I took my beaten-up Ricoh GR1v without much of a plan. It’s usually the otherworldly structures dotted around that make me reach for it, though. The silk canopies living and breathing above the Floresta dancefloor, bamboo towers, slides and constructions coming straight out of the lake as if they grew there.

Everything is built by hand, and most looks like it shouldn’t be possible. In the Alentejo light, it’s surreal and quite frankly beautiful.

I shot fewer frames this year and let faces drift or blur out of them entirely. The edges of the party turned out to be more interesting than what was happening in the thick of things – dust hanging in the afternoon light, countless bodies wading in the water between sets. Everyone there moves between two states, dancing and floating, and I wanted to try and capture both sides of the still and serene sitting alongside the dance floor.

I went with friends and knew countless more faces, but the moments I found solace were so rewarding. Wandering around on my own, free of any obligations of “meet us here, or meet us there”. Most of these shots came from these solo side quests.

If you’ve never been, I hope these give you a sense of this surreal lakeside world. If you have, I hope it feels like stepping back in and reliving your own dreamy moments.

The name of the festival isn’t an accident.