Gran Canaria. A photographic adventure.
I arrived at Gran Canaria airport late on Saturday afternoon on a flight from London. It was March 2nd and I had left behind a British winter that seemed to never run out of rain so the heat of this Spanish island was a welcome respite. Somewhere in the arrivals hall was Cristina, my model and traveling companion for the next week, who had also just arrived from Rome. We had been chatting about this trip for the past two months but had never met before. We shared selfies via WhatsApp so as to be easier to identify in the busy airport. Cristina was born in the Ukraine, but has lived in Italy for the past nine years and to my untrained ear sounded more Italian.
Not just a model.
Cristina was waiting for me next to our hire car collection point. I was greeted by a big hug that betrayed her very little frame. She had a lot of energy for someone who had endured two flights that day and was a nice balance of being immediately talkative whilst also having a very gentle personality.
We had been introduced by a model friend Elena, who knew I wanted to go to the Canaries with someone to work on my Elemental project (a series of art nude images in extraordinary landscapes). The brief includes getting up early in the morning for the sunrise, not being put off by climbing up rocky and sharp landscapes or being afraid of strong ocean waves. All of this to then pose naked in the elements in a shape that naturally connects with the environment. But that wasn’t it, I also needed someone who could drive as I don’t own a driving license (for a car). So you’d be forgiven for thinking that my options would be limited. But since embarking on this project which I started last year I’ve come to realise that I am not alone in enjoying the excitement of going on a photographic adventure in order to be creative with likeminded people.
This photo was taken on day 4, but I wanted to include our trusty steed and didn’t take many photos of it.
Our white Suzuki SUV was almost new and Cristina was quickly at home at the wheel and busy sharing stories of her travels and our mutual friends. This was that post flight journey as you drive to your apartment for the beginning of your holiday, excited to see the new place and its culture. I had rented three different places during our week, my thinking being we could stay close to the ‘good’ locations making early starts easier to manage. The first place was close to the sand dunes in Maspalomas in the south of the island. It was a two bedroom apartment next to a beach and easy to get to a number of other locations that I had planned.
We dumped our bags and both made a beeline for the sea which was a hundred meters from our apartment. The sun had set, but that didn't stop us off from wanting to get our feet wet and shake off the flight. That night we ate at a restaurant on the beach and chatted about the week ahead over sea food and local wine.
March 3rd. Location hunting.
The next day was billed as a rest day. I always like to get to know someone before I photograph them, something that is more acute with this type of work. Plus I wanted to check out a few of my planned locations to see if they married up to the images I had found during my online research. We had coffee and pastries at a local cafe and then got in the car to go see the island. Our first stop was the sand dunes which cover a peninsula in the south and wouldn’t look out of place in Africa or the middle east.
We arrived at the dunes just after 9 am, but the place was already busy with people making use of the last day of the weekend. You couldn’t help but pause for a moment, the large dunes were truly magnificent and eerily quiet, a stillness you only find in a desert. The sheer size of the place meant it was easy to lose the tourists and find your own dune. We both knew this was an important place and were soon taking reference photos with my phone, the intention being to capture them properly when we came back. I had specifically not taken a camera with me, we were here for a week and I wanted us both to just enjoy the island today. But it was nice to see Cristina switch seamlessly to find her creative groove. I was quickly learning how Cristina operated in front of a camera, but also, it was clear she had a strong work ethic. Simply put, she just really enjoyed being collaborative and I knew then that this was going to be a fun trip.
After the dunes, we headed north to visit a possible location which I wrote off as being too dangerous. A large blow hole on a stormy part of the coast. Good for landscape photography, but not wise for people shots. We then headed further north around a windy road and down to one of the black sand beaches that I had planned to visit in the latter part of our trip. By now the weather had turned and the sky was getting darker making the coast line appear even more dramatic. We both enjoyed the rugged backdrop and took countless reference photos. Photos that are in themselves worthy of using as by now Cristina and I had a good understanding of how to work together and as Elena had promised, Cristina was not afraid of climbing up rocky cliff faces and being near strong ocean waves.
That evening we had a meal in town and chatted through the week ahead. We agreed then that we would start by going to the dunes in order to capture them with my drone and do so at first light. There was no escaping it, we’d have to get up at 6 am to make that happen.
March 4th: The next morning we arrived at the dunes completely alone. It was still dark and the moon was high in the sky. We walked with purpose towards the area of the dunes we knew to be our first location. The sun was going to rise above the ocean where the dunes met the sea and by the time we arrived at our spot we knew we had about 30 mins of soft light to work with - the same flight time of one of the batteries of my drone. The time spent the day before meant we both had a clear idea of the locations and the poses so this short 30 minutes proved to be incredibly fruitful. Cristina would move deftly from dune to dune as we chased the light and followed shadows that she could complement. From my vantage point the landscape looked almost liquid, the first moments of any sunrise always fool the eye and right now the dunes had a very mercurial feel to them.
As the sun rose we moved down the slopes of the high dunes and used the shadows to extend the soft light and finished off another battery. We then hugged the edges of the dunes to complement the overhead shots with some traditional portraits and close ups of the sand on Cristinas hands and skin.
As part of this project I try to create a set of images that showcase the environment in its entirety and how the human form connects with it. The drone shots provide a unique perspective of the landscape and the portraits and close ups bring to life the human figure that was seen above.
We spent another couple of hours shooting in the dunes with a number of different outfits and accessories and then headed back to the apartment to relax. It had already been a long day. As golden hour approached we used the local beach for some fashion shots, a few bonus ideas I had on my mood board. Cristina was genuinely excited about the idea and was soon dressed in a black suit and wading amongst the waves whilst looking fabulous. It was clear she was hard working, but it’s not just that, she goes the extra mile as she wants the image as much for her as she does for you. An infectious enthusiasm that would always extend the hours of our shooting time.
That evening we shared a meal and this would begin a ritual of finishing the day with a glass of wine whilst Cristina would studiously review every photo taken and rate the ones she liked. She would often take photos of my laptop with her phone, a reminder of her favourite shots and a quick way to share the day's progress with her boyfriend and mother.
March 5th. A day at the beach.
The next day we had planned to go to a canyon in the mountains but after two attempts we had to give up, the main rocky path had been closed to the public and the only alternative was too busy to park nearby. My moodboard was packed with locations to pick from and we made our way to Agaete in the north and then down to one of the black sand beaches I had earmarked. The coast line on this side of the island was framed by giant black mountains that reached down into the water. The silhouette of the rocky cliffs appeared like the sleeping form of an ancient dinosaur.
Our journey to the beach was a now familiar narrow road that was cut into the cliff wall, a perilous drop below that made you draw breath with each turn. It was a somewhat daunting journey but the destination was our reward. By now it was midday and the clouds had been blown away leaving the beachline very exposed to the hard light which wasn’t ideal for overhead shots so we walked toward the cliffs to seek out the shadows. We were hunting for interesting shapes in the black rocks, crevices that Cristina could fit into and juxtapose the harsh black rock with her pale skin. This curious game of human jenga was now a language we both spoke, we would identify a shape in the rocks at the same time and knew it would make a great image.
A brief collection of clouds brought some softer light and allowed us to try out some drone shots of Cristina against the black volcanic boulders along the shore. The stones were huge, but from above they appeared like tiny pebbles, only the white shape of Cristina’s form provided the context of the size of the location.
(iPhone snap of Cristina playing human Jenga)
Black Sand portraits.
We returned to the apartment to rest and shake off the salt from the day's shoot. That evening we used our local beach again and as before Cristina was soon in the water.
We had learnt that we had arrived in Gran Canaria at the wrong time of the year for the tide to be low enough to see the black sand on the main beaches, but here on our local beach the dark sand gave me the backdrop I had desperately wanted and we used it to create some wonderfully contrasty portraits.
The waves would crash over Cristina, covering her face but she didn’t skip a beat, she would pop up from the water and look straight into the lens like nothing had happened.
It was only later in the week that she would tell me that she didn’t swim…
March 6th: It was Wednesday, the halfway mark, we were about to checkout and head north for the remainder of our stay on the island. But I wanted to do a second round of shots in the dunes and that meant another early start. We retraced our steps and this time focused on some drone shots that were closer up. By now we were very in tune, Cristina second guessing the poses I had in mind and able to interpret my hand signals from a dune away.
After sunrise I unpacked some black fabric I had bought and we waited for the wind. With the fabric wrapped around her Cristina would point into the wind and allow the rest of the fabric to sail past her. I always enjoy a contrasty image and these were going to be fun to edit.
Agaete, the home of black mountains.
We then drove north to a hotel I had booked in Agaete. The original intention was to use the accommodation as a base for an early start to get to the beaches along the coast, but I hadn’t factored in the tide times and now knew that we wouldn’t be able to align the sunrise with the tide this time of year. So I suggested we dial down the pace a little and rather than rush along the coast in the morning, enjoy a nice breakfast at the hotel first given it was included with our rooms.
