Travel Archive Part II
Warm hues and the sea. A look into my travel archive and a few stories around the images.
Notes from the Lab is a newsletter that delves deep into the creative process, rituals, and thought process behind being a photographer and filmmaker.
This project is a journal of my projects and experiments. A logbook of everything I learn, a record of inspirations and takeaways from my journey as a parent and artist. I want to share my creative and technical progress as relentlessly as possible because gatekeeping sucks. It’s published (almost-) weekly.
Occasionally, it’s also a good old photo blog.
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Hi again!
Last week, I unsolicitedly sent you a nostalgic issue of this newsletter, opening up parts of my archive of travel assignments and projects. Today is part two of this curated archive rummaging exercise.
I’m granting myself the luxury of jumping straight into the pictures without any further introduction; if you missed the first part of this little excursion, click here:
TANGER, MOROCCO 2016
I was commissioned to explore the city of Tanger, Morocco, in 2016 for a German inflight magazine. With author Walter Mayer, we embarked on a seven-day trip to this mystic city filled with secrets and characters, almost free to explore the various facets of this vibrant coastal town.
We hired a cab driver (I forgot his name, apologies!) to get around town quickly as a fixer for the whole week. I will never forget his impeccable driving skills, the smell of weed in the cab, and the sound of his music blasting in his classic Mercedes-Benz while navigating the inscrutable traffic of buzzing Tanger. At times, seven people were in his car because he had a job to do. So I was sitting almost on his lap, four other people in the car, and assisted my way through traffic, occasionally resisting the urge to grab the wheel to avoid our inevitable death. But he always made it to our destination, sporting a smile.
On the first couple days, Walter and I split ways to explore the city without any particular concept, simply taking in the sights and sounds and expressing our feelings in the respective medium we’re working with.
I was wandering the narrow streets and medinas of the town, stopping here and there to get a first impression. I recognized quickly that photographing on the streets of Morocco, even with the slightly smaller camera I was using these days, was quite a challenge, and asking people on the streets for a picture was almost impossible. And I don’t particularly appreciate stealing someone’s image without at least getting in contact afterward. So, I focussed on compositions, light moods, and general street scenes.
I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colors. The serene but simultaneously mysterious atmosphere of the streets. The richness of the Moroccan street life.
After a few days where we had only seen each other to have lunch, dinner, and occasional tea, we proceeded with the “official” part of the assignment. We met a couple of people with relevance to Walter’s story. I vividly remember meeting this self-proclaimed life artist whose name I forgot at his place close to the Medina, filled with art and painting supplies. He tells us his own spy and thief stories that, I’m pretty sure, were entirely made up. He didn’t make the cut in the magazine, but we spent a great afternoon with him, and I sure remember his fantastic stories.
I shot one of my favorite pictures in between the various portrait sessions. For some reason, I can’t quite rationally explain why I’m drawn to this picture that much, but the composition of colors, perspective, and peaceful atmosphere let me come back looking at this picture repeatedly.
The Moroccan sun guided everything I shot, drenching every scene in warm hues.
And during that trip, my love for these warm tones in photography solidified and became ever-present in the work that followed.
GRAN CANARIA, 2018
Picking up on this craving for warm tones and lacking a good portion of travel lifestyle images in my Portfolio, I’ve decided to contact a couple I have been following for a while on Instagram to join me on an impromptu trip to Gran Canaria. Surprisingly, they were available and spontaneous enough to join me.
I booked the flights, and we met up at the airport for the first time. After we reached the top of the misty mountains, we checked into our Airbnb, a fully developed flat in an old cave. To our surprise, there was a crammed fridge of local goods and beers and a pack of homegrown weed on the table as a welcome present that I personally didn’t touch.
There wasn’t a fixed shotlist and as it was a very spontaneous trip, I didn’t research locations beforehand and there were no fixed setups, but we rather opted to roam freely and make plans on the day when we woke up and had breakfast.
Photographing on the Canary Islands is a dream, as there is a plethora of diverse landscapes, all within the reach of a days worth of car rides. Rocky beaches, jungles, mountains, fog and sun.
Here is an extended edit of the trip, and a few favorites:
That’s all for now, and an end for this two part mini-series. Let me know if you want to know more, if you have any questions. If you liked this issue, feel free to share it with your friends!
Thank you for reading!
xoxo — Ramon