Hannelore Vandenbussche - La Quebrada klifduikers
Born in Chile and raised in Belgium, Hannelore is a photographer and creative entrepreneur, but above all a storyteller. In 2009, after graduating in photography, she embarked on her first assignment: Jimmy Nelson's Before They Pass Away project. For almost three years, she travelled to the most remote places on earth and assisted Nelson in capturing the last remaining indigenous tribes.
Hannelore's journey around the world to meet the last remaining indigenous tribes of the pla-neet has now resulted in her biggest undertaking to date: Human Playground, a photobook, art prints and Netflix Original documentary series about sports, culture and tradition. This unique multimedia production brings together modern and traditional spor-ten for the first time. It is a collection of the most fascinating, extreme and ancient ways people use sport to express who they are. Ultimately, the story that weaves through Human Playground is an entertaining and thought-provoking observation of a human evolutionary constant: PLAY.
La Quebrada cliff divers Acapulco is known from Hollywood movies, where it is portrayed as the perfect holiday location: featuring gorgeous bays, glorious sunsets and glamourous cocktails. The city is one of Mexico's oldest coastal tourist destinations, reaching prominence in the 1950s as the place where Hollywood stars and millionaires vacationed on the beach. During the 1960s and 1970s, new hotel resorts were built, and accommodation and transport were made cheaper. It was no longer necessary to be a millionaire to spend a holiday in Acapulco; the foreign and Mexican middle class could now afford to travel here. Through the years the place has known ups and downs, losing some of it’s glamour to mass tourism and more recently to drug related crimes. What still remains unchanged are the splendid natural surroundings and Acapulco’s most iconic attraction: La Quebrada cliff divers. For generations, brave young men from Acapulco have risked their lives by hurling themselves off the majestic cliffs jutting out over the Pacific Ocean. The tradition started in the 1930s, when young men casually competed against each other to see who could dive from the highest point. Today the divers are professionals, diving from heights of forty meters (130 feet) into an inlet that is only seven m (23 ft) wide and four m (13 ft) deep, after praying first at a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe. The timing of their dives is crucial and must be perfectly executed due to the dangerous water conditions below. The divers perform daily shows for the public. During the night, they often hold torches while diving. The spectacle can be seen from a public area which charges a small fee or from the legendary hotel El Mirador from its bar or restaurant terrace.
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