Anna Sanfeliu: “An impressive sunset! I will always remember this wonderful welcome!”

September 5, 2009 by · 3 comments

An interview with Anna Sanfeliu by Desislava Velichkova

Anna Sanfeliu

Anna Sanfeliu was born in 1977 in Barcelona, Spain. With 3 years she moved to Mexico with her family and stayed 16 years until she finished high school. During that period Anna had her first contact with photography and took her first analogue course.

“We where few in that class so the experience was quite intense and since that moment I knew photography would be a part of my life!” – she said.

With 18 Anna moved to Barcelona and began to study architecture but at the same time she continued taking pictures.

Since her childhood she has travelled a lot and always felt the urge to capture her impressions. As a consequence of one those trips she has attended some more courses but last year she decided to study professionally.

At the moment she alternate her work between architecture and photography.

What was the most fascinating thing that happened to you in Africa?

Curiosity

Most fascinating about Africa is being in Africa, spending as many time discovering all the amazing things this continent can give to you. I remember for example the first sunrise in Sossus Vlei National Park, Namibia, climbing the dunes and feeling the fine sand under the feet – a very pleasant sensation. In fact it was so overwhelming that I had to return at the same time the next day again.

Bushman

Another fascinating thing that struck me was the contact with an ethnic group native to the northern region of Namibia the Himba, it was like returning to the past and watching how we lived ourselves hundreds of years ago.

Which countries did you visit? And which one of them you believe was the most interesting?

Sossusvlei National Park

My first time in Africa was in Kenya and Tanzania, I visited the wonderful Ngorongoro National Park and the Serengeti , it was my first contact with wild animals of this size and since that moment I decided Africa to be my favourite destination in terms of recreation, inspiration and of course to take pictures.

Then I was in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Mauritius Island and Namibia, I have to say all the countries are interesting but Namibia has something special, something that makes you feel great, never fails to fascinate, the people are very polite and the landscapes leave you breathless. It is said that the desolate Namib Desert is the oldest in the world, with its high dunes and incredible sense of space.

Can you tell me something that would definitely (positively) shock me about this place?

Delicious

Talking about Namibia, in a positive way I was shocked by the dunes when the first rays of sunlight finally started to deliver their warmth at dawn, the sand began to change color to an intense orange, gradually rising while the climate became warmer – an effect that lets you hallucinating. I can only say that Sossusvlei is one of the wonders of this world, and everybody should experience this feeling once in life.

What do you see in this child’s face? This look…

Gaze

First of all I see a glance that hits!

There is a great depth which is inconsistent with the child’s age, it appears to be the expression of an adult who has lived and aged with everything that comes along; maybe a notion of sadness and dissatisfaction could be seen as well. Unlike other children, this one didn´t seem to appreciate so much our invasion of their world.

This one is one of my favorite! How do they let you go so close? Didn’t you interrupt their hunt?

Since I resemble a lion – physically and mentally – they were in fact chasing me. (Anna laughs)

Hunting

No, I´m just joking. It was not a real hunting; the Bushmen were just showing us different techniques. What I did is to place myself really fast directly in front of them and crouch in the bushes to take the picture.

What about the himba women? Tell me more about the differences about the way they live according to the European women!

As you can see in the pictures her lives are totally different from ours in all concepts, they are anchored to the past.

Leisure

The Himba are a group of native Namibia that still retains the original style of life they had for centuries. The head of each tribe is also its spiritual leader and the oldest alive. Polygamy is permitted, however the maximum time that a man can spend with the same woman, regardless of the other spouse, is two nights.

Sceptical observation

The system goes in “favor” of the men, so to say.

The Himba hardly bear clothes, apart from a basic loincloth, but they use large numbers of ornaments in the style of necklaces and bracelets. Women are distinguished by the convoluted styles which fix their hair.

Masai hairstyle

But what most called my attention was the color of the skin. Traditionally Himba women lotion their body permanently with a substance made by mixing ocher, butter and herbs, which gives their skin a distinctive reddish color. This is their way of maintaining hygiene, perfume and sun protection. It is also used as hairwax.

It’s easy to capture a child’s face in it’s natural mood but can you ever say the same about a woman? What about this one?

Masai proud

It´s funny that you think of her as a woman, actually she is about 10 years old. Some of her expression is comparable to the one of the child we talked about. I was feeling somewhat as an intruder and these two faces were the mirror to these sensations.

Tell me more about this photo! It’s really beautiful! It’s from a plane I suppose…

Painted volcano

Yes! We took a plane from Swakopmund to Opuwo to visit the Himba tribe. The almost lunar landscape was stunning and contained a lot of volcanoes where the color contrasts made them appear quite dramatic.

What is he doing?

Toothpick

He cleans his teeth with a cane. There are things that do not change with the passing years, now we do it with toothpicks. (Anna smiles)

In which way the African sunset is different? I can see it but I’m not sure I can explain. Maybe you can try?

You’re right, it is complicated to explain, everybody says that it is different, but why? Is it the colors, the light temperature, the landscape, the contrasts? I think it is the spirit that surrounds you which enables each person to feel it in their very own way.

Sunset

I took this picture the first day I arrived to Namibia after 24 hrs of aircraft, stopovers and buses. We just checked into a small and cute hotel and after leaving the bags in the room and with a beer in hand “Africa” surprised us with its first gift. An impressive sunset! I will always remember this wonderful welcome.

What was the feeling to sit there near by all these huge dunes? Feeling small?

Golden waves

Yes, at first you feel small and that you are nothing compared to the power of these soft mountains. But then, when you feel the sand under your feet and you climb onto the top of the dunes, the feeling slowly changes to another one, you can´t avoid a sense of majesty and for a moment you feel like the king of the world.

What about this place?

Sossusvlei Lodge´s

This is the Sossusvlei Lodge in Sesriem just at the entrance of the Sossusvlei National Park, a periodic stream that ends in the Namib Desert.

We stayed three nights, thereby, after full days in the desert we reposed in this quiet hotel enjoying the peace that offers you the desert. The rooms had two parts, a solid one containing the bathroom and another one, a big tent where we could hear everything going on outside – animals and wind – giving the sensation of sleeping outdoors.

What are they doing? Helping or just having fun?

Just playing, the younger children were quite sociable, they wanted to play with us all the time.

Little fantasies

What would be the thing you will always keep for yourself from Africa?

The feeling: you feel so good, so free, so relieved. Your personal problems from home seem to disappear a little more than on trips to other destinations.

Would you like to go there again?

Of course I will go again, there are more places in Namibia that I haven’t visited and I will do it in the future.

Leather and Stein

Which countries would you like to visit the next time?

This year I wanted to go to Zanzibar for a month to discover the island, I have read some things and I think as a photographer it is a place to enjoy a lot.