May and June saw Philip working on back to back commissions in Europe and the Middle East. In Italy, the small hilltop town of Solomeo and the Umbrian countryside provided a stunning scenic background to the work of fashion designer Brunello Cucinelli.

Immediately afterwards Philip headed to Damascus, Syria, one of the oldest cities in the world. Covering the ornate beauty of the Great Umayyad Mosque, the bustling market stalls of the large Souk al Hamidieyeh with its array of sights and smells, to local artists and the famous Caravanseri.

From Syria Philip headed to Beirut, Lebanon. Working in the downtown area gave insight into a war torn city in major development of luxury industries, everything from fashion to hotels and 5 star beach resorts. Moving north Philip arrived in Byblos, a medieval town built on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. A beautiful harbour, crusaders fort and cobbled streets of the souk make for a stark contrast to hectic everyday life of the city.

Since, Philip has continued working with Dumpling Productions providing video content, filming off-road vehicles on a test track in Austria for a forthcoming car launch.

Sunrise near Solomeo, Umbria, Italy

April 20th 2010 saw the launch of Philip’s solo exhibition, ‘Travelling Light’, at the Association of Photographers Gallery in London, UK. Showcasing 40 of Philips stunning images from all corners of the world, and demonstrating his unique understanding of daylight, the exhibition was a great success.

Travelling Light exhibition and Private View

In February Philip headed north into Arctic Norway discovering a fast-growing, activities based destination. Working in temperatures as cold as -38ºC he covered husky sledding, snowmobiling, a King Crab safari and had chance to visit a working Sami reindeer herder. Philip  also realised a life ambition, managing to witness the illusive northern lights.

Philip is now back in London busy preparing for a major exhibition of his work at the Association of Photographers Gallery in April. See Exhibitions for the official press release and check back soon for more details !

Philip at work photographing huskies.

The beginning of 2010 was as  busy as ever, with Philip journeying to Mali in West Africa. Whilst there he met sand diggers diving to the bottom of the Niger River, a master maison who still builds traditional houses with mud, and visited the Grand Mosque in Djenne; the largest mud built structure in the world.

Monday morning market at Djenne, Mali.

Philip finished 2009 with a trip to Cambodia, photographing the monumental Angkor complex and surrounding countryside. His journey included a trip to the floating village of Kompong Phluk, where everything is built on stilts in the massive Tonle Sap lake.

Temple of Ta Prohm, Angkor Complex, Cambodia.

Philip has been working flat out over the past few months, in some familiar and not so familiar environments.At the end of March Philip stayed closer to home, photographing city life and various landmarks around Rome, giving a fresh look to one of the worlds most historic places.

St Peters Basillica and the River Tiger, Rome, Italy

April saw Philip on the small island of Socotra, 220 miles from the coast of Yemen. Socotra’s isolation allows it to host some of the worlds most unique plant life, enabling Philip to photograph the impressive Dragon Blood Tree.

Local man in the Dragon Blood Forest, Socotra, Yemen.

In June Philip was back in the French Alps, this time in summer, as part of a 2,000 mile round trip of the country. Photographing 8 destinations over 12 days, the schedule left no room for error, but gave opportunity to explore new locations, and rediscover familiar places.

July found Philip trekking in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo, battling the 90% tropical humidity, and in search of some elusive Orangutans.

In August Philip travelled to Madagascar, photographing some of the most incredible wildlife from the amusing Dancing Sifaka and Ring Tailed Lemurs, to the dominating skyline of Baobab trees.

Dancing Lemur ( Sifaka) in Berenty National Reserve, Madagascar.

March saw Philip travelling to extremes. From the dry heat of the South Australian outback, covering over 1,500 miles by road, sea and air, to the top of a glacier in the French alps.

Philip is curretly back in London working on new portfolios, but getting ready to travel to the Middle East at the end of April.

Nilpena Station, Flinders Rangers, South Australia

La Plagne, French Alps

At the start of the new year Philip travelled to Hawaii, continuing his ongoing collaboration with Lonely Planet magazine, focussing on the less commercialized island of Kauai.

The next 4 weeks alone see Philip in Australia, Lapland, the French Alps and Rome.

