A Photographer Has Turned His Love of Tourists Into a Card Game

This article originally appeared on VICE Spain

Daniel Jordán is well accustomed to tourists. The photographer spent his childhood near Benidorm, a mecca for British tourists looking to scorch their near-translucent skin.

Growing up against this backdrop has given him a particular sensitivity and approach when it comes to dealing with tourists, wherever he meets them. "There is something very sad about tourism when you look at it from the outside as a local," he says. "But for the tourist, it's the exact opposite. Maybe it's that contradiction that fascinates me."

The photographer has turned all that experience and interest into his new photo series and memory card game, Flash – which captures the looks and habits of your average tourist. I caught up with Jordán to find out about what it's like to grow up in a place like Benidorm, why he created a memory game and what he loves so much about tourists.

VICE: How did Flash come about?
Daniel Jordán: Flash started as a photo project that eventually turned into a memory game. I took the photos on a pretty boring trip with my parents to Belgium. A few months later, I went through the photos with a graphic designer friend of mine, and we decided to create a memory game that's packaged like a disposable camera.

Why did you decide to take pictures of tourists? Why are you so fascinated by them?
Whenever I go back to my hometown, which is right next to Benidorm, I take photos of all the Brits who go there on holiday. I would leave my car parked in Rincon de Loix and I would go around photographing all that alcohol-fuelled, outlandish behaviour that you can see all the way down to the beach. So I guess I couldn't resist when I went to Belgium and saw all the organised tours. I'm attracted to how people spend their leisure time. They are discovering themselves.

Did any of the tourists say anything to you?
In Ghent, I took a photo at night of a woman, and the second the flash went off I was cornered by four guys who looked like nightclub bouncers. They wanted to take my camera and throw me in jail because I didn't have any ID on me. In the end, I told them it was for a story for my university magazine, so they let me leave with my camera.

How did you actually put the game together?
We created it in partnership with the Madrid Art Book Fair. We picked the photos for the game based on what would make it as hard as possible. If you look at each character, they don’t particularly stand out from the crowd, regarding their clothing, hairstyle, surroundings, etc. We didn’t focus so much on choosing the best photos, but on how they were interesting for the flow of the game. We could only choose 18 photos – each one appears on two cards – so that the total number of cards was the same as the photos you can take on one reel, 36.

Scroll down to see more photos from Flash.