Exploratory Committee
So, ever since the Fabulous Lorraine started talking about Roller Derby a year and a half or so ago I'd been thinking that I wanted to do a series of portraits. It's one of those dozens of ideas that you have in the back of your head and it gets kicked around a while and sometimes it bubbles to the surface and you think oh yeah, that would be cool. I got a chance to see it in action a few months back and this solidified the idea. I find the sport exciting, and it's positive message of women helping women to be unique and beautiful in a world where competition usually means winning or nothing.
In any event, I've formed an exploratory committee to see if Roller Derby portraits could turn into my next book-lenth project. My documentary work is all about subcultures and context which is sometimes putting people in their context (Gun owners in Their Homes, or Writers in their creative spaces) and sometimes it's taking them out of a noisy context like studio portraits of protester. Portraits of athletes appeals to me in a way that sports photos don't -- because you're focused on the person, not the action, the player not the point and I can't really think of a sport where individual style comes through more than in roller derby.
When I was out in Arizona I photographed some of the Tucson Roller girls who also introduced me to Axle Adams who photographed the derby book No Mercy: Life on the Roller Derby Track. Axle & I are label-mates and I'd seen his book at my publisher's picnic this summer where everybody was cooing about it in an upstairs room. I sent him a letter back in September saying how much I liked it. It was wonderful to meet him and talk about photography.
In any event, my derby project. Here's how you can help -- are you on a derby team? especially in the New York / Pennsylvania / Baltimore / DC area? Drop me a line. Is there something I should know about? A book of derby portraits? A gallery show in your fair city? A great photographer I should check out? Drop me a line. You can also forward this around to your friends or people you know who play derby.
Metal Maiden, Copper Queens Roller Derby
Dewey Decimatrix, Furious Truckstop Waitresses
Bea N. Hayve of the Furious Truckstop Waitresses jumps the Copper Queens's Mystery Meat
Take a big step today, make plans for something spectacular.
Add me: [ LiveJournal] [Facebook] [ Twitter] [Google+] [Tumblr]
In any event, I've formed an exploratory committee to see if Roller Derby portraits could turn into my next book-lenth project. My documentary work is all about subcultures and context which is sometimes putting people in their context (Gun owners in Their Homes, or Writers in their creative spaces) and sometimes it's taking them out of a noisy context like studio portraits of protester. Portraits of athletes appeals to me in a way that sports photos don't -- because you're focused on the person, not the action, the player not the point and I can't really think of a sport where individual style comes through more than in roller derby.
When I was out in Arizona I photographed some of the Tucson Roller girls who also introduced me to Axle Adams who photographed the derby book No Mercy: Life on the Roller Derby Track. Axle & I are label-mates and I'd seen his book at my publisher's picnic this summer where everybody was cooing about it in an upstairs room. I sent him a letter back in September saying how much I liked it. It was wonderful to meet him and talk about photography.
In any event, my derby project. Here's how you can help -- are you on a derby team? especially in the New York / Pennsylvania / Baltimore / DC area? Drop me a line. Is there something I should know about? A book of derby portraits? A gallery show in your fair city? A great photographer I should check out? Drop me a line. You can also forward this around to your friends or people you know who play derby.
Metal Maiden, Copper Queens Roller Derby
Dewey Decimatrix, Furious Truckstop Waitresses
Bea N. Hayve of the Furious Truckstop Waitresses jumps the Copper Queens's Mystery Meat
Take a big step today, make plans for something spectacular.
Add me: [ LiveJournal] [Facebook] [ Twitter] [Google+] [Tumblr]