Huracán: Faces. The agony and ecstasy of Club Atlético Huracán supporters

Words: Daniela Spina

Images: Daniela Spina

WHO I AM

My name is Daniela, I grew up in Parque Patricios, a neighbourhood in the south of Buenos Aires.

This part of the city is deeply into soccer and tango, where the happiness of the neighbours is at stake in every match of Club Atlético Huracán.

To sum up how important my club is to me, my grandparents met dancing tango in one of the dance halls of the headquarters.

THE BEGINNINGS

I don’t remember the exact year, but one day I took the camera to the stadium. And when I say the camera, I don’t mean a good camera, I mean one of those familiar ones that we used 15 years ago, which today would be easily humiliated with the quality of mobile phones.

But that was enough.

Today I keep track of great moments experienced by the fans and I can’t even imagine the value that these images have.

I started taking photos in the place that was familiar to me, my second home, where every moment and situation seems amazing, beautiful, and worthy to be recorded.

I never thought that I would become part of the fans, part of a personal project and a style that I am still discovering and working on.

©Daniela Spina/ Terrace Edition. Club Atlético Huracán supporter.

WHAT IS “POR SU GENTE”?

“Huracán is great only because of its people and without winning the championship” says one of the songs that the fans sing.

This project is not just about football, it is the most sentimental side of the sport, it is the place that these clubs have in the lives of many people.

There are fans who contact me to thank me for having portrayed the family dog that passed away, the first day on the field of one of their children, or who ask me for the image of a family member who is no longer here.

What happens on a football field is always unforgettable, for better or worse. And in every gesture, in every hug and in every tear I can’t help but see myself reflected.

I am also those people that I portray, there is always that moment in which I have to forget for a second what I am feeling because, otherwise, the photo is not taken.

At that moment, I am a fan, but I am more of a photograph.

It didn’t take me long to know that what I wanted to portray were the fans.

I scrolled through my Instagram feed and one of the first images I posted was a child of no more than three years old on his father’s shoulders in the middle of the stands at the Huracán stadium.

So I went from taking photos with my phone to wanting to take my family camera, because it wasn’t enough.

The first thing that caught my attention at the Tomás Adolfo Ducó Stadium was its children playing in the stands.

I photographed dozens of children cheering, playing soccer, waving flags, holding on to the fence and even crying over a game.

Huracán was the reason I asked my parents to give me my first camera as a graduation present, a Nikon 5300.

©Daniela Spina/ Terrace Edition. Young Club Atlético Huracán supporter.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE IMPACT ON THE FANS

One day my photos reached the fans. I decided to take my 70-300 lens to the stadium, and it not only changed my view of photography, it also changed my exploration.

I began to approach people, to look closely at their gestures and movements. There I found something I had never explored: portraits.

I am not a portrait photographer, I like the story told with the context and much more in a place like a soccer stadium.

But this time the context was unnecessary, the Huracán fans lived each game with their soul, and they give me all the time these supernatural photographable expressions.

There was a lot to tell in each moment that the fans lived, each play showed a new face of what I could portray, my amazement was infinite, I did not look for the images, they found me constantly.

The choice of black and white was natural, highlighting each gesture was very important to emphasize what I wanted to communicate with the images and in the tide of people the light and shadow of the stadium help to create a theatrical situation.

Additionally, it works great with the high ISO, since most of the games happen at night, and naturally black and white works very well with the noise of night photos.

©Daniela Spina/ Terrace Edition. Club Atlético Huracán supporters.

BEING A WOMAN AND A FOOTBALL FAN

The first person who took me to the stadium was my grandfather, and from that day on, since I was nine years old, I always dreamed of making my club great in some way.

As female football fans, we don’t have much to dream about, since men dream of scoring a goal in their team’s stadium, but we can’t even imagine what it must feel like. I dreamed of being the club’s president, as a possible dream that I could achieve.

But, in some way, today I can say that I trained at Huracán.

I debuted at 18 and I’m already 33. I’ve been taking photos at the stadium for several years now, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, I don’t know, enough to say that it’s my school, my home, my inspiration and that if I were a football player,

I would even be thinking about retiring, but luckily (and only in this case) I’m a photographer and I have many championships left.

I dedicate this project to my grandfather: “Look, grandpa, I play for Huracán every game, I make people smile, and nobody insults me!”