Mustafah Abdulaziz | mustafah@wearemjr.com | People of Philadelphia, PA
Robert August | rob@wearemjr.com | Lisa @ Click
Matthew Craig | matt@wearemjr.com | South of Canal St. NYC
Sean Flanigan | sean@wearemjr.com | Winthrop, WA
Julius Metoyer | julius@wearemjr.com | Los Angeles, CA
Mustafah Abdulaziz | mustafah@wearemjr.com | Expedition race athletes recovering, Cape Horn, South America
Robert August | rob@wearemjr.com | Brooklyn, NY
Matthew Craig | matt@wearemjr.com | Manhattan & Brooklyn, NY
Sean Flanigan | sean@wearemjr.com | Portland, OR
Julius Metoyer | julius@wearemjr.com | Riot! Riot! in Los Angeles, CA
“The Penn Relays is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It regularly attracts more than 15,000 participants from high schools, colleges, and track clubs throughout North America and abroad, notably Jamaica, competing in more than 300 events over five days. Historically, the event has been credited with popularizing the running of relay races. It is held during the last full week of April. Attendance typically tops 100,000 over the final three days.”
Source: Wikipedia, the free content encyclopedia.
This essay focuses on the athletic abilities as well as the physical and emotional consequences of competitive track and field at the annual Penn Relays.
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Caption: A runner leads the pack during the Women’s 4×400 Championship.
Caption: High school athletes from Delaware stretch in the earling morning of the second day of the event.
Caption: A long jumper searches for his results on the board after his leap.
Caption: Coaches and athletes search the board for their scores and placement.
Caption: A Eastside High School athlete breaks down in the underground areas of Franklin Fields stadium after loosing in the 4×100 competition.
Caption: Taking advantage of the cool subterranean tunnels of Franklin Fields, female college athletes stretch, lay down and hydrate before their 4×400 competition.
Caption: A Brooklyn High School coach yells from the stands during her team’s 4×100 competition.
Caption: High school athletes are rounded and processed for competition.
Caption: Seconds after running, a college athlete collapses near the sidelines.
Caption: Wolmer’s Boys athletes from Kingston, Jamaica, during their 4×400 run.
Caption: A college athlete after placing 4th in the pole vault.
Caption: Winners of the 2008 Women’s 4×400 Championship celebrate.
“Penn Relays” by Mustafah Abdulaziz/MJR
Mustafah Abdulaziz | mustafah@wearemjr.com | Philadelphia, PA
Robert August | rob@wearemjr.com | New York City, NY
Matthew Craig | matt@wearemjr.com | Brooklyn, NY
Julius Metoyer | julius@wearemjr.com | Los Angeles, CA
Our next Showcase comes from Matt Eich. You may have seen his stellar MediaStorm presentation or seen his work in print. You can download the interview here.
Bio:
Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a Midwest based freelance photographer and founding member of the AEVUM photo collective with a passion for social documentary storytelling. He began working as a photographer while finishing a degree in photojournalism from Ohio University. His images have appeared in Newsweek, The FADER, The New York Times, Photo District News, Grazia, American Photo, HotShoe, GEO, The Sunday (London) Times, Issue and others. He has worked with The Orange County-Register, The Virginian-Pilot, The Oregonian, and National Geographic.
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Caption: A fallen road sign early one morning, one mile from Chauncey, Ohio.
Caption: Richie Goins, Jr. watches from the window of his parents trailer as cinder blocks are brought in to lay the foundation for his grandmother’s new trailer. Leetha Goins and her children Timmy, 25, Troy, 16, and grandson Will, for whom she cares, were displaced when a drunk driver swerved off the road and crashed into their trailer. A recent study showed that the child poverty rate has increased 5.6 percent in the state of Ohio over the past 5 years. In the town of Chauncey specifically, 33.3 percent of those under the age of 18 live below the poverty line.
Caption: The Goins family attempts to move belongings into a new trailer as dusk settles over Chauncey, Ohio.
Caption: Tracie Goins comforts Timmy, 25, as he has a seizure, Chauncey, Ohio. She had been up since 4am for work when a boy’s tantrum sent Timmy (left) into another seizure. Timmy is 25 and has cerebral palsy, requiring around the clock care. Tracie’s niece, Nicole, changes Ritchie, Jr. in the background.
Caption: Clayton Ator riles up his dogs Shank and Money after getting stoned. Ator, an ex-con learned to “shoot ink” in prison and does prison style tattoos out of his living room in Carbondale, OH.
Caption: Shandi Alfman, 16, Nikkie Barnhart, 14, Lisa Russell, 20, and Sheyenne McKee (R) hang out on the main drag of Glouster, OH.
Caption: Hank Balch, 38, and his brother Jeffrey Balch, 44, hang out and drink beer right off the main street in Glouster, OH.
Caption: Troy Goins, 16, sucks his toes to console himself as he sits on his new bed in his mother’s trailer in Chauncey, Ohio. His autism makes it difficult for him to deal with even the smallest changes and self-stimulation is his way of coping.
Caption: Tylor Woodrum, 16, burns trash in the backyard of his step-mom’s house in Carbondale, Ohio on January 30, 2007. His father, Dave Woodrum, was killed in August of 2006 in a high-impact 4-wheeler accident. Dave’s family had his body cremated and his favorite cock-fighting rooster mounted on top of the box.
Caption: Jesse Sellers peers up into a tree while hunting with a friend in Chauncey, OH.
Caption: Lindsey Andrews, 17, and her sister Neosha, 24, play with Neosha’s daughter, Jessica Maffin, 2, in Glouster, OH.
Caption: A cutout of Jesus looms in the falling light in Shade, OH.
Caption: Tracie Goins holds up a parrot’s wing in Chauncey, Ohio. ‘I like to take each of the birds out a few times a week,’ she said. She explained that recently caring for her brother-in-law, who has cerebral palsy, has consumed the time that once would have been spent on the birds.
Caption: Viewed through a collection of medicine bottles lining the Sellers family’s window, Hercules the dog crouches to watch the children playing in the snow. The Sellers family struggles with an assortment of health problems. Most of their children have asthma, and twins Kacey and Lacey, 5, were both born profoundly deaf. Chauncey, Ohio.
Caption: Tylor Woodrum, 16, holds a box containing his father’s ashes. Dave Woodrum was killed in August of 2006 in a high-impact 4-wheeler accident. Dave’s family had his body cremated and his favorite cock-fighting rooster mounted on top of the box. Carbondale, Ohio.
Copyright © 2008, Matt Eich