But before then we had the afternoon to explore the area and were quickly distracted by a deserted rooftop bar above the hotel that stuck out over the water with views of our now familiar rocky coastline. Cristina was quick to spot an opportunity and dashed to her room to change into a white suit and we used the ornate furniture for some wide angle fashion shots.
These images were so much fun to take, no moodboard, no plan, just spontaneity and two people being creative. I can’t help myself but laugh when I am enjoying a shoot. We were both bouncing off each other’s energy and it was so nice to watch Cristina enjoy herself.
(this photo was a quick iPhone snap I used to frame up the shot before taking the real photos with my Sony and 20mm lens. I’ll edit those soon!)
March 7th. Beach drone shots.
We arrived at Playa del Risco at 9:30am with a loose plan to stay the day and head to our final accommodation in the late afternoon. It was a blustery day with large clouds obscuring the peaks of the mountains. The light was perfect for drone shots! By now Cristina was completing my sentences and was suggesting places to shoot with the drone. She was excited, but also has this very nice quality of wanting to please and she knew how much I had wanted to capture drone shots against black sand. This was going to be a good day!
We had become adept at watching the clouds and planning where and when to shoot. As the clouds parted we would head away from the water and into the rocky paths behind the beach to seek out the shade for more human jenga. Then as the light became overcast we’d go back and shoot overhead shots of Cristina framed amongst the black sand. Once again, I was able to complete the set with some portraits and more close ups, this time bodyscapes with speckles of black sand on her skin.
Cristina would review the images on the back of my camera and critique her poses and sometimes ask to redo a shot she wanted to perfect. Another quality I enjoyed about Cristina, her work ethic was simply a means to ensure we both got the best out of the day.
The mountains were a constant companion.
Being so exposed on this windy coast for hours on end you would tire more quickly. It had been a good day and I was feeling accomplished. But the weather was turning and I didn’t like the idea of Cristina driving on the coast road in the rain so I called it and we packed the car.
I was also aware that we had both worked hard these past 4 days so I suggested we head to the villa I had booked for the remainder of our shoot together and stay there for our final day. We had visited almost every location on my plan and had maximized each opportunity so I thought we deserved a break and we both liked the look of the villa as a possible shoot location.
We stopped off for some groceries and then drove to the villa. Geographically it was close to us, but the nature of the mountains meant we had to drive back around the island and approach it from the other side. The island isn’t that big, but somehow Crisina had already driven over 700 km. I was constantly amazed at how spritely she was despite all of this.
As we approached the villa the rain was coming down hard and the thought of just crashing out here was becoming more and more welcome by the minute. That evening we had a home cooked meal and Cristina carried out her ritual reviewing the day's images on my laptop. By now I was used to her speaking to her mum in Ukrainian and then switching to Italian to speak to her boyfriend. An unusual combination of languages that would very occasionally result in an English phrase being lost in translation. Frankly I was just impressed she could speak more than one language!
March 8th: This was our last shoot day together and we had already identified a number of places in the villa to shoot in. As before the mixed weather would dictate where and when we’d shoot. The morning was spent indoors with some images inspired by Helmut Newton. When the clouds broke we used the pool area and hard light to our advantage. I had spotted a chair with a string back that cast a wonderful oval shadow when the light was bright enough. I wanted to turn the shape into a hat with Cristina posing underneath the chair as if she was wearing the hat.
Framed by our photos.
Our last few frames were spent around the pool and even in the water. I had brought an underwater camera and thought it would be fun to shoot below the surface. It was here that Cristina told me that she couldn’t swim - my immediate thought being how that conflicted with her carefree attitude as she jumped into the waves earlier in the week. Regardless, she was keen to give it a go and to her credit she did dive down underwater so I could line up a few shots. Her can-do attitude once again shining bright.
I had brought an Instax camera with me and had taken a few snaps as we went along. Many years ago I had taken a shot of my daughter surrounded by photos of herself that I had taken and holding one image up close to the camera as a point of focus.
I wanted to replicate that image with Cristina as a sort of roundup of our time together on the island. Just like every other shoot to date, Cristina was happy to oblige and I think this genuine and fun shot of her summed up our time together very well.
I had come to this island on a mission to add another chapter of images to my project and where possible take some fashion and beach themed photos as well. My objectives were well and truly achieved but just as importantly we both had a lot of fun along the way. I have been very fortunate to have had a number of photographic adventures. I have a need to be creative, something that is compounded now that I have a series of images that I want to add to. But none of that would be possible without meeting people like Cristina who share the same creative need and enjoy being part of the adventure.
For me, the human part of photography will always be more important than the camera.
