Hard to believe it’s been 5 months since we were flown half way around the world to the Balearic Isles of Spain to shoot luxury villas in Mallorca. It was JP’s first time visiting Europe, a very large project and an equally ambitious production schedule.
Excited to finally start sharing the images and video that were born out of this once in a lifetime trip, and a little bit about our journey. I’ll also share some of our very odd food choices, and how the record breaking temps and mind-bending jet lag pushed us to our limits.
The Brief…
The client, a close friends partner, had seen our work, loved it and was having a hard time finding photographers in Mallorca that he was happy with. He owns two properties himself, and also runs a property management company (El Conserje) that offers luxury vacation rentals.
If you plan to travel to Mallorca, do yourself a favour and check them out. The villas are absolutely stunning. Especially Casa Moringa, which totes a basketball court, gorgeous pool and outdoor yoga shala / gym. Press play and check it out…
In total there were 5 villas that needed to be shot (images and video), and they also wanted us to create an epic travel video that they could use to promote the “Mallorca experience”. To shoot the Mallorca video we would need to travel to epic locations like Sa Foradada, Cap de Formentor, Capdepera lighthouse, the cathedral in Palma and attempt to capture the “essence” of Mallorca.
These spots were absolutely stunning and we had a really hard time putting down the cameras. Press play to check it out…
This is why we love what we do!
Shooting in Palma…
Given that it was high season, everything needed to be shot in a narrow 2 week window, and a few of the villas only had a day, or half day vacancy for us to shoot. It was ambitious, but doable. No question it was going to be challenging, but we were ready for the adventure.
We started production in Palma, shooting a flat in the city. We arrived feeling totally exhilarated. High on anticipation and ready to create some amazing content. The city was beautiful. A pretty culturally rich experience when you’re used to living in Costa Rica and Canada.
Picture gorgeous cobblestone laneways, cute cafes and museums, horse drawn carriages and some pretty surreal architecture.
We shot the flat and another villa that we coined the “MTV Cribs house” (video below) from our home base in Palma and used that time to capture some of the highlights of the city like the Cathedral, Palma Harbour and the food scene.
Each day started with a stiffly caffeinated beverage and the most pillowy croissants you can image. Yes, croissants with an “s”. Multiple! Filled with chocolate ganache. What were we thinking? Not quite sure we were! Not exactly our regular fuel to start the day, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The carb crashes were real, but no regrets. When in Palma.
Another random go to munchie while shooting was olives and an inhuman amounts of mixed nuts. Yup! We would break for some agua, and then scarf down copious amounts of nuts and olives straight from the can. Then right back to shooting. You gotta do what you gotta do, and when production is tight, you end up eating some weird things.
The struggle…
The first week pushed us in ways we couldn’t imagine. It was a lot, and I mean A LOT, of walking around the city. As usual, we had loads of gear, and then Palma was hit with a heat wave of record high temps around 45 degrees. In this scenario, you have no choice but to embrace life as a sauna and be ok with your existence as a puddle. In the evening we would take ice cold showers and crank the AC like it was our jobs.
Jet lag was also a factor we didn’t anticipate being that problematic. It was mentally taxing having those wide eyed moments at 3:30 AM, and then knowing you had to be up to start production in just a few hours. But we didn’t let it phase us. Challenging moments are the ones that define us. There were moments that really tested our mental strength, physical endurance and overall resilience. But they taught us valuable lessons, both as entrepreneurs, creatives, and as human beings in general.
When you’re in a place with so much culture and beauty you quickly come to the realization that you would be a failure of a human if you didn’t cultivate the presence to truly enjoy it and allow yourself to create to your highest potential.
The villas…
We really hit our stride and by the time we got to Casa Moringa. We were fully acclimatized and having an absolute blast creating together. We shot 3 beautiful properties in and around Arta.
The magic of Mallorca…
We were blown away by all the amazing things we saw and captured outside of Palma. The beauty of Mallorca is pretty breathtaking. It’s really quite difficult to relay in words, and sometimes tough to capture. The grandeur of the jagged cliffs plunging into the ocean, the majestic caves and winding roads through the mountains.
There we’re so many moments that left us completely speechless. I just really hope we did it justice.
It was definitely a dream trip for us, and we were so grateful for the experience. Thank you El Conserje for believing in us and giving us this incredible opportunity to visit Mallorca and push ourselves in ways we didn’t think were possible.
It was a truly humbling and unforgettable experience and we are forever changed because of it.
