Mallorca Without Borders
Albert, a photographer and film maker friend of mine came into the office one day in spring and asked me: “Paolo, I was supposed to cover the expedition of 15 volunteer doctors and nurses to the Gambia in October but I can’t make it. Would you like to go instead?” I said yes right away…
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Adana refugee camp – February 2021
(EN) When I first visited the refugee camp last October Support and Sustain Children launched the Rainbow Tent, an initiative – as the name implies – to provide a space and assistance for the children’s education. It couldn’t be used officially as a school as the local authorities had already halted such a project a…
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Adana refugee camp – October 2020
I met Arianna last July in Italy. She is president of a non-profit organization called Support and Sustain Children, which is based in my home town, Bergamo. When I asked if I could join their future missions in one of the refugee camps in which they operate, the interest seemed to be mutual, but because…
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SRI LANKA
AN INSIGHT I first developed an interest in Sri Lanka while sipping beer in Munich with my friend Malte, when he suggested that I should read Naomi Klein’s ‘The Shock Doctrine’. Malte told me he could not believe what happened in Sri Lanka after the tsunami of 2004. An estimated 40000 people lost their lives in Sri Lanka…
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THAILAND – Bangkok
Stop-over of 3 days here before flying to Colombo. The night shots were taken in backstreets around Sukhumvit.
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USA – Hawaii
Since I had to cross the Pacific I also paid a visit to my friends Peter and Suzy who kindly coped with me for a few days 🙂 Here are some shots from the Big Island, or Hawaii. I had to see Mauna Kea (some claim it’s the highest mountain on the planet if measured from…
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COLOMBIA – Bogotá
I have started off this round trip in South America, hoping to have more chances to push through a couple of personal projects in the Ecuadorian Amazon and in Honduras. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, at least not this time. So Bogotá turned up to be the first stop of some sort of “my long way round” to…
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New York City 2014
I was here briefly for the opening of the International Photography awards. It’s always overwhelming to see your work on display 🙂 And… I had to take a few shots around Manhattan
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INDONESIA – Pacu Jawi
WINNER of “Competitive Events” – INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2014 (link) Batusangkar, Indonesia The pacu jawi(cow race) originated in the Minankabau region of West Sumatra. It is held on rice fields as a celebration or auspice of good harvests and possibly increase the value of well performing cows and bulls. Jockeys also bite the animals’ tail to increase speed.…
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INDONESIA – Mentawai
The Mentawai people have their own language, traditional law and religion (animism). Their society is based on equality, there’s no hereditary title and there are no subordinate roles. Their origins were unknown to me before receiving info in the comments below. The elder shamans normally gather to discuss issues concerning more than one family or village…
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INDONESIA – Nagari Sungai Pinang
From Singapore, after three days of taxis, busses, boats and scooters, I finally got to this little village south of Padang in order to meet my guide to Mentawai and plan the trip. People asked me why I didn’t fly and I wondered that myself too a few times. Especially when I dropped my mobile…
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SINGAPORE
The first day I got on an open-top bus for some recce around the city but I didn’t see anything really exciting, not many inspiring places to drop a car in. Cities are hard to shoot without getting cars and people in the frame but a parallel world of empty scenes and light shows seems…
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AUSTRALIA – Sydney
Thank to my friends Lauren and James my stay in and around Sydney was super. Lauren was my driver, assistant, producer, location scouter and tour guide. Thanks Lozza!! Love you!!!!!! 🙂
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FIJI – Nacula Island
A stop here since it’s on the route LA-Sydney, even if for just 2 days, was a must. After a couple of location shoots and a quick visit to the nearby village on Nacula Island, I spotted a hammock under the palm trees on the beach and that was the end 🙂
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USA – Los Angeles
Plenty of good locations to shoot downtown and elsewhere but sick of the bad weather, I decided to go to the desert. I thought to myself “What are the chances that will rain there?”. Well, eventually it did but for only 10 minutes. So I booked a room in the town of Indio, about 3…
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USA – New York City
Finally on the road again!!!!! This time the plan is a quick 2-month-long (October+November) around the globe location shooting trip for my CGI stuff (backplates and HDRs) that should keep me busy in the coming cold, dark and claustrophobic winter time. The set itinerary for now is New York City, Los Angeles, Fiji, Sydney, Singapore…
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BRAZIL – Pitangueras Beach, Guarujá
This is a series of “behind the scene” of a fairly typical Brazilian beach that I took in 2007 when I was in Brazil visiting friends. I thought they would attenuate my need for warm countries a little but I think it’s working the other way around. I shot this on an many-times-x-rayed b/w film with…
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Munich – Slut Walk
It all started when Constable Michael Sanguinetti of Toronto Police Service said during a crime prevention forum that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”. He later apologized for his remarks but on the 3rd of April 2011 right in Toronto, a crowd of about 3000 people gathered for the first…
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Munich Surfers
