Holy Hail Gallery
Sacred Valley, Peru 2020
® Chad Anderson
Ten days. It´s hard to believe you can experience so much in 10 days in this wild country. With Ernesto’s help I was able to experience a new time and place in a country I have been to many times. High on the mountain with dancers in the rain I watched a beautiful ceremony for the young men of the small village unfold. The rain brought fresh opportunities to experience the land and people through a new lens. The carnival season in the Sacred Valley is new to me and brings new opportunities to delve deeper into this beautiful land and open, warm people. I’m grateful to my traveling companions. Until next year.
Chad Anderson
® Andrea De Franciscis
“The holy hail”… never the name of the group has been more appropriated! Our driver, the legendary Victor, one day laughing told us: on this trip, when Ernesto decides to go out, it rains.
As usual, the words to describe the uniqueness of the experience and the beauty of Valle Sagrado are always few. My first trip was participating in a workshop with Ernesto from which a splendid friendship and esteem was born, for what I consider a teacher. This second trip I got thanks to the BPW scholarship.
After 10 years of shooting in India – and thanks to Ernesto – I have chosen Peru as one of my favorite places.
The magic begins immediately, Cusco is an incredible city: capital of the Andean world, at 3000 meters, we introduce ourselves with the others: MC and Chad. The group is small but tough!
There is no shortage of emotions and almost mystical situations, after a climb in the rain and frost we reach almost 4000 meters, huddled in the cold, waiting for the ceremony to start to shoot and suddenly the hot sun; the dances begin: they fly disguised as birds with feathers. At the end of the ceremony we set off tired and without having a good idea of how to return back to Victor’s van. Suddenly, an old woman appears from behind, our savior, who flying on her slender legs gestures to us to follow her! Back at the hotel for dinner, there is no shortage of stories but the anxiety to go and see the photos to prepare for the morning editing session prevails.
This is one of our typical days…
Hail, sun, Andean clouds, surreal sceneries, time passes in another way, boys chasing each other with buckets of water for the carnival in remote villages, prayer ceremonies with songs and dances: an incredible energy, here happiness is more.
Among the most succulent memories our pig: killed, photographed, cooked for hours underground and eaten with corn and papas in a farm of genuine and simple people.
Ernesto takes you into his world, shares with you his places, his friendships but above all his emotions and his knowledge.
The morning editing sessions are always constructive, the “doesn’t go beyond” makes you realise that beyond the frame you need something, looking at Bazan’s works and his future books, his way of editing is instructive.
Time flies and in the end you hope that the next trip with Ernesto will be as soon as possible.
Chad look forward to seeing your book on the Valle Sagrado soon!
Andrea De Franciscis
® MC Messner
