El Enfrentamiento: In which el Torero confronts el Toro…
Location: Quito, Ecuador, La Plaza de Toros
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Sigma 17-50mm, f/20
Exposure settings: 1/250 sec at f/18, ISO 400
El Cuernazo: In which el Toro answers back to the challenge of el Torero…
Location: Quito, Ecuador, La Plaza de Toros
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Sigma 17-50mm, f/20
Exposure settings: 1/250 sec at f/20, ISO 400
Todo lo que sube…
Location: Quito, Ecuador, La Plaza de Toros
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Sigma 17-50mm, f/20
Exposure settings: 1/250 sec at f/20, ISO 400
Se tiene que caer…El Toro comes out victorious
Location: Quito, Ecuador, La Plaza de Toros
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Sigma 17-50mm, f/20
Exposure settings: 1/125 sec at f/20, ISO 400
Ooooooooooo — Que Dolor!!!
Just looking at the way el Torero has fallen — directly onto his neck and head — brings me thoughts of great pain and anguish.
I guess that’s what he gets for challenging a beast of beasts – El Gran Toro — to “una corrida” or bullfight. And this bull was small compared to some of the others, belonging to the “novato” or novice division.
Little did I know, but soon found out after attending my first “corrida de toros,” was that bullfighting is practiced all throughout South America. The corridas become way more popular around the holiday season, but can be found happening more frequently in “el campo,” the back country, during the entire year.
Many Ecuadorians are in opposition to the fights, which has caused many protests and demonstrations. And because of their efforts, today it is illegal to kill the bull in front of the public. The killing is done behind closed doors, after the Torero has either defeated or NOT defeated the bull. Whatever the case though, the fights still continue and the bulls do die.
And although violent and cruel, I must admit las corridas did provide some great photo moments for an outside-on-the-inside-photographer like me. Thanks to the “continuous shooting” mode on my canon T1i Rebel and a fast shutter speed of 1/250 sec, I was able to capture this sequence in which the amateur bullfighter is given his “cuernazo” — big horns!– by the bull.
Soon after the payasos distracted the bull away from the young torero, the medics had to carry him from the corral on a stretcher with a brace around his neck.
He wasn’t the only one that day…