Philip has recently won 6 Honourable Mentions from the Px3 2009 ‘Water’ based competition and an additional entry has been selected for the 2009 Prix de la Photographie Paris exhibition in New York this May.

Philip was also the only UK winner of the TPOTY Best Single Image in a Portfolio – Life competition and was awarded Silver by the LPA.

Please scroll down for interviews about some of Philip’s recent travels.

Okkaido, Japan in December 2008

Kauai, Hawaii in January 2009

Philip recently returned to Africa to retrace the footsteps of legendary Magnum photographer George Rodger’s journey 60 years ago. Philip first went to the Maasai Mara to photograph the Maasai, then onto the mountains of Uganda to spend time with the truly amazing Batwa pygmies, culminating in the once in a lifetime experience of photographing Nuba wrestling in the central mountains of the Sudan.

Q & A

Q: Did you and the crew encounter any difficulties crossing these countries, in particular Kenya and the Sudan given the civil unrest at the time?

A: Yes, especially in the Sudan where travel is heavily restricted especially amongst the Nuba mountains. There were many conflicting opinions on what we could and couldn’t do and where we could and couldn’t go. But in the end even with all the bureaucracy we managed to make it, although there were many times when we thought we may have to turn around and come back.

Q: How closely did you follow George Rodger’s journey and had much changed from his time?

A: We tried to end up at the same destinations as George Rodger although due to closed borders and restrictions we were unable to drive exactly the same way. For example we entered the Kordofan range from the North East whereas George had driven from the South. On the surface there were probably many changes as there would be anywhere in the world over 6 decades, perhaps less so in the Sudan, although civil war has certainly changed the make up of this land and its people.

The landscape of the Nuba mountains is extremely close to how it would have been in George Rodger’s day to the point that one night we camped under the same boabab trees as he had done 60 years previously.

Q: Had time affected the lifestyles of the people you met very much?

A: Each of the three tribes had changed in its own unique way.

The Maasai have embraced tourism, and seem to have kept a lot of their traditional ways and beliefs yet have also embraced modern technology such as mobile phones and western medicine.

The Batwa 60 years ago were still forest dwelling and were completely nomadic but they left the forest almost 30 years ago due to deforestation and government pressure to comply. Their life is probably the saddest and most desperate of the three tribes we met. They rely totally on the kindness of others to simply exist. The Nuba are to a degree cut off from the outside world but have unfortunately suffered hardship due to the civil war and religious extremism.

Q: You were privileged enough to have witnessed Nuba wrestling. What were your impressions of this ancient sport?

A: Wrestling is still an integral part of the Nuba’s life, as it was in George Rodger’s day, although now one feels it is more for entertainment rather than village rivalry. Also most of the men of the village at wrestling age had either been conscripted into the civil war or had left the Sudan altogether in search of better wages.

Q: How do you feel having completed such an incredible and challenging journey?

A: It has been amazing, not just photographically but being privileged enough to spend time with Jinx Rodger, George’s wife, and to hear her tales of her time and adventures with George. My appreciation of what he achieved has been heightened by the trip and although he was perhaps the quietest founding member of Magnum his work has certainly stood the test of time.

The full article is now available to read within recent commissions on this site or in OneLife, Landrover’s customer magazine.

Please read on for a Q & A session with Philip about his September trip to Africa photographing mountain gorillas in Rwanda, as part of a travel story for Conde Nast Tatler magazine.

Q & A

Q: What were your overall impressions of Rwanda and how does it compare to other African countries you’ve spent time in?

A: It’s an amazing survival story. On the surface it’s surprisingly healed from the atrocities it’s been through. And you really wish them luck as a nation. As a land, it’s beautifully fertile and lush. The thing about Africa is that every country is so unique and different. Rwanda is amazingly diverse in its landscapes.

Q: What was the mood of the country given the horrific genocide that took place almost 14 years ago?

A: Resilient and hopeful.

Q: How difficult was it to find the gorillas considering the high altitudes and dense jungle they inhabit?

A: We hired local trackers who know the gorillas’ habitat very well. They would go out pre-dawn ahead of us, and once they’d found the group we were to photograph, they would follow them and radio their location to our guides. It took approximately 4 hours of trekking through jungle to reach them as they kept moving. Existing trails ran out very soon and our guides macheted their way through. We had an armed military escort with us, primarily there to ward off poachers.

Q: How close were you able to get to the gorillas when photographing them and did they appear comfortable with that?

A: Incredibly close. We were asked not to come closer than 5 metres to them, but, being their habitat, if the gorillas decided to move around us we just sat still. The young babies are obviously inquisitive and had no qualms about brushing right past us. The particular group we photographed, Group 13, which had been habituated for a long time, were quite nonplussed with our presence to the point of not being interested.

Q: Who do you feel a trip to Rwanda would appeal to?

A: Anyone interested in wildlife, especially primates. Other aspects of tourism are slowly developing. There are some beautiful lodges to stay in and it’s a quiet, timeless destination where you are unlikely to come across any form of mass tourism, thus being a refreshing change from some of its neighbouring countries.

Q: So, where to next?

A: Interestingly enough, maybe Uganda next door! To photograph Batwa pygmies.

We will keep you posted!

The full article on Rwanda can be seen with Philip’s pictures in January’s issue of the UK edition of Tatler magazine.

Location: London.

Birthplace: Canterbury, Kent, England.

Getty Images Collections: Stone, The Image Bank, Taxi.

Odd personal fact:

“From the age of seven to seventeen I competed in motorcycle trails. Ultimately, I was sponsored by a bike-wear company to travel around the country doing tricks on my bike: driving over cars, oil drums, rocks …anything really! It was easy to practice growing up on a farm in the Kent countryside and it was a great thing to do at that age, but I gave up when I moved away to college and found new obsessions.”

Awards:

“AOP, Creative Circle, London Photographic; Royal Photographic Society; John Kobal and Dive Photographer of the Year …although at the time I couldn’t dive! I’d been commissioned to shoot a police diver, I just floated on the surface using a medium format camera in a waterproof box and underwater lighting.”

What made you want to be a photographer?

“I went to Norwich School of Art to do a degree in graphic design, but after the first year I knew I couldn’t give photography up. To be a really good designer or Art Director you need to focus solely on design while commissioning other people to do the shoots – I didn’t want to do that.

“I’d been taking pictures since the age of thirteen. At that time, I was all set to go on a rock climbing holiday to the Outer Hebrides when I developed tuberculosis, so as a consolation my father bought me a 35mm Nikon EM. It suited me straight away. I was also very keen on painting and drawing, but I lacked the patience for it and often found it frustrating – photography brought an immediacy; I saw it as a more instinctual discipline. That’s not to say that I’m not prepared to wait for the right picture: you still get that adrenaline hit when you press the shutter release after sitting on a mountain for two days just to capture that moment when the light is perfect.

“At college, during the early nineties, I was drawn to documentary work and photographed a lot of the demonstrations of that time, such as the anti Gulf War marches and the Poll Tax riots in London. I also did some work in Northern Ireland. But I think I learnt pretty fast that if you want to do that work you’ve got to have a message – I think you have to believe you’re taking those pictures for a reason.

“When truly documenting events there is obviously a need for degree of impartiality, but I think the photographer still needs a reason to be there, more than that is just documenting events for the sake it, there needs to be some humanitarian or political motivation behind it – some sense of purpose. I was driven to capture other things.”

How did your career develop?

“By the time I left college I knew I wanted to be a photographer. I started assisting in London. I was full-time with Frank Herholdt and then freelanced, working with Macolm Venville and Pete Seaward. At the same time I was always shooting my own work. I was a very impatient assistant and was lucky to work for some very talented people so I learnt a lot very quickly. After assisting for two and a half years I started picking up editorial work. At that point I gave up assisting as I figured the only way to develop my photographic career was to give it 100%. I was fortunate to pick up a number of awards in the early years and I also managed to pick up an agent quickly for advertising work.

“My early work was inspired by painting and colour theory, much of it was saturated with colour and cross-processed and quite often out of focus. It was very influenced by the impressionists and fauvism, and I was interested in the work sculptors such as Giacometti. I picked up some big Ad campaigns because of it, including Kodak.

