Lefto Archives - Tony Cicero Photography

Osunlade at the Beach Stage Worldwide Festival Séte 2015

Osunlade on the Beach Stage Worldwide Festival Séte 2015

#198 Emanuel Buchmann (Germany) BORA-ARGON 18 and #167 Daniel Martin (Ireland) TEAM CANNONDALE - GARMIN Tour de France 2015 - Stage 11 - Pau / Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin- 188Km

#198 Emanuel Buchmann and #167 Daniel Martin – 2015 Tour de France Stage 11 Pau/Cauterets to Vallée de Saint-Savin 188Km

Stromboli black sand beach

Stromboli’s black sand beach

This past July I spent the month in Europe photographing some great events and locations. First, I attended the tenth edition of the Worldwide Festival in Sète, France. I then caught three stages of the 2015 Tour de France in the Pyrénées, ending the trip with a week in Sicily to wind down.

Port de Sète

Port de Sète

Sète, a small fishing village and resort creates the perfect setting for the festival as it has done for the past decade. This area of the Mediterranean is home to a vast amount of oyster and mussel beds. With a network of canals bringing the experience of the port and fishing activity right into the town centre. The headliners for this edition were musical legends Roy Ayers, Louis Vega, DJ Harvey, and Laurent Garnier.

Here are more photos from the festival:

Here are some photos of the town of Sète:

Once the festival was over, I drove from Sète to Toulouse then on to Lourdes to catch up with the Tour de France as it commenced its week of climbing in the Pyrénées.

Walking up D132, Stage 10

These were the start of the mountain stages so the climbing was intense as was the scenery. Driving in the Béarn region I passed through so many picturesque small towns such as Arette, attached to the ski resort La Pierre Saint-Martin, the finishing line for stage 10 at an elevation of 1,766 m (5,794 ft).

For the first time I shot with the Canon 11-24mm f/4L USM ultra-wide zoom lens. The broad expanse of the landscapes allowed me to maximize the extremely wide focal length of this lens.

Pierefitte-Nestalas

Here are more photos from the Tour de France:

Capo Skino Beach, Sicily

Once in Sicily I found some more beaches including some very remote and exclusive ones. I took the hydrofoil over to the Aeolian Island of Stromboli to experience the black sand beaches which are created from the island’s active volcano. It erupts roughly every twenty minutes and I managed to catch a few shots of it sailing past. Swimming in these waters can barely be described in photos:

This past March I had the incredible opportunity to combine my three favourite things into one fantastic trip; skiing, music and photography. The skiing was in the Bernese Alps, in the town of Leysin Switzerland, host of the second annual winter version of the popular music event the Worldwide Festival.

The founders of the festival, Freshly Cut and BBC Radio 6 DJ Gilles Peterson had one mission in mind when they started this event. Bring together a unique line-up of artists and invite party goers to exceptional venues in cities around the world. The formula seems to work flawlessly. It’s specific aim is to offer a unique holiday experience, with the idea of creating several events throughout the year in different parts of the world. The line up included perfomances by Acid Arab, Eddy Ramich, Eliphino, Food For Ya Soul, GARFLD, J Rocc, Jeremy Ellis, Kutmah, Kyodai, Lefto, Ossie, Sassy J, Simbad and Gilles Peterson closing the entire festival. The summer version is held in the seaside resort town of Sète France, and will be celebrating it’s 9th year this July.

I made this video to sum up the week:

Some of my footage will be used in the official video for the event produced by Art’ManiaK’s Production. The drone footage was from Axel Engelen. My photos can be seen on the Worldwide Festival site and here: