I took this picture in Guadalajara, which is very well known for its skateboarding culture and locations. I was a little worried because I didn’t have any pictures to enter into the Red Bull Illume contest and there were only a few days left. So, I decided to take pictures of my friends’ shadows while they skated at night.
I talked with a good friend of mine who is a skateboarder and I asked him if he could help me take the sequence. It was hard because I only used a Sunpak flash and my radio slave pointing at the wall of a very overcrowded place. When I got the sequence, I quickly went to my office and edited the pictures together. But something came to my mind and I didn’t want to do a usual sequence that has been done many times before.
I wanted to make the sequence different so I only used the image of when Alfredo first jumps in the air with his skateboard – and then used his shadows to create the rest of the sequence. From the moment it begins, all his movements can be seen right through to their completion. To give the image a title or describe the concept, I would name it “The Climax” because you see the best moment in the trick's execution.
Miguel Angel Lopez Virgen

About the shot

Biography
My name is Miguel Angel Lopez Virgen and I'm from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It was through another of my passions – skateboarding that I started taking pictures. I have never studied in a school of photography, but it’s thanks to skateboarding, my family and friends who supported me, and a love of learning new things that I’m here.
I have been a photographer for 15 years and have spent most of this time dedicated to the promotion of skateboarding in my country. I have learned many things, traveled and met amazing people. I have also given some non-profit workshops in my community. Photography has changed me as a person and I now see the world from another perspective.
Currently I continue with my personal photography projects and try to keep learning and experimenting with it. I've become so passionate about photography that I never leave the camera at home!
I hope to continue bringing different things to people and learn from everything that photography can offer. My motto remains the same - when you take a picture, feel the picture, live the picture and do not think too much about the picture.