Documentary Photography & Storytelling
In late 2015, I embarked on a nomadic journey through Brazil that forever changed my life. I wasn’t sure where exactly I would go or for how long— all I knew was I would start in the Amazon, head south to Uruguay, and stop at Iguazu Falls. After eighteen months on the road, I managed… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Leaving Colombia. Again.
I don't know that I've ever felt like a less spontaneous person in my life than the day I found my Israeli friend unpacking his bag in our hostel in Salvador, Brazil, taking out everything he wouldn’t need for Europe but had been essential during his last year in South America. “I found a cheap… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Life in Motion
As my thirtieth birthday approaches, I find myself constantly thinking about time. I think about its role in our lives, how it influences our decisions and our actions; I think about how we try to manoeuvre it, wishing it to bend to our desires; I think about our perception of it when we look back,… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Parallel Universe
Before I reached Fortaleza, I was feeling a bit stuck in Barreirinhas, not feeling quite at home, dreaming of the beach and the Lençóis Maranhenses, a national park in Brazil’s state of Maranhão. The park is made up of 155,000 hectares of white sand desert, and during the rainy season, hallucinating lagoons fill up the… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Finding Freedom in Nature
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the reality behind popular blog posts and how the lives of travel bloggers in particular are glamourised to get more likes and shares on social media platforms. Of course, it can’t be denied that some bloggers hide some of the truth to spare their followers from having to… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: My Real Life
Day 1 Leaving Manaus on the morning of December 23, 2015 was not at all what I thought it would be. It's midnight and I'm sitting on the top deck of the Amazon Star, the boat that will take me to Belém, thinking about how I was robbed last night. Just a few metres away… Continue reading Nomadic Life: From the Amazon to the Atlantic
I hope my Little Mermaid facecloth will detract attention from the rest of my mess; I don’t have much privacy and the place for my stuff is, well, the floor. Just now, as I was trying to tidy up my things as neatly as I could against the wall I’ve claimed as my own, I… Continue reading Nomadic Life: Home is Where I can Unpack
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was always told I could do and be anything I wanted, and I believed it. We, as a generation, were told to reach for the stars, that the sky was the limit, that the world was our oyster, that it was at our feet, in the palm… Continue reading Nomadic Life: Chasing Waterfalls in the Amazon
For a few weeks now I'd been trying to write about Manaus, this strange, crazy, concrete jungle of a city which I can't quite figure out but have loved from the night I arrived. Located in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, Manaus is home to 2.5 million people and spreads out over 11,000 km²… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Finding the Road from Manaus
Day 1 From the deck of the Itaberaba I, the boat that will take us from Tabatinga to Manaus, we watch the sun set behind the river in a scandalous show of red lights that break through the few clouds that dare cross it. The sunlight shines on the colourful hammocks that adorn the decks… Continue reading My Nomadic Life: Travelling to Manaus, Gateway to the Amazon
Laura Restrepo Ortega 