“At the same time, I was trying to travel, and I wanted to get more involved in that. In reality, the bright out-of-focus photography I was shooting enabled me to make it appear as though I’d travelled extensively, as I’d recreate the mood of a country in a studio set up or a field in Kent. However, this approach was too technique based and I knew it was short-lived: by becoming caught up in trying to win competitions through these experimental techniques, I felt, wasn’t being true to myself, so I decided to totally overhaul my portfolio. Thankfully, by then I’d earned enough to fund a trip to Bali and Java, which allowed me to do this.

“Every year since then I’ve managed to do one or two trips away to focus on my personal work. Also, fairly early on I picked up regular work shooting Conde Naste Traveller when it launched in the UK. That was on the strength of an exhibition of my work from a trip to Argentina – the Conde Naste work gave my travel portfolio a significant boost, which in turn generated more advertising commissions.”

Who or what are the major influences upon your work?

“There’s a photographer called Sam Abell, he works for National Geographic. In 1990 he had an exhibition in New York called “Stay this moment” at the International Center of Photography. It was about that moment when you take a picture, a moment that feels so right that you almost don’t want it to end. That definitely spoke to my feelings about photography.

“The other reason I’m particularly drawn to him is that he very much lives the photographic life. He puts himself in situations within travel because he enjoys that lifestyle – in a way the whole thing, of which photography is just one part, is a package. Similarly, in my work I’ve had the chance to do things, to witness things I wouldn’t have otherwise. For instance, I’ve photographed voodoo ceremonies on a trip to Haiti and snake charmers in a village in India. Photography opened the door to this, it gave me a reason for being there, a legitimacy within my own mind.

“While having moved away from the documentary photography of my early career, the work of the Magnum agency is still influential on my work, just as much in fact as fashion photography is – which should come as no great surprise since the photographic world is not as polarised as when I first started. Then you were either an advertising or an editorial photographer, that distinction has now gone to a degree, which I think is very healthy. The change started during the eighties when Art Directors starting commissioning people like Don McCullum. He shot a landmark ad. for the Metropolitan Police in London featuring a skinhead spitting to camera with the line ‘Could you be a policeman?’. At that time, a lot of the advertising imagery was so overworked, so well crafted that it lost its spontaneity. From my perspective, the McCullum shoot speaks to my earlier point about being drawn to photography because of its instinctual aspect, because of the emotion he recognised and recreated in that image, and hence this kind of work is a great influence on me.”

Favourite picture (yours/someone elses)?

“Again, it would have to mention Sam Abell – his National Geographic image of a fisherman in Newfoundland. It’s a fantastic photograph, it documents what this fisherman does and yet it has a creative, sculptural quality to it. It almost looks too good to be just documentary, but it is. And he’s found that composition working in an extreme environment – many photographers would have said, ‘the weather’s too bad, I’m not shooting it’. I believe it was Abell’s father who said to him words to the effect, ‘there’s not such as bad weather, just different weather. Just go out and do it’. That was the way he worked.”

When Philip Lee Harvey reels off the countries he’s worked in, it has three very different effects on me. Firstly I’m consumed by a raging envy. My eyes turn green when I realise this man has travelled to countries I know nothing about. Jealousy is washed away by an internal tidal wave of inadequacy. What have I been doing for the last three decades? I think

to myself. And finally when I’ve come to terms with my own comparatively miserable existence I’m left with nothing but respect.

Photographers, writers, any professional you care to name don’t get sent to these inhospitable, difficult and demanding places unless he’s 110 percent certain he’s going to come back with the goods. And when you see the “goods” Harvey delivers. It’s hardly surprising the art editors and creative directors trust him. His images and commissions are so varied it’s difficult to describe a specific style, but every shot is a cocktail of warmth, understanding and quality.

Giving me a shred of hope is the fact that Harvey, despite undoubtedly having an “eye” for a shot has to work hard at satisfying his clients. He doesn’t just swan in, wave his hands, shoot ten rolls and flounce away leaving nothing but an invoice. He diligently prepares, researchers and practices for his demanding jobs. To illustrate this is my favourite Philip Lee Harvey story. The tale of how he prepared for an assignment that would see him living through and documenting a killer Siberian winter.

