Five times a week, “Bullet Man” Ruben Mariani is fired from a cannon to entertain the crowd at Circo Mundial, one of Portugal’s largest circuses. Photographer Francisco Salgueiro captured the exciting moment for Circus Life, an ongoing project that takes us back stage at Portugal's 25 traveling circuses.
Mariani is the only human cannonball in the country, and has been performing the trick since 2010. He's flown through the air some 1,200 times since then. Though he makes it seem routine, the dangers are endless.
“Ruben is being shot at around 75 mph and the cannon must have the correct elevation and angle. At the end of the tent there is a net held by circus personnel. If the angle and elevation aren’t right he might miss the net. This is danger number one," Salgueiro explains. "Danger number two: As soon as he touches the net he must do a perfect somersault, then roll down about 30 to 50 feet until he reaches the ground. Danger number three: If the button for him to be shot out of the cannon doesn't work, he can’t climb off the cannon because if there is a malfunction, the mechanism could jump start and break his legs or worse.”
Mariani's never been seriously injured, which is somewhat abnormal in the circus biz. Salgueiro says many performers suffer dozens of broken bones falling from ropes and trapezes.
While attempting to make the perfect picture of Mariani’s spectacular but brief flight, Salgueiro found it difficult to successfully capture him in the frame. Beyond the speed with which the human cannonball flies, the timing of his ejection from the cannon isn’t always exact. There is a countdown to Mariani’s exit, but sometimes it’s as many as five seconds off. Since Salgueiro was shooting raw files in burst mode and could make just six photos at a time---the difference of a few seconds could easily mean missing the moment. Salgueiro barely managed to capture the frame seen above, as it was the last of the six in his camera.
In the last year, Salgueiro has made 70 trips documenting life under the big top, but still finds he has more to explore.
"Although I have visited all the circuses that operate in Portugal, this is an ongoing project because every time I visit a circus there is always a new story to be told," he says.
