Paradise Found with Guilherme Furtado

We’ve always been inspired by the places that shape us and the memories we carry home from them. For this story, we sat down with Guilherme Furtado (Guifurt), a photographer and creative from northern Portugal whose work explores the relationship between people, nature, and place.

From childhood summers along the Atlantic coast to travels around the world, his work is driven by a desire to capture not just a moment, but a feeling. Here, he shares the story behind his photograph of Tafedna, Morocco, and the memories that inspired it.

A short intro about yourself

I've always been fascinated by the way places make us feel.

Over the years, that curiosity has taken different forms: photography, creative direction, design, publishing. They all stem from the same desire: to create and preserve experiences. Sometimes that means shaping how a guest encounters a hotel, sometimes documenting a landscape through a camera, and sometimes translating a memory into a souvenir, book, or story.

Growing up between the city and the Atlantic coast in northern Portugal instilled in me a sensitivity to the sea, nature, and the way life takes shape in different places. Travel has only deepened that curiosity. Much of what I create is driven by a desire to evoke a feeling: the warmth of late afternoon sun, the rhythm of a coastal town, or the freedom that comes from exploring a new location.

When you started photography and what sparked it for you

I've been around cameras since I can remember, but my earliest memories probably go back to my early teens. It started as a way of documenting the world I was growing up in: the skate culture around my older brother, the grunge side of Porto at that time, and those early teenage years. Back then, I was more interested in constructing images than capturing them, using props, controlled environments, and Photoshop to distort and reinterpret what I saw.

What really grounded it, though, was a gap year that took me across different places and eventually to Australia, where nature, surf, and sun completely changed the way I saw things - or rather, brought me back to a feeling that was natural to me.

The name of the location you’re featuring + why you chose it

The place is called Tafedna, in Morocco. I arrived on a hot day with no people in sight - just dogs and cats sleeping in the shade. The smell of the sea was constant, mixed with the sound and scent of freshly grilled fish from the only small restaurant in town. Donkeys moved slowly through the streets, and everything felt quiet, almost suspended.

The worn, distressed walls, the coherence of the colors, and the simplicity of everything around me made it feel like the Slowtide towel and its pattern had naturally found their environment.

The story or feeling behind it

This place reminded me of childhood summer holidays in my godfather's town in Portugal. The smell of algae carried by the coastline, night fishing on the beach, early barbecues, salty lips, and dry hair after an early swim before lunch. There's a different sense of time in places like this.

The type of camera used

35mm analog camera with Kodak Portra 400 film.

Follow along with Guilherme here