Originally a singer-songwriter, in 2016 I felt the need to renew my songwriting inspiration, and I’d been wanting to travel for a long time. Inspired by the Argentinean songs I’ve been working on, as well as my passion for cacao, I chose South America. What I found there was incredible nature, spontaneity, generosity and a lot of human warmth. The prospect of the voyage made it clear that I should invest in photography. I change brushes, or rather I add one that will open the possibility of other canvases. Before leaving, I learned the basics at the Gobelins School of Photography in Paris and then financed part of the trip by selling and bartering photos.
I crossed the Atlantic on a cargo ship as I had decided not to fly. To appreciate the distances on land, to be in a human time close to the local population, to see and feel are all things that will work deeply in me while having less impact on my environment. I got off the boat in Ecuador, where I volunteered in a chocolate factory; in Peru, I started selling my photos on the street, before setting up a stand in Valparaiso, Chile, and taking my photos to a gallery; then I traveled by bike through Chilean Patagonia, following the Carretera Austral. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, after a year of traveling, I reconnected with my musical creation: I gave a concert and wrote new songs. On the way back I crossed Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador to Cartagena in Colombia. This entire journey has taken 17 months.
Guillaume Bourdely
NB: All photos were taken with a digital camera and a fixed focal length of 50mm, without cropping. Any retouching is intended to reflect reality as best as I perceived it.
- See photos of the bike trip
- Video of the « We wheel rock you » project on Chile’s carretera austral,
where I make a short appearance on my bike at 6min40 - See the exhibitions online