RAMÓN BEDOYA
- Thom Pierce
- Jun 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 15
Series: The Defenders
Location: Colombia
Year: 2018
This month, July 2025, I am looking back at The Defenders - logistically the hardest project that I have ever taken on and, in many ways, one of the most exciting.
I will be dissecting some of the portraits and recounting some of the experiences of making this series.
Ramón Bedoya - Colombia
I met Leo, a film maker, at the hotel in Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia. We had never worked together before but we clicked straight away. Something about our shared values and understanding of our creative process made it easy to travel and work together.
We took a local flight to Apartardó, a small village in the far north of the country, and found a hotel to stay. There was little choice and our accommodation ended up being cheap and windowless but with a fan, wifi and a shower; everything we needed.
The next day we took a taxi out to the finca that belonged to Ramón's family. I don't think that either of us realised how long and bumpy the journey would be but we approached it with the grace and humility of two people who had no other choice.
We were in edeguita y Mancilla, Chocó to photograph, film and interview Ramón, the son of a farmer whose fight against an encroaching palm oil plantation had resulted in his murder. We had called ahead, we had made plans and when we turned up at the farm, Ramón was nowhere to be found. It turned out that he was in Medellín, the very place we had left behind before a one hour flight, a night in a windowless room and a very long taxi ride.
We were invited to meet the rest of his family and decided to take the opportunity to explore the farm, interview some people and take some b-roll images. The first issue was to get over the bridge.
The bridge comprised of two palm trees placed over a narrow river. There was no real danger to the fall but I did not fancy losing my balance with a 17kg bag full of cameras and lights on my back. Whilst the others gracefully traversed the improvised structure, I slid down the banks and gracelessly waded through the water.
On the other side we were escorted by armed guards to the farm house and around the property. We met Ramón's mother, wife and brother. We spent hours with them until it became clear that the person we were there to see was not going to be appearing that day. We were assured that he would be back in time for us to see him the next day so we found a place to stay for the night in the local town about 15 minutes away.
Day 2. We returned to the farm early to make the most of the day. We had to fly out of Medellín the next day and our flight from Apartadó that evening was the only one that week. We had a 2 hour taxi journey to get back to our hotel and then we had to pack up and get to the airport. It's fine, we thought, we will leave early afternoon.
Early afternoon and still no sign of Ramón. We were assured he was on his way so we waited. It's a long way to travel to not get the portrait you need but our travel plans were so tight that we were soon going to have to call it. Leo needed an on camera interview and I needed at least one powerful portrait.
By the time we saw the car, we had one hour left before we had to leave and it was starting to lightly rain. I had already plotted out 3 locations for portraits and had tested out my lighting with Ramón's brother as a stand in.
Formalities were rushed and I hastily directed my subject through the three different portraits that I wanted. I needed to give Leo enough time for an interview so I only took about 15 minutes in all (after how long to get there?!).
We had a minute to visit the roadside tribute to his late father, the palm plantation and the tree stump, surrounded by lilies, that I had identified as my main portrait (although it was never used).
As Leo was setting up for the interview I stepped into frame and took this quick portrait of Ramón and his bodyguards. I put a light on the ground pointing up and took a couple of frames. In the end this photograph probably told the story better than any other. A family in danger.
As Leo conducted the interview I decided to go off to get a better landscape image of the palm plantation, I wanted to get as high up as I could. As we got to the furthest point away from the farm the heavens opened.
Using palm leaves to protect us we scampered back to the farm, drenched and late. Our car was running, Leo was waiting, and as I threw my bags into the vehicle I waved goodbye to Ramón.
We had to get a public taxi back to Apartardó and, as the road threw us up and down, we realised that we were going to miss our flight.
The next day we paid for a 5.5 hour taxi journey back to Medellín through the most picturesque, lush, mountainous rainforest you could possibly imagine. Our fixer, David, travelled with us throwing up on the side of the windy road as we went.
We dropped him off in Medellín on the way to the airport and paid him in cash for his assistance. A few days later we found out that he had been mugged on his way home and all his money had been taken.
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