“I have wild memories, naked on the beaches, with salt and tangled hair.”

BarcelonaDespite being a mountain person, many of the summers photographer Gemma Pla (@tucutunfotografia) fondly remembers are related to the beach. She has been self-employed for years and takes advantage of the time to travel outside of the summer season: "I prefer to travel when not everyone is on vacation." Looking back, she particularly remembers the summer of almost thirty years ago, when she was in Formentera with a friend: "I have wild memories, naked on the beaches, covered in salt and tangled hair." She felt like she was returning to her roots: her father was a scuba diver with CRIS, the Terrassa Sea Club, and in the summer they would always go to Cadaqués where they had Nereida, the boat for diving. When she was older, her cousins spent three months with her grandparents in Sant Salvador, near Coma-ruga: biking, running through the olive groves, coming home for a snack, and then leaving again."

"With a backpack and a motorcycle we rented there, we stayed at a friend's house in the middle of the forest, just waiting for what happened," the photographer recalls. It was a peaceful month in which she felt like she was living in a very natural bubble, unhurried, with time to spend on the beach chatting, looking for shells, walking, and watching the sunsets. At the time, they were surprised that everyone was nudist, which wasn't so common in Catalonia. We were on a quiet island where the only parties they found were on the beach, with a band, a fire, and guitars. In Es Pujols, there were only a couple of restaurants, and the occasional beach bar. They also took advantage of the opportunity to spend time with the locals, who sometimes invited them to dinner with delicious bread with tomato and olive oil. "I have very good memories; it was paradise," she admits. She regrets that she returned some thirteen years later, with her young daughter, and found it too different: "It hurt my heart, and I've never wanted to go back." He admits that now, when he goes to Cadaqués, he also puts his hands on his head; it has nothing to do with the time when there were fishermen and little else.

Being self-employed, she doesn't usually take a month of vacation straight. She instead takes trips to the sea, seeking out hidden coves and scuba diving. "Being in the Pyrenees, I miss the sea a little, but I don't realize it until I'm there," she admits. She takes advantage of traveling for work, a vocational and passionate job, which allows her to organize her time. workshops International photographers photographed in different locations around the world. He also organizes group trips to Lapland and Iceland: "I organize routes that I like and would sign up for." Different experiences, designed for small groups, avoiding the more typical sites to experience the culture and landscapes, and traveling in the company of local people.