"Abyss”.
“If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you."
- Nietzsche
This photo was taken at The King's Little Path, once the world's most hazardous footpath.
I want to clarify that this is not a photo taken with a drone. It was taken on the edge of the cliff.
The King's Little route is spectacular from beginning to end, running through cliffs, canyons, and a large valley. This humble path runs impossibly along the Desfiladero de Los Gaitanes, an impressive canyon opened by the Guadalhorce river in the limestone and dolomite, with a length of three kilometers. It’s walls reach dizzying heights of 300 meters narrowing to just 10 metres apart in places.
The river has carved and eroded fascinating geological formations, caves and chasms. There are over 20 caves of great geological and archaeological significance in the area.
Photo taken at The King's Little Path, Malaga (Spain)
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"Oblivion”.
I think of every place where I left parts of myself and most of them are here, one on top of the other, accepting and learning, ceaselessly becoming despite all. Every road I take, I walk naked, without anything but hope, surrendering every victory I take pride of, telling myself this will be the my last and for the first time, I recognized the pain as it is. You probably knew it by the bruises and wounds, but I knew it throuhg constantly swimming in an ocean that keeps pushing me ashore. How every time I get close, it's as if it's Ipleading anything or anyone but me. I laugh deep down when people compliment me, how it worked for them and not for me. This place confesses every secret I thought I had forgotten, every sin I thought I had forgiven, and every dream I had let go. And I think, for the longest time, this is the first time I became my own company. If you ask me how it is, I would say “perfect”.
Photo taken at the Río Borosa path in the Sierra Segura, Jaén, Andalucía (November 2019)
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"Interlude”.
There’s a kind of magic in the air on winter afternoon. The kind of magic that comes in the silent sunset, and in the soundlessness landscape that appears softer and safer than it would any other time of year at this time of the day. It’s on these afternoons I’ll go outside and stand in the midst of all, staring up at the sky and the horizon line awaiting for the night to come. I dreamed of this place so many times that I finally raised realities in it, daring to dream as if there were no impossibilities.
Thank you, mother earth, for offering these moments of quiet and contrast, for giving permission to breathe in and exhale, to feel, to remember. Minutes that life, the universe gives to you.
Photo taken at the Mermaid Reef of Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería (December 2021)
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"Risen”.
After burning, we will rise once again with a skin that no longer begs for destruction but hunger for life. That from now on, we wouldn't have to write our names with a question mark at the end. That hereafter, we can carry our shoulders like pillars that survived the great fall. We no longer need to call ourselves art to justify our flaws. We will shine even in the darkest hours of our lives and not a second will pass with our bones shaking in cold because our armor is the only truth that conquered all, now and forever. This is the time to claim our new identity. This is the time to let go of our ghosts. This is the time to deliver what is not ours.
Photo taken at the Nacimiento del Río Mundo located in south of Riopar, Castilla La Mancha-Albacete, Spain (November 2019)
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"Peace of Mind".
I had a dream last night that I saw the ocean for the first time. It was early in the morning, just before sunrise. I was by myself, walking down the long stretch of beach that placed me directly in between the vast ocean and the tall cliffs- similar to the ones in this picture. The sand felt soft and almost silk-like between my toes. The ocean was blue and clear and strikingly beautiful. It was the kind of beautiful I knew I had never witnessed before in my life, and so as a result, I felt a little awestruck. I knew I wouldn’t be there long, but the thought that I would soon be leaving didn’t bother me in the slightest. I was just grateful I had the opportunity to be there, even if I didn’t understand why I was there in the first place.
PS: This is the place Steven Spielberg chose when he decided to use it as the set for the scene in which the father of Indiana Jones brought down a German plane with his umbrella shooing away a flock of seagulls.
Photo taken at the Monsul Beach of Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería (January 2022)
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"Foxiness”.
The fox is the silent one, the observer, and will gather information until it is satisfied that it can utilise it to maximum efficiency. The fox is sly, cunning and will more often than not: serve its own purpose before others.
Photo taken at the Nacimiento Guadalquivir River, Sierra de Cazorla, Jaén (October 2017)
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"Embracing quietude”.
We must not forget that the land is always there, making its way, doing everything so you can breathe fresh air, so you can move, see, feel and think. It’s on our side. The world is here before you came. It’s firm and strong and it takes a lot to destroy it. So from time to time, just go outside and look at this spectacle. This painting right in front of your eyes. No one owns it. It do not want anything. It simply is.