North London isn’t known for it’s minus 47 degree Celsius winds so Harvey convinced the local supermarket to let him and his assistant acclimatise in their cold store for hours at a time. Talking the manager into that must have taken levels of charm and persistence few photographers possess. To be able to do it is one thing, to want to do it is something completely different.

Haiti was the world’s first black led republic. It was also the first state in the Caribbean to achieve independence in 1804. You’d be forgiven for thinking that such a forward-thinking state would be on the up, reaping the 21st century benefits of tourism and international travel. But add endless poverty, violence and political instability and you get the poorest country in the Americas. Haiti has witnessed US invasion, various military coups and attempts at democracy. UN peacekeepers and most recently renewed rebel uprising and environmental disaster. What has always been present is Voodoo–a religion finally officially recognised in 2003.

An unusual coupling of African religions and Catholicism. Voodoo was a reacton to the suppression of religious beliefs and practices of enslaved Africans. It is today, practised by Haitians from all walks of life. It was this fundamental element of Haitian culture and brought photographer Philip Lee Harvey to the Island.

How did you manage to get access for the Voodoo shots – did you have some persuading to do?

A commission on Haiti for a travel feature – you can’t really do it without doing Voodoo – I negotiated with a guide for contacts with Voodoo priests. If you get his permission, that counts for everything. It was a financial negotiation too. With every conversation the price goes up. They really try it on. Eventually we cut out the middle men and got it sorted. When the priest gave the nod, then me being there was OK full stop.

Do you tend to work with a particular commercial outlet in mind or do you try to free yourself from commercial considerations with this kind of work?

I’m lucky in that my work tends to have no distinction between my commercial and personal work. It has become more and more like that. The briefs get looser. There seem to be more restraints when you’re not doing something that’s your forte. It was for Condenast Traveller. I met with the writer. I tend to know the emotion I want to create, rather than the actual pictures. Voodoo is an integral part of it, but it’s not the whole of the story. I’d always wanted to do it. It was a life experience.

Do you work with a kind of coverage template? How much do you follow your nose when on this kind of job?

The logistics mean that you have to follow your nose a lot. There will sometimes be a hit list of things to look at. When you get there I have to make my own decision. Some things can be written about beautifully but can’t be photographed. I’m looking for emotion. Time sometimes means that I get a hit list that can’t be fulfilled.

Were there any specific precautions you had to take whilst getting to grips with the Haiti trip – were you warned about any potential aspects of it?

Not really. I know it was going to be challenging. Bolivia is another one. Central and South America is always hard. There’s not the love of the camera. It’s not like India, people don’t come out to you. Bad press has made it more difficult. I’m not there to be judgemental. I’m there to show my version of the place. But the tension in the area does come across in the pictures. There was a tension and anger on the streets. I had to work very closely with my guide. You won’t forget your visit to Haiti. There was a lot of generosity but also a degree of sadness. A lot of time was spent listening to peoples’ complaints. You can also get hit by bribes to get through roadblocks. Let your guide do the talking.

Hollywood has always portrayed Voodoo as violent and dangerous. What was your real-world experience of it?

The poorer the country the safer you are equipment wise – there’s no re-sale value. I give Polaroids to people I shoot. It gives something back. It eases the way over difficult situations.

When you’re doing this kind of work, what’s your essential photography luggage?

The kit I use is the same wherever I go. I shoot on Hasselblad. I’m not a fan of 35mm travel photography. I’m not into digital. The way I work at the moment doesn’t suit it. I can’t rely on batteries. I need lots of gaffer tape!

What’s your worst ever travel photography nightmare?

Quite often the situations that are most tense stick in the memory. My worst nightmare hasn’t happened yet – that is I haven’t come back without the film. I once had a Cobra thrown at me when shooting a snake charmer. Things happen that are tense because of a lack of understanding. You adjust really quickly, by day four or five it changes. In Haiti we were on horseback. We had a storm and had a river crossing to do and I’m no horseman. It creates an atmosphere that you have to get through. Arm wrestling a Siberian fisherman was another interesting moment.

