Basque country
Words and photos by Jerome Maupoint
Sites visited: South the Spanish Basque coast, Orio, Sopelana, Près de Sarre, Zuguramurdi, Peña Plata.
Pilots: Yeray González, Michi Sigel, Tim Bollinger (Zorro school), Jordan Urunuela (Northwind flight).
The reality of a photographic journey; it is not the exhibition of the 20 best images produced. No, in our activities and seeking originality; success does not fall from the sky. You have to wait, you have to try, you have to know how to stop and agree to come back later too. And when everything aligns, we don’t let “our chance” slip by, indeed…
In January 2022, we have scheduled a week of shooting in the Basque Country for the launch of the Bolero7 and to produce photos of new harnesses as well. January was dry, thermal, with little wind, in the Basque country and Navarre; we would have liked to snap our fingers and start work overnight. The reality was very different; find common availability for 3 pilots, the photographer and a local “guide”; It doesn’t happen by snapping your fingers. On the logistical and material side, there was the classic inertia which forced the dates to be postponed too, so much so that the trip took place in February.
A fine team met in the village of Zugaramurdi; at the foot of beautiful green hills, small steeper mountains (La Rhune, Pena Plata), marking the border with Spain. We arrived under the flood and the wind; We caught a glimpse of the green hills after 48 hours. The forecasts announced clearings of a few hours and reasonable wind between each active front… so many hopes of carrying out the “photo” mission. We had 8 days ahead of us, a good village bar near the house and Jordan Urunuela, a local guide-pilot (Northwind flight in San Sebastian) ready to show us his region. When everything is ready and the actors are on site, we no longer talk about luck but about organization.
It was the coastal area of Bilbao that gave us the first flights, the first images of the Flysch (rock formations of sedimentary origin) of Sopelana, then the beautiful site of Orio.
We had to wait for less congested and less windy skies to fly inland. Pena Plata sometimes offered us magnificent short hikes, followed by active and cold flights conducive to beautiful lights. We looked at the weather, but not too much… otherwise, we would have stayed at the bistro.
