Nick Ballon was born in England to the idiosyncratic parentage of a Bolivian restauranteur, and an NHS chief executive from Petts Wood. This may account for his keen eye for the incongruous. In 2001, Nick completed a Photography degree from Berkshire School of Art and Design, which was shortly succeeded by a spell working for renowned advertising photographers’ agency Jo Clark, giving him a good grounding in the business of photography. Nick spent the subsequent four years working as a commercial photographer for a prestigious roster of editorial and advertising clients. Recent accolades include the The Creative Review Photography Annual and Foto8 Summer Show.
Of this work, Viva las Luchadoras!, Ballon writes, ‘The Lucha Libre is loud, action packed fun, but also a violent and colourful spectacle of suffering, defeat and justice. Bolivian wrestling is about excess and character play, so I wanted to catch the wrestlers in their contemplative and quietest moods as a contrast to their fighting characters. Each wrestler had their own warm up routine, some laughed and joked, while others warmed up using breeze blocks as weights, or just paced the backstage building site nervously. With each portrait I allowed each subject to spontaneously pose in or out of character prior to entering the ring’.
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This is epic and simple and well done. It made me scream.