Mario Garrido Torres

Two hills

I took my first photo on the Cerro de los Ángeles, a hill just south of Madrid. I was five or six, I'd gone up there with my parents, and I grabbed my dad's camera, a film Canon that was already old even then. It's him in the shot, running towards me. That photo is still at my parents' house.

The second time was almost thirty years later, on another hill in the south of Madrid. Someone I used to work with lent me his camera one afternoon on the Cerro del Tío Pío, and the bug bit me all over again. This time it hasn't let go.

In between

At nineteen or twenty I bought a camera of my own and used it to film myself for YouTube: I had a channel with programming tutorials and tech reviews. Here's one that's still up, from 2016.

Then work came along and the camera sat in a drawer. What I never gave up was watching photography tutorials, one after the other.

The day I said yes

At the Appenninica, a stage race in the Apennines, Michael Chiaretta of The Outdoor Lab offered to let me shoot all the portraits.

I'd never shot a portrait with a lighting setup in my life. The last time I got a flash out at home, I couldn't even get it to connect to the trigger.

I said yes. No mulling it over: I didn't let another thought in.

Did things go wrong? Yes. Was it perfect? Also no. But I came away with more than 200 portraits, learned a huge amount and had a brilliant time. The photo at the top is from just after.

What I live for

That's where I worked out what hooks me about sport: the people. The race atmosphere, being right out in the middle of nature and, at the same time, that tension of it all happening just once.

For years my thing was landscape, which I love, but it's quiet. What I live for is delivering under pressure: reading the race, moving from spot to spot, editing wherever I am and getting it published.

Forty minutes

At the Appenninica I met Edu from dronLimits, who got me in with the Klimatiza Orbea Team for the XCM European Championships in Ramales.

David Valero won on 12 July. After the podium I asked him to grab his bike and pose at the finish, nice and calm. Out of everything I shot that day, El País went for that photo, not the action shots. It landed in the newsroom about forty minutes later. Here's the article.

In September I went back to Italy with the same team, for the World Championships in Trentino.

How I prepare for a race

First, whatever I've been asked for. Then there's always an extra: something I think could come in handy for them, or just playing around with something different. The photo of Valero with his bike was an extra.

The day before, I look for shooting spots and work out how to get to each one, then I go and see them with my own eyes. On race day it's time to improvise, because something always happens that wasn't in the plan.

An engineer, too

I've been programming for more than twelve years and these days I lead a team. It shows in the photos more than you'd think: if I need a tool I don't have, I write it myself, like the one that offloads and sorts my memory cards as soon as I'm back, or the one that lets me dictate without going through the cloud.

I don't pay for all this with my salary. I pay for it with my holidays, which get used up on races and trips with the camera.

Who I work with

Teams, race organisers, outdoor brands and media, in Spanish and English. I'm starting out, and I'll say it straight: that doesn't change the fact that I've already worked both in Spain and abroad.

Everything else

I'm from Madrid, the south side. I've lived in lots of places and now I'm in the capital. Cycling, coffee and a server rack at home that nobody but me cares about. Cameras, drones, lenses and backpacks, so many backpacks. I'm a sucker for tinkering with kit.

Let's talk

If you have a race, a team or a story to tell, drop me a line. I answer my own messages, and if you'd rather, we can talk it through on a fifteen-minute video call.

Contact mehola@mariogarridotorres.com@mario.garridotorres on Instagram