Capturing a Disappearing World

During my five decades on this enchanting island, I've amassed a photograph library of rare black-and-white and colour images which depict the island's characters, landscapes, countryside, seascapes, and sunsets. There is also a unique section which focuses on the traditional way of life of the gentle Ibiicanco folk of the land - wearing age-old traditional dress, tilling their precious land, and tendering their livestock, images which cannot be captured again because that golden era and ancestral way of life have now disappeared for good.

In late October 1982 I began a daily routine during which mornings were devoted to office business duties and afternoons to exploring the ever-enigmatic Ibizan countryside. I was accompanied in this latter operation by two trusty Nikon cameras along with an assortment of top-quality Nikon lenses packed into my study Billingham canvas bag which sat next to me on the passenger seat of my Ford. My titanium Nikon F was loaded with Ilford Professional 100asa black-and-white negative film, and the Nikon F3 contained Kodachrome 25asa or 64asa or else Fujichrome Velvia 50asa colour deiapositive slide film.

I strayed far from the beaten track, venturing deep into the island's hinterland in search of eye-catching scenes which embodied what remained of the island's authentic rural way of life. I attended annual village fiestas to secure shots of Ibiza's distinctive folk danncing (ball pagès), my favourite three being those held at Sant Vicente de sa Cala (5th April), Sant Joan de Labritja (24th June) and Sant Llorenç de Balàfia (10th August).

I was indeed fortunate to be able to captures the spectacular light of landscapes and seascapes at specific times of day and of the year, and especially privileged to circulate calmly, almost unnoticed, amongst the rural folk as I recorded on film their treasured customs and folkways.

A special invitation came my way on Tuesday 15th January 1991 - to attend the annual pig-slaughtering (sa matançe des porc) feast at Can Mestre. This involved mingling with a deeply rooted Ibicenco family from dawn to dusk and beyond, celebrating the annual ceremony that would yield two emmblematic delicacies: sobrassada (paprika cured sauage) and botifarra (blood sausage, like black pudding) - vital winter sustenance which would feed the family throghout the long months ahead.

At the turn of the millennium I invested in a Nikon SF-200 Auto Slide Feeder diapositive slide and negative film scanner, and set about carefully choosing and scanning a wide variety of rare and unique images, black-and-white and colour, with a view to making a final selection for a dual-language picture book, to be called The Other Face of Ibiza I La Otra Cara de Ibiza.

In this section of the website there are nine sub-sectons, each containing numbered photographic images: Eivissa Pagesés (Ibicenco Countrywomen), Eivissa Pagésos (Ibicenco Farmers), Eivissa Ball Pagès (Folk Dancing), Eivissa Campo (Countryside), Eivissa Mar (Sea and Coastline), Eivissa Es Vedrá (Iconic Rock), Eivissa Inglesisa (Rual Churches), Eivissa Posta de Sol (Sunsets), and Eivissa Ses Matançe des Porc (Pig-Slaughtering Ceremony). A tenth Eivissa Miscellabeous, features numbered photographic images which will be regularly updated, offering a continuous selection of rare photograph quality prints for sale.

With hindsight and in view of my then newfound passion for photography, it almost seems as if it was fate which brought me to this legendary island to witness and capture on film the final decades of a vanishing golden era.

In the mid-1990s I was busy scanning images one morning at my Sant Antoni office, when our 'Anthropology' columnist, Kirk W Huffman, came in to send a fax and said, "Hardy, your problem is that you store and hide away this important work when it should be out there for people to see." But this was prior to the worldwide web, and the time still wasn't right as most of the images were unpreared, and in any case, I was in no rush. The diapositive slides and film negatives weren't perishable, and they would come into their own in years to come. My images are now ready, I am happy to say, and the time has eventually arrived for them to be published online - 'out there for people to see and appreciate.'

I've chosen to offer our customer a selection of three print sizes and a choice of four types of quality print papers, as laid out in the detailed individual price table below for each photograph.

I believe that anyone who purchases an original 'Ibiza History Culture' photograph quality print is getting more than a picture of outstanding documentary and aesthetic importance but is also acquiring a unique investment of a photographic fine-art piece.

The preservation of History Culture is essential to human existence.

Gary Hardy
October 2024

Click on any image and it will automatically enlarge, with an arrow either side for you to continue browsing the photo archieve, moving forward or backward without having to close each individual picture.

Black & White and Colour Photograph Quality Print Papers with Sizes and Prices

PHOTOSATIN PAPER 270 grams:

MATTE SMOOTH ULTRAMATE COTTON PAPER 320 grams

BARYTA PRESTIGE ULTRAMATE COTTOM PAPER 340 grams

FINE-ART EPSON ULTRACHROME BARYLA PRESITIGE PAPER 340 grams

All photograph quality print prices are inclusive of shipping costs.

All Photographs © Gary Hardy