SABI SANDS
November 2025

Embark on a Remarkable Wildlife Adventure.