River surfing here on the Eisbach (Ice River – a tributary of River Isar) started around the year 2000. These waters approach 1°C in the cold season and flow at about 5m/sec. Although swimming is prohibited here, surfing is not. The only fatalities occurred over this wave seem to have been reckless swimmers rather than…
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Palestine 2004
Not having a great deal of new pics to upload at the moment, I thought that a post on my 2004 experience in Palestine would fit well in the blog. So here it is… I left for Palestine on the 14 October 2004. I don’t exactly know the reasons behind my interest in the current issues of…
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Munich here I am
This is an update form my new base in Germany. I have recently moved to Munich and have been busy doing CGI post-production work and some location photography. I only have a few shots that I can share and here they are: Munich, taken after a shoot at the Haus der Kunst (Modern Art), Berlin,…
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UK London – Okinawa Day
Last Saturday was Okinawa Day in London and I was commissioned to photograph this annual culture and tourism promotional event sponsored by the Okinawa Association UK. Okinawa is a 1,000 km long cluster of islands south of Japan’s main island also known for the controversial presence of US military bases there. It was a day of music, dance,…
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ITALY – Adunata Alpini in Bergamo
I haven’t updated the blog for a while as I haven’t been traveling since I came back from South America last December and although this latest trip was actually to my home town I thought it deserved a page here. Last weekend the city of Bergamo hosted the annual gathering of the Alpini, the Italian…
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URUGUAY – Punta del Diablo
I didn’t last long in Buenos Aires. Just enough to meet my old friend/colleague Bjoern for a good catch-up who’s also starting his American adventure but on his motorbike. I did like the city but the hot weather and the beaches of Uruguay being so close…well, what would you do? And Punta del Diablo is a really…
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ARGENTINA – Ushuaia
I have finally made it the southernmost city of the world, Ushuaia, also capital of Tierra del Fuego province. Unfortunately I got there only 12 hours prior my scheduled flight to Buenos Aires and managed just a glimpse of these amazing views. Every time I had looked at the map of South America my eyes…
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CHILE – Puerto Natales – Torres del Paine
Yes! I finally reached Puerto Natales! What a never ending journey though! Fortunately the bus driver was a smoker like me and allowed me to have a cigarette with him every now and then in the front cabin. I managed to see Torres del Paine, Perito Moreno (the day after) and got to Ushuaia 12…
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CHILE – Carretera Austral – And now what?
From Esquel I wanted to go across Chile again through Palena but it wasn’t possible for some reason. As one guy at the ticket office put it, the bus simply didn’t go there. Full stop. Ok, thank you very much. And now what? I asked about 10 people from 10 different transport companies and I…
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ARGENTINA – Bariloche, El Bolosn, Esquel
My next pin on the map was on Bariloche, my first step into Argentina. I was going to start my “slalom” all the way down to Ushuaya as all my destinations were close to the border Chile-Argentina. I got there after an 8-hour journey on a bus from Puerto Montt and, in my opinion, unless…
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CHILE – Chiloé
After “Valpo” it was time to either catch the boat from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales or visit Chiloé. I went for option two as I was also interested in the Carretera Australe so after a 13-hour journey I got to Puerto Natales where you have connections with the island. So I went to Ancud,…
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CHILE – Valparaiso
This is a quick update from Puerto Natales, Chile. I’ve been rushing down here through half of the Carretera Australe. It’s a beautiful journey but unfortunately transports along that route are just too slow for my schedule and I had to cross again to Argentina to speed up the transfer to southern Chile, where I…
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BOLIVIA – Salar de Uyuni
Uyuni is a remote town relatively close to the border with Chile and I got there on a bus through a difficult alternative journey off-road cause the main passage from Potosi’ was blocked by road workers who hadn’t been payed. I stopped here one night to catch up with Michele, another photographer from Verona, Italy…
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BOLIVIA – Potosí
Bolivia didn’t start too well as I got the flu. My first stop was at Copacabana on the Lake Titicaca where I managed at least to have one of its famous trouts even though I couldn’t taste anything. I spent the following two days sick in bed but in La Paz this time. When I…
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PERU – Lares Trek
I knew that for the traditional Inca Trail you need a few months pre-booking so my options were 2 alternative routes: Salkantay or Lares. The latter is one day shorter (✔), you get the chance to pass through local villages(✔), it’s less beaten(✔ ) and apparently easier (✔ ✔)! So, Day 1 We got a…
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PERU – Cuzco
First of all a BIG THANK YOU to Mr Blonde and Mr Pink of Driving Horse for adding my blog to theirs. Cheers guys!! And now back to Peru… When I arrived to Cuzco (3400m) I felt the altitude straight away. The hostel I was planning to stay at was full and carrying my bags…
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PERU – Iquitos
Here are some shots I took in some places – including Belén – around town. traduci >> This is going to be a quick update from the airport in Lima as I wait for my flight to Cuzco. I got a bit stuck in Iquitos cause of some pain in the neck and didn’t manage…
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PERU – Yurimaguas to Iquitos(Nauta) – Eduardo IV
The long awaited BOAT TRIP to Iquitos!!! Remember? I had decided not to enter Iquitos from Coca, Ecuador and try instead from Yurimaguas as there are more boats available. It’s cheaper and faster (about 3 nights as opposed to 10 to 14 days). I was a bit afraid for my stuff as sleeping on the…
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Paolo Messina 