Vittorio. Credits: ESA-C. Corrongiu
It’s about time I introduce the exceptional CAVES photo and video team, and I’ll start with Vittorio, or Vitto, for historical reasons.
I met Vittorio during the first CAVES test, a full dry run in September 2008. That was the dawn of CAVES with a very small support team, no science or Space Station-like operations. Human behaviour and performance was totally separated from the expedition and there was no training on photography or on surveying. In hindsight, we really just had a guided tour of the cave.
Vittorio was one member of the caving support team, and he had taken a camera that he had borrowed from his girlfriend. Unfortunately the camera died after a couple of days due to the underground humidity. We bought him a new camera, and he did wonderful things with it. Vitto gained the nickname “Puffellini” after the video he edited of the CAVES 2008 dry run: the “Puff” part was due to his blue cave suit making him look like a Puffo – Italian for Smurf.
Vittorio was also involved during the Shenanigans09 survival training. Then he became responsible for photo and video documentation. Combining his newly acquired photography skills, his artistic eye and his ability to move like a mountain goat up and down rock walls, he produced a fantastic video, which was the highlight of the Shenanigans09 basic training video.
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In Venezuela. Credits: V. Crobu
Vittorio is a mountain goat: he jumps around with no fear and with tremendous agility, he is as wild as the wildest of brave animals, and has their free a spirit. Combine that with his abilities to capture the spirit of a cave, and his drive for exploration, and you have a perfect companion for any expedition. Vittorio is now a member of the La Venta exploring team, and many of their best videos and pictures have his stamp on them.
In fact, the only way to keep Vittorio from being outdoor doing weird sports or exploring weird places is to tie him to an editing chair to finish his great videos. We have even a special tent for him and his colleague Sirio during CAVES. They spend their nights laughing about what they recorded during the day, and creating their videos that are worthy of an Oscar.
Loredana Bessone
Underground video editing. Credits: S. Sechi
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