Cala Corralete, Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería (November 2021)
"Infinite dreams”.
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. Iceland is the country where dreams are a reality, and Jökulsárlón is the type of place that's hard to leave. You can breathe the silence and watch the frozen figures that float around the lagoon. After a moment of beholding the landscape in silence, you realize you are in another world. Iceland is the place that make meaningful marks in your life.
Photo taken at Jökulsárlón glacier, Iceland (February 2018)
"Enchanted Forest”.
You know, often I fell like I'm not alone at all when I'm walking through the forest. Like if trees have souls. Very old, beautiful and very wise souls who are watching me in peace and wishing me the same as I do to them.
Photo taken at Aguasmulas river in Jaén (October 2017)
"Sunset at Cabo de Gata Lighthouse”.
When you reach the Cabo de Gata lighthouse and see the impressive environment that surrounds it, you get stuck forever.
Sunsets at this place are always magical. It shows the end of the journey and it can be so fascinating. It feels like everything paused for a moment and colours are flying in the sky just to paint the world.
Photo taken at Cala Corralete, Almería (February 2021)
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"The main contenders of Don Quixote”.
Although their origin remains controversial, it is impossible not to remember Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza, who exclaimed: “They are not giants, my Lord!” in one of the best known excerpts of Cervantes’ work.
The windmills in my city, Almería, are similar to those in La Mancha. It can be said that the frequent currents of the Campo de Níjar caused the mills to be in charge of grinding the grain in Almería. And this is one of last that were closed in the 70s, becoming part of the landscape of the natural park of Cabo de Gata. This one is Molino de Collado at the Genoveses and it is an example of these magnificent constructions.
Photo taken at Campillo Genoveses in Cabo de Gata, Almería (November 2012)
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"The Fall”.
On one of the trips my sister and I make, we went to visit the Rio Mundo in Albacete, Spain. After walking several kms through the mountains we reached our destination, the waterfall. The image suggest to me how easily and quickly people fall into their own personal hell and then, flow from a pure and energetic way by tackling whatever fate may bring us. Every day is a challenge and we, as humans, accept it.
Photo taken at the Nacimiento del Río Mundo located in south of Riopar, Castilla La Mancha-Albacete, Spain (November 2019)
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"Fossil Dunes”.
There is a small place in Almería where you find the largest fossilized dune in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park. It is called Los Escullos. In this little village were filmed scenes of various films such as "Never Say Never Again", and with this photograph I took last October, I want to share with you a little piece of this mysterious place. This time I have chosen the black and white edition because it gives more presence to the photo.
Photo taken at the Escullos beach in Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería (October 2020)
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"Midnight sun over Tromso”.
Have you ever dreamt of visiting a place where the sun never sets and the days seem endless?
It is past midnight. When you check your watch you can't believe what you are experiencing. I should have been sleepy, but there isn't even a hint of a yawn. The reason is above me. Bright and shiny, the sun seems to ignore time while I'm seeing the world in full daylight, in the middle of the night. You are north of the Polar Circle and experiencing the Midnight Sun.
Photo taken in Trömso, Norway (June 2019)
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"Last night on earth”.
The stars created you. The Universe has fought so hard to bring you here. Never forget the part of yourself that makes life worth living, your spirit. You know, that small light inside your soul that gets excited each time you think of your hopes and dreams. The underlying segment of your mind that yearns to babble on and on about things your passionate about.
I encourage you to let it roam free for the day, and never let the weight of life bury it deep in your consciousness.
The afterglow, the horizon line, the shadows fall.....
Photo taken at Cala Corralete, Almería (Junio 2021)
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"Mermaid Reef ”.
El Arrecife de las Sirenas is the gem at the Cabo de Gata Natural Park. They say his name "Mermaids", could be due to the presence of 'monk seals' which sailors mistook sirens. It is located at the tip of the Cabo de Gata, near the lighthouse built in the 1860s. The Natural Park of Cabo de Gata is the first sea-land Park of Andalusia, Spain.
Photo taken at Mermaid Reef in Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería (July 2021)
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"Skull waterfall”.
In Sierra de Cazorla y Segura Natural Park (Spain), lies a natural treasure, The Skull Waterfall. Nature has carved the shape of a skull into the rock. A way of making us see that life (water) and death (skull) are united.
Photo taken at the Río Borosa path in the Sierra Segura, Jaén, Andalucía (November 2019)
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