attempt no. 3
i did this as an application project for an MFA program at School of Visual Arts and is a visual narrative story about a weightlifting competition from an athlete’s perspective.
i did the planning/direction, photos, written story, and design; all of these things on their own weren’t ‘perfect’ but as an interdisciplinary project where the purpose was storytelling, it did that well
deliverable: 6x9” coffee table style book
read the full story here
(I was accepted to start in the summer of 2020 but decided to forgo the opportunity because of COVID-19).
“the sport of weightlifting can be cruel. An athlete only gets six attempts on the platform in a competition—three attempts of two different lifts. Mistakes and failed lifts occur in training and even in competition but it's the mental strength to get back up for that third attempt that brings success.”
(cover text)
about the process:
after writing my written story quickly, i thought about what to do my visual narrative story on for a good week with no success [and admittedly i was starting to panic at the lack of good ideas]. then, a day or two before i had a weightlifting competition that weekend, it hit me.
naturally i had very little time to plan much but i had a vision. i asked one teammate to be my subject, knew what i wanted the overall message to be without writing the actual story, and had some ideas for journalism-style POV photos rolling around in my head. no sketches, no storyboarding, no notes, just running off lived experience, anxiety, adrenaline, and some caffeine.
——
i’m not a ‘professional photographer’ but i had a low end digital SLR camera and a 50mm lens and i had a vision.
i’m not a ‘professional writer’ but i like creative writing and storytelling and i had something to say.
i can design editorial-style books and ‘zines in my sleep. i didn’t consider anything else.
we were given a few prompts to choose from for both a visual narrative story and a written story but we had to use the same prompt for both. i knew both of my stories would be partially non-fiction and so i chose the prompt a mistake that as made.
mistakes felt relatable, perfectly flawed, and human.
that’s the kinda story i like to read as well as create.
——
i showed up to the competition that day with my competition gear over one shoulder and my camera and creative mind over the other, taking care of business (the project) first in the session right before my own.the photos i got and my own experience from that that day somehow aligned despite factual differences to create the final story——something I and many athletes have experienced often.
[the story is mostly true, except for the parts that aren’t]
