I'm very happy about my latest cover, the Vertical World record in the U.S. Parachutist magazine cover, the largest skydiving publisher in the world. This is why: I can relate that to how excited I was after my first ever cover in “Skydiving" magazine, in the summer of ’96. That was the beginning of a long journey where taking images in the sky became my main activity in life, something like 18000 camera jumps by now... It is not easy to express what it's like to do this job. You need to know how to fly your body according to what you’re shooting. You need to anticipate where you want to be and where everybody in the jump is going to be. Where does the light come from, how to get a nice background, how will the break be, etc. Sometimes you can manage these variables, but sometimes, you just breathe and go for the ride...
Records are another thing: you get hired to provide images that help analyze what's going on during the attempts. You want to have the perfect angle, light, background, and shoot the best picture ever of the entire formation. Sometimes you are lucky and get some good stuff, sometimes you have a bad day and end up with nothing at all, feeling devastated when everybody is celebrating their achievements. All of that is part of the game, and in the end, life is about having all kinds of experiences, isn’t it?
After 20 years doing belly and canopy formations images, I started training Freefly 4 years ago. I remember aa former instructor at my DZ told me back then with a smiley face: "you’re too old to be a free-flyer”. I smiled and kept going... and going, and going, and going....jumping as much as I could, spending all my savings on training, tunnels, the best coaches, flight camps, and jump, jump, jump...
And one morning I received an email from Rook Nelson inviting me to shoot the Freefly world record, which is something like climbing Mount Everest with the best of the best. I would like to dedicate this cover to him, one of the very best team leaders I had the honor to work with. I'm super happy to give him this in return: a frontal shot of the beautiful formation he created and helped build, over Skydive Chicago, his amazing Drop Zone...
Also a big thank you to all the coaches who taught me this awesome form of human flight. I still have a lot to learn, but just being able to share the skies with you all amazes me.
And for that former instructor, I would like to dedicate this quote, that I tell myself every time I want to do something. It's from Charles Bukowski, and it says:
“If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is a gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”
