Ulf Svane: The Experience of Burgos, Spain

Any reason to travel to the beautiful area of Burgos, the city in northern Spain known for its historic landmarks and world-renown gastronomy, is absolutely worth it. For Copenhagen photographer Ulf Svane, receiving the assignment from Food & Travel Magazine to show the depths of Burgos was a perfect excuse to wine and dine in this city steeped in culture.

Having done many exciting and well-organized projects with Food & Travel in the past, Ulf knew that the main challenge, as always, would be to get creative in finding new ways to capture the world for readers. Because Burgos is known for its dominance and innovation in gastronomy, Ulf focused his images on Northern Spain’s food culture, emphasizing the people and scenery surrounding it. Ulf says that Burgos is known for keeping its old, traditional food while at the same time experimenting with what cuisine could be in the future.

Planning and preproduction for international shoots can often be difficult, but thanks to the local tourism office, the magazine’s excellent scheduling, and Ulf’s intuition of how to prepare, the project went smoothly.

The most important thing was to visit locations with a good combination of food, people and landscapes. I like to travel light by working with the elements and using a lot of natural light – the challenge is to be at the right place at the right time of the day.

For Ulf, becoming a part of the culture and experiencing everything firsthand really helped define the way he approached the creative side of the project.

Most of my ideas are spontaneous because each situation has its own special moment. I decided to do the pairings in order to create a special story of what I saw.

Ulf had the opportunity to dive into big plates of Burgos’ finest cuisine—from fresh blood sausages to Galician-style octopus, sipping organic red wine and tasting roast lamb leg. The experience of it all shows throughout the series. It was also a personal highlight for Ulf to meet a local man who had traveled all around Europe as a shepherd. After following along with him for a day, the two became good friends, with the shepherd even gifting his stick to Ulf.

So far, Food & Travel readers, along with the creatives who directed the project, have given nothing but positive feedback on the images that were used in the October edition of the magazine. Ulf had an amazing experience with the piece as well, and offers that he hopes “those travelling to the area will now have reason to explore and enjoy the mentioned locations of Burgos, Spain.”

Check out more of Ulf’s photography at ulfsvane.com.

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