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Mineral en las Nubes 2023

Hanging on a rope!

For years I’ve been mesmerized by the athletes who defy the heights, gravity and balance. The high line was a discipline that I would try at least once in my life.

When I saw the intro lessons for this discipline I didn’t hesitate! The incredible coach Andrea Dattoli started to teach the basics to all the mortals here on the ground. After 3 lessons, I had my own harness, leashes and pulley carabiner.

I was ready for Mineral en Las Nubes, a festival that attracts people of other countries to practice this action sport. Probably the main reason is the beauty of Mineral del Chico; looking for the accurate translation for the boulders in this area I found the word “hoodoos”, so we can find different hoodoos in Mineral del Chico’s National Park, specially the “Peña de la Muela” (The Cheektooth hoodoo) a boulder separated by the forest of similar formations of rocks, this hoodoo remains in the center of this natural architecture and is the central connection for the lines where the athletes will attempt to walk.

But tree lessons are not enough to walk on the line, so I decided to carry my camera and a medium strobe in order to finally make reality a personal project.

Event

  • Where?
    Mineral del Chico, México.
  • When?
    April 5th to June 1st, 2023

The first day consisted in setting up the campsite and make the first recognition of the playground at the afternoon. The first shoots were on the longest line installed, Hai Thai walking on the line and the sun was going down on the bottom of this beautiful scene. Understanding now the sunset and its position, the next day would be the day for the action portraits that I had in my mind for two years ago.

Unexpected moments!

I started the day at 6:30 am doing the breakfast and drinking the first cup of coffee in the middle of the woods. The back pack with the camera, water and snacks were packed, the hike to the “Peña de la Muela” would take me 30 minutos for the 1.2 miles. At the hill of the hoodoos the scenario is so beautiful, with so many lines installed in different hoodoos in this area a lot of athletes walking, falling and bouncing in their lines. It’s a lot to process before to start tho shoot my camera.

Wearing my harness and slings, I walked secured by the dangerous areas in order to look for new frames and athletes walking their lines. I was taking some picture to Amy, a new friend that was trying to walk her line when a huge cloud started to surrounding us. Just behind me the action was going on, 2 guys were trapped by this cloud and suddenly they disappeared. They started to celebrate with loudly screams this experience and I couldn’t believe what I have in my camera.

After a few hours of climbing between rocks and taking pictures, I started to move all the equipment to the spot where I was planning the action portraits. My new friend, Macel was on his line walking and waiting for my instructions; I installed quickly a 400 watts strobe on a modified tripod for this kind of ground and the shooting began. The strobe at full power barely helped to freeze the Macel’s movements (for the next time I will choose for the 600 watts strobe). For maybe 5 minutes Macel kept him on the line, going forward and backward, doing “the exposure” to the camera and smiling in every moment.

Finally, the idea of years now was real, an athlete recognizable with the help of the strobe with the sunset behind them! The sun went down and the day was over.

For the next day everything was so “normal”, the most valuable memories of the previous days were safe on the iPad and an external drive as a copy. So I decided to enjoy my day trying to walk in some lines... total failure, LOL!

What a journey with new friends, new experiences and beautiful photos!

This is why I love taking pictures!

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