On dreams, bad timing and beautiful accidents

Photography and words by Alexander Tarazona
Model: Catalina Hurtado

Actors have this old superstition.
Never say good luck. You say break a leg instead. As if destiny itself might get offended by optimism spoken too directly out loud.

I’ve always liked that.

Maybe because the best things already feel temporary when they begin.

In my case, because I’m a tourist.
In hers, because she’s a dreamer.

Catalina is an actress from Cali, Colombia. We met only weeks before she packs her life into a suitcase again and disappears to Mexico.

Timing is a filthy, mysterious thing.

We spent the day inside one of those old hotels untouched by time. A place smelling faintly of old wood, cigarette ghosts and expensive perfume. Like a movie set that forgot to die.

At some point we argued over what film to watch: The Devil Wears Prada or some old De Niro classic. Eventually we agreed room service and cold white wine made more sense than popcorn anyway.

Adult decisions.

Catalina is unique. She feels rare, different. Ella es el tipo de persona que tiene su propio brillo. Authentic in a way that’s become almost suspicious these days. The kind of beauty impossible to imitate. Even harder to ignore.

If you ask me about her years from now, in some bar, somewhere, I’ll probably describe her the same way:

honest, passionate, dangerously alive.

And somehow, all night long, “break a leg” kept sounding less like superstition and more like a philosophy.

So we toasted.

To Mexico.
To photography.
To new places.
To bad timing and beautiful accidents.
To irrational people stubborn enough to gamble their lives on a dream.

“Break a leg,” we said every single time instead of cheers.

And yes, the table in these photographs eventually collapsed.

One broken leg.

A sign, maybe.

Or maybe just proof that some nights are simply too alive to survive intact.

So if you’re reading this, my friend:

Break a leg.
With the dream.
With the move.
With the impossible thing keeping you awake at night.

Don’t quit. We’re rooting for you.