What made you get into this line of work in the first place?

I have always been into exploration. I was always into art and photography – it was part of my upbringing. It’s always been natural to be outside. From an early age, holidays meant photography. It’s exploring with a reason. My first love is photography and I love being outside. It’s doing something you passionately believe in. My idea of a great holiday is doing what I do. It feels right.

Do you have a whole separate approach to your lifestyle work?

In some ways it’s a brain shift but often it’s similar. You’re making environments. I still work handheld and on the same kind of kit. There’s a much bigger team. I don’t like large crews. I’m not a Winnebago photographer. There’s lessons I can take from travel and the lifestyle work tends to be out of this country. Most of it is available light but I do have to make it work so I do light as well. With travel I’ll work early and late and I tend to do the same with lifestyle. I like and understand that kind of light. The lifestyle came about because people liked my travel work. Travel has been influenced by lifestyle and other forms of photography. It stops travel being a genre on its own. It’s healthy.

Are you optimistic about being part of the industry as a whole?

These are people that will take pictures for brochures. Fine but that’s not what I do. I prefer to encourage people to travel generally. To make people want to go places and it has to be sustainable tourism. If people can’t show you where they went on holiday on a map then they haven’t actually travelled there at all. I see parts of a country that I wish people would want to see. Hotels sometimes discourage people from going out. Eco-tourism is an interesting development. Looking after the environment that gets people to travel there in the first place.

“I’m a travel photographer in widest sense”, says Philip Lee Harvey, whose stunning images of over 90 countries have appeared on the pages (and covers) of Conde Nast Traveller, the National Geographic Traveller, The Independent, the Sunday Telegraph, Tatler and Vanity Fair. His driving passion is the spirit of why we travel and the emotion we create by moving across place and space. A travel photographer for 15 years, Philip trained as a graphic artist before spending a brief stint as a photographer’s assistant. “I didn’t spend too long as an assistant, though” he laughs. “Too ambitious!” I ask him if he thinks his graphic design training was an interesting start to a career creating images. “Yes”, he agrees. “I’m still interested in simple graphic imagery.” This becomes clear when looking at some of his strikingly simple yet powerful landscapes and portraits. As you might expect from someone who spends two thirds of his year travelling to far-flung locations, Philip loves everything to do with the outdoors. He is especially interested in travel as exploration and is passionate about the history of exploration itself. “If I’m going somewhere new, I’ll research the history of exploration and photography in that area,” he says. “For instance, when I go to Antarctica, I’ll look at all of Frank Hurley’s work from his trips to the area and I’ll research Shackleton’s expeditions.” Philip is keen on visiting the most remote places possible, finding them the most interesting and photographically challenging. “I like to go as far as possible North, South, East and West,” he says. The list of places he’s seen is enough to turn me green with envy. I would expect such a widely-travelled person to be able to come up with a top ten of places he’d still like to visit. When I ask the question, though, he is momentarily speechless and says he couldn’t possibly choose. “At this time of year, it would need to be somewhere snowy – I love snow”, he says. He names Siberia – “an amazing place” – but no sooner is the name out of his mouth than replaces it with others, unable to choose. It seems that, no matter how long you spend exploring, there is no end of places to yearn for. So what’s next for this travelling travel photographer? Amongst a packed schedule, he is particularly looking forward to one forthcoming project. “I have an exciting trip planned for later on this year, to catch the monsoon going across India. As a yardstick I’ll look at the history of previous work done by photographers there.”

“I’m keen to do more exhibitions. I’d like to do a book at some point, but I don’t want to do it too soon. I want it to be a really good retrospective of what I do.”

We’ll be staying in touch with Philip over the next couple of months, when we’ll bring you the stories behind his fascinating images from Libya and the Sahara. The stories are almost as amazing as the photographs themselves.

