THE STORY BEHIND THE SHOT

Sala de los Abencerrages, Alhambra. 2019

This view, this heavenly starburst, is what first awakened my fascination with Spain.

I am walking though the Alhambra, for the eleventh, twelfth time… I forget how often I’ve been over the years.

On this occasion I have brought my children, two boys aged eight and ten. They do not know that, in part, they owe their very existence to this place.

Somewhere in the Court of Lions, we separate: the boys racing ahead; my wife behind them. And I am on my own, surrounded by crowds.

I take a step into a side chamber, the Hall of the Abencerrages – the Bani Sarraj clan, great rivals of the kings of Granada. It is said many of them were murdered here one night, centuries ago. That their souls have never left.

I work my way towards the centre of the room. There is a low basin for a fountain.

Then I look up at the ceiling…

And suddenly I am 13 years old, at home, sitting on a chair in the family living room. In my hands is a book on Spain, about Granada, the Alhambra. Inside, there is a photograph of this very ceiling. I am dumbstruck by it: all I can do is stare into it, lose myself in it, delight in its detail and intricacy. It is, I think, the most wonderful and beautiful thing I have ever seen.

And I want to know more: about its location, the palace where it can be found. And most importantly, about the people and culture that were capable of creating something so extraordinary, so exquisite.

One day, I swear, I shall go in person and see it for myself.

My 13-year-old self doesn’t know it, but with this one image his life has been set on a course that will take him to many places, but ultimately here: to Spain.

Ten years later I finally fulfilled the promise to myself, and effectively began my adult life – a life almost entirely shaped by this magical land. My wife, my children, my books on Spain – all of it began in that one instant.

I push my arms out over the basin, holding the camera to point upwards.

A pause, then I take the shot.

Once it captured me.

Now I have captured it.