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He cycled over 2000 miles for his best friend, filmed a Netflix documentary and loves nothing more than taking a good surf pic here in Sagres.
We caught up with the hugely talented Robert Douglas of rdphotography.co to talk about his art and why he loves Sagres so much.
Rob Douglas chilling in Kenya
How did you first get into photography?
I first realised I enjoyed to shoot while I was out on my first trip to Asia when I was 16. I was backpacking round India with my old £200 Fuji film DSLR. I love to capture the raw local culture of countries, normally getting myself into areas of the country other Westerners won't dare to go.
When I'm traveling I'm not there to make friends with other Europeans I like to jam with the locals and hear there stories and hopefully get nice portrait image at the end of it. Couldn't think of anything worse than an all inclusive holiday to some remote island thousand of miles away full with people from your home country. What's the point? 
Nepalese boy pulling a face for the camera.
What first brought you to Sagres?
I had just returned from trekking in Nepal and my best mate Cammy messaged me and told me to come out. I hopped on a cheap flight to Faro from London and that was me for 6 months; surfing, partying and just having some good old Algarvian fun getting up to mischief as always ahaha.
An image taken during the commute for Cam a charity cycle from the UK to Portugal to celebrate the life of an amazing human, Cameron Munro.
What gets you excited about a project?
It's always an exciting feeling when your boarding a plane to a country you've never been to before. When you step off everything is foreign, the people, the food, the wildlife, the environment. It's just you and the camera plus this new exciting country to explore! But once you leave you have fallen in love with these unknown lands, and have hopefully made plenty of new friends while you were there.
The Nevada desert still taken from a drone shoot
What’s more fun aerial, standard or in-water photography?
The ocean's got to win every time. I love to shoot with my surf housing especially when the surf's pretty solid and you're getting a rush of adrenaline from being out there, apart from when you've been partying in Sagres the night before and you start to get a case of the old cramps. Hmmmm Should of eaten a banana before I swam out ahaha ( a banana a day will keep the old cramps away).
Surfer Jarrah Douglas in Sri Lanka
The drone is incredible for capturing stunning video footage. You can capture angles that wouldn't of been possible a few years ago. The drone is really adding a fresh new image to photography.
Some drone based footage of Bournemouth Rob has taken below Who’s the most interesting person you’ve worked with?
I've recently had the pleasure to work along side one of the best videographers in the United Kingdom. His name is Steve Read and he's been releasing some award winning documentaries over the last few years, one of them just being bought by Netflix.
Steve Read shooting in Nevada
On this project I was working as second camera on shoot we were traveling in between the Mojave desert, Vegas and Los Angeles. He's got a few years on me but we still had a great laugh in Vegas, the Doc it's still a bit of a secret and the trailer will published soon.
Interview for Netflix documentary.
What are the challenges you face travelling so often
Language is always a difficult one. I just returned from an incredible project in North Kenya, it's always an awkward situation when you or the local person doesn't speak a word of each others language. I normally feel a bit guilty for not revising on my local linguistics before coming over.
What are you working on at the minute
I'm currently freelancing for a London based advertisement company, They have sent me out to Scandinavia for my first job to shoot for Michael Kors clothing. I will be traveling around the major cities in Scandinavia for the next month shooting this fun project.
Can you pick 3 of your favourite images and tell us a little bit about them?
I stayed with this Nepalese yak farmer on my way up to Everest base camp. I slept exactly where I was sat when I shot this picture, He was rotating his prayer wheel and sang his mantra for around an hour before we finally got down to eating.
This is one from my recent trip to Kenya where I lived within the Samburu tribe for a month, I was invited into this woman's home, I was going to ask if I could take photo of her. The incredible native Samburu clothing she was wearing was too stunning to leave without getting a photo, she gazed outside her window and I saw the opportunity and took the shot.
I call this one 'Landed in Africa' I shot this just after we hit land for the first time. We had been out on the ocean for a full week. I was sailing from Portugal to down to South Africa but the boat had to go in for repairs. I'm really keen on getting another sailing trip together in 2017, I'm currently talking with an English crew working in Papua New Guinea delivering medical supplies to remote islands that can't be reached by aircraft. If your wandering how I got the angle it was shot with the drone.
Rob will be around for most of the coworksurf events offering surf photography and will be giving a special talk on filming and his travels that you'd be crazy to miss. Coworksurf in Sagres, Portugal is a space for digital nomads, remote freelancers, photographers, entrepreneurs and just about anyone who is location independent of their work and enjoys surfing. Make sure you follow Rob on Instagram. |
