First, I took a little trip to shoot the inaugural bout of the Rodeo City Rollergirls in Ellensburg, a town about two hours east of Seattle. It was a new experience for all of us, since I’d never seen nor photographed any league’s first public bout. Needless to say, it was a blast! The skaters were pumped, the audience was fired up, and the score was close right up until the final jam. But the thing that impressed me the most about this league was that they understood the value of great derby photos.
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| Rodeo City Rollergirls in their inaugural bout (1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 3200, two remote flashes) |
You see, unlike every other league I’ve photographed over the past six years, Rodeo City offered to pay me to shoot their bout. That says a lot. And their hospitality was second to none — they treated me like a rock star. But something nagged at me, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Many of the skaters were overjoyed that a "big city" photographer like me (if Seattle can even be called a big city) would take the time to shoot their "small town" league. I totally appreciate their gratitude, but I was surprised by that notion. Why wouldn’t I want to shoot their league?
A few days later, the other important thing happened: I watched this talk by Simon Sinek about how great leaders inspire people to follow them. It’s only 18 minutes long, and I urge you to watch it, but I’ll summarize it in case you don’t have time right now. Great leaders, Sinek says, tell you why they do things, instead of merely describing what they do or how they do it.
Focusing on the "why" is such a simple, powerful idea, but until now I’ve focused on what I do, and I created this blog to explain how I do it. I’ve never taken the time to describe why I do it, or why you should care. So without further ado, here’s the reason why I’m a derby photographer:
I want to infect the world with roller derby.
Roller derby, as you know, is a highly contagious viral infection — a pleasurable one, but an infection nonetheless. Mere exposure to derby practically guarantees its transmission, and immunity is rare. Infection typically follows a three-stage progression: In Stage I, the virus gets under your skin and causes a recurring derby itch that must be scratched. In Stage II, the virus enters the bloodstream and triggers an autoimmune response known as derby fever. Finally in Stage III, the virus occupies the brain, causing the host to seek out new victims and actively spread the infection. This is the stage I find myself in, and happily the disease is incurable.
Joking aside, I want roller derby to become tremendously popular. I want to watch weekly bouts on ESPN. I want to hear derby commentary on SportsCenter. Why do I want this? Because it will increase my own personal enjoyment of the sport. I realize that some fans and skaters are opposed to this goal. Some are concerned about the changes and compromises that will happen as derby becomes more mainstream. Some are reluctant to give up their small, intimate venues and move to large, impersonal arenas. Some just want to keep derby as an underground sport that only the cool kids know about. I respect these opinions, but I don't agree with them. I believe vastly increased popularity will make the sport even more competitive, and much more fun to watch.
Now that I've covered the "why", I can talk about the "how" and the "what". If you want to infect the world with roller derby, how do you do it? You cultivate the derby virus, weaponize it, and dump it into the water supply of every town you can. You take a bunch of dynamic, dramatic derby photos, show them to the unsuspecting public and say, "See this? This is roller derby. You don't know it yet, but this is going to change your life."
By now, it should be clear why I agreed to shoot Rodeo City's inaugural bout — I couldn't pass up the chance to infect a new audience. The same rationale prompted me to create this blog. I can't shoot every league, so I want to help you capture the best photos you can. Together we can expose millions of people to the derby virus. Now go out there and spread the infection!
