For the last seven years, Leelu has travelled to the biggest party island on earth and documented the hedonistic antics of a whole generation. She tells us some stories and explains why it’s her second home.

SL - How would you describe your photography style?
LM - I have a reportage style. It's about seeing the moment within the moments. For me photography is the art of the moment and I like to make happy art; photographs that up lift you and make you smile.

SL - What first interested you in photography?
LM - I think that photography records time and I like to have a record of who I am with, where I am and what we all do. There are moments in life that you know you will never see again and photography preserves them for lifetimes. I used to write a lot about daily life events but it took up too much time
editing the words...then I began photographing them and it was instant gratification.

SL - Your heritage is mixed, how would you describe yourself?
LM - I was born in London and my blood is half Irish and Austrian.

SL - When did you fall in love with the party island, Ibiza?
LM - I first came to Ibiza with my family when I was seven, we all loved it so much that my parents bought an old finca in the hills of Santa Gertrudis, which became our second home after London. We visited the island during all the school holidays. While my brothers, Jamie and Tobie, pulled tails off the lizards and fished frogs out of the pond, I walked in the countryside, read and played with our animals (eight dogs and nine cats). I was always creative; I wrote, sang, made clothes and took photographs. With my family's love for the sun, the beaches, boat trips to Formentara, tennis, scuba diving, good restaurants and friends on the island, our return flights were almost always extended.

SL - Your book Eye-Biza by Word of Mouth documents the Island from 1997-2002, is that how long you've been going there?
LM - Well the book contains seven years of photography from 1997 to 2003. I have been going to Ibiza for 21 years. The book also contains writing by 26 Ibiza people, many of who have lived or worked with in Ibiza for many years.

SL - What was your motivation to put those years into a book now?
LM - With 25,000 photographs I have taken of Ibiza in archives I felt like sharing the best of them. I was greatly motivated to change the bad reputation that Ibiza was been given by programs like Ibiza Uncovered. Hopefully when people see what Ibiza is really like they will appreciated the island life more.

SL - Synonymous with hedonism, you must have seen some crazy things on your Ibiza travels; do you think the place deserves the reputation it has?
LM - I think there has been a huge amount of mass marketing about Ibiza and it may very well have the best clubs in the world, but I think when programs target San Antonio to present an image of Ibiza, it is like saying Oxford
Street is London. The island is a very beautiful place and it is mainly countryside, rocks, beaches and has fresh sea air. The small community who live there are diversely creative, warm hearted people who like to enjoy life and have fun.

SL - You live and work in the rest of the year in England, what do you get up to in that time?
LM - I was based in Ibiza for five years and moved back to the UK almost two years ago to create the book Eye-Biza. My focus was mainly on designing the layouts and publishing the book. Photographically I mainly worked in the music industry. Otherwise I hang out with friends, watch movies, enjoy life.

SL - What plans do you have for the winter?
LM - I am launching the book in Barcelona in October, London in November, Italy, New York and Miami in March. In between I would love to take a holiday, sometime, somewhere.

SL - Will you be going back to Ibiza again next year?
LM - More then likely, it still is and always will be my second home.