HAITI “Travel photography isn’t always about tourism and filling hotel rooms. It’s also about informing people”, says Philip Lee Harvey. He travelled to Haiti with his assistant on a commission for a travel magazine and feels that it is important to show the character of this fascinating and misunderstood country. “Haiti is largely forgotten by the rest of the world,” he explains. ”Economically and strategically, it is not important to anyone else. However, it has a powerful colonial history which has left a legacy of beautiful hotels which could provide the infrastructure for a new wave of sustainable tourism. At present, tourists tend to visit Haiti as a stop-off on Caribbean cruises. They drop anchor and visit an area of beach which, unseen to them, is fenced off from the rest of the island. Elected islanders come to greet them and offer a ‘traditional Haitian’ welcome but the tourists don’t see the fence and certainly don’t see the island – and islanders – which are beyond. They leave with no clue as to Haiti’s true identity or issues.” Before Philip visited Haiti, he read “Bonjour Blanc” by Ian Thompson which discusses his extensive experiences as white man in Haiti. He met Ian, who said “You’ll never have seen anything like Haiti.” As soon as Philip arrived, he knew that Ian was right. On this job, he allowed himself more time than usual to prepare and to integrate himself, wanting both to feel comfortable and for Haiti to feel comfortable with his presence. Haiti is an amazing, historical place which was firmly on the tourist trail from the 1920s right up until the 1980s. Cole Porter wrote songs there and Graham Greene wrote novels there. Nobody these days knows much about Haiti’s history and politics. For instance, how many people know that Haiti shares an island with the Dominican Republic? Haiti is the poorest country, per person, in the Americas. It has had a range of leaders over its history – including the infamous Papa Doc and Baby Doc – but all have been overcome by jealousy and greed. It was the first freed black slave nation and had such great hopes but now it has become corrupted by greed and is ignored by the rest of the world. Philip explains what he hoped to achieve on the trip. “Travel photography can achieve more than selling hotel spaces. It can encourage people to go and spend their money to achieve sustainability and build up some of the poorest and most beautiful places in the world.” Capturing the power of voodoo was one of Philip’s intentions when shooting on this trip. Voodoo is a foundation of Haitian life and history. It unites people in a belief of death and the afterlife. Historically, slave leaders tried to stamp voodoo out as they knew it could unite slaves and give them the strength to revolt. The Haitians ‘hid’ voodoo in Catholicism so that they could practice it unobserved. As a result, voodoo now has a lot to do with Catholicism; participants dress in white and the ceremony begins much like a Catholic mass. “I spent a lot of my time trying to arrange how I could get access to a voodoo ceremony” Philip remembers. “This involved negotiating with the priest, building trust and the exchange of a bit of money! “During the ceremony, a home-made, ammonia-based drink is taken and the proceedings become more and more fuelled by this drink. The enclosed room fills with the fumes and the atmosphere gets heady. The worshippers get incredibly involved in the ceremony. They really believe and it is this, much more than the strength of the drink, which sends them into a trance-like frenzy in which they are visited by Baron Samedi, the leader of the afterlife. Voodoo followers believe that, when a person dies, they must take their evil spirits with them. If they don’t then their closest living relatives must rid themselves of the spirit by falling into a deep and violent trance. The ceremony reverberates to the strong sound of a rhythmic drum which assists the trance. Eventually the subject falls to the ground in a kind of fit. “Ceremonies are held on special occasions only – when we were there it was All Saints’ Day – a huge event. However, voodoo is in the people’s lives every day, governing their decisions. This fatalism could be said to hold them back but it also gives them an bond and unity which is important in a country so poor. Voodoo holds them together. “As the day wore on, the people became more fascinating but also more volatile. The alcohol took effect and the spirits that they believe in started to appear to them. We stayed for nine hours, around the edge of the crowd of people (partly to get enough height to shoot clean images but also to keep out of the way of trouble) before it all got too much. A woman told us that she wanted my assistant’s head – but not the rest of him! That signalled the fact that we should be on our way.” This was an important travel story for Philip to tell. It was about the place itself and travelling within it, not about tourism or sales. Philip says that people should travel to see places such as Haiti. “I hoped to demystify voodoo,” he explains. “It isn’t scary. People in Haiti need help, it is a sad country. You can’t know until you’ve been there. In the end, the story I was shooting for didn’t run as the situation in Haiti became too volatile; the country is constantly in and out of civil war. But the Haitians want people to know what they’re going through. They feel ignored.”