I’ve decided I’m going to post a photo essay every week, and what better place to start than where I started my trip – Ibiza.
Ibiza is an island off the southern coast of Spain, 79 km away from the city of Valencia. It is a vacation destination for many, but is particularly popular with British families and clubbers worldwide. A main party destination, it’s said to have the biggest and best clubs in the world and draws electronic music enthusiasts from everywhere.
I chose Ibiza as my first working destination because of an experience I’d had in Ios, Greece 10 years earlier. The idea being that it was an island that required a ton of people to work during the summer, most of whom would be foreigners. I went expecting to tend bar, but ran into work permit issues and changed plans. Through the three weeks of networking I’d done trying to get the bartending gig, I found a job working as a photographer for a British website focusing on the clubs, which was stroke of good luck. I’d gone with a plan of hitting each of the big six clubs at least once, and ended up working the clubs 5-6 nights a week and running a team of four photographers scattered around the island.
This Essay is part one of four and will focus on the DJs. In coming weeks, the other categories will be Clubs, Dancers and Clubbers.
One of my favorite acts that whole summer was 2 Many DJs. A couple of nice guys, their sets were great and I was thrilled each time I'd be at a location they were playing.
Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong at Wonderland, the club night at Eden that he's responsible for.
We Love Space was a Sunday night club that was one of the most popular on the island.
Eric Prydz interacts with the crowd on the big stage at Privilege, a the biggest club in the world with a capacity of 10,000 people.
Erick Morillo is the main resident DJ for a club night called Defected at Pasha, the oldest club of the so called Big Six and the only one located in Ibiza Town.
DJ MDK is the resident DJ for Es Paradis, a club famous for its Fiesta del Agua party, where the dance floor effectively becomes a pool at around 4am.
Zane Lowe, another Radio 1 DJ, was one of the few DJs that got away from total electronic and mixed in popular rock, classic rock, and rap tracks.
Groove Armada has club-goers moving and shaking during their set at Wonderland.
Laidback Luke on the main stage at Privilege during Radio 1 Weekend.
The energy in the room when the Bloody Beetroots were playing was at one of the highest levels I witnessed all summer.
Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac plays at Privilege during Radio 1 Weekend, the biggest weekend during an Ibiza summer.
Great photos!
You started in Ibiza – now that’s really getting the party started for a massive travel adventure. Nice pics :)
You can feel the excitement of Ibiza in these photos. Congrats on landing a foreign photography assignment on a Mediterranean island. Glad your travel adventure started in Spain (my former hometown).
~cheers, @hiptraveler
These are some amazing club shots! Great job!
Awesome shots, captures the energy of the parties ibiza-stylee ;)
Pure energy! My mates from Aus described Ibiza to me so I only had my imagination to work with until now. Your photos brought some of the mental images into sharp focus.
I am happy for you to land this gig. Often, great opportunities appear unexpectedly but maybe it’s not by coincidence at all.
Great job. Keep on trucking Travis! I get to tour the world with you from the comfort of my home.