Julius Metoyer | julius@wearemjr.com | Los Angeles
Mustafah Abdulaziz | mustafah@wearemjr.com | USA, Mexico
Matthew Craig | matt@wearemjr.com | Fall’s Doorstep, NYC
Archive for the 'Essay' Category
“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.
“Penn Relays 2008″ by Mustafah Abdulaziz
___________________________________
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
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.
“Carry Me Ohio” by Matt Eich
___________________________________
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
In 2000, President Vicente Fox took power in Mexico, vowing to combat the growing levels of crime that have been on the rise since the early ’90s. With a core population of 8 million citizens – equal to that of New York City – the Distrito Federal (D.F.) is stifled by a widely corrupt police force only two-thirds the size of its American counterpart.
Combined with this grossly underpaid and understaffed police force is a massive flow of drugs from Colombia. Everything from cocaine to heroin to marijuana is funneled through the capital on its way north. Locally, it is trafficked for the cartels by local gangs. There are international repercussions to drugs in D.F.: the United Nations estimates that 90% of all cocaine used in the United States is smuggled from South America through Mexico City.
Violence against journalists has resulted in the self-censorship of many of the city’s leading publications, so much that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has strongly advocated the federal protection of journalists, citing it as, “essential for the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law in this country.”
Bribery and corruption has reached deep into the judiciary system, making both the apprehension and successful prosecution of criminals unlikely. The capital is in a circle of violence, one that shows no possibility of slowing in the near future.
Coordinated muggings and gang violence make it an extraordinarily dangerous place to live. Beyond the allure of the bright city lights lies an ugly truth: when the sun sets, crime heats up on the pavement of Mexico City nights.
Shooting your best friends is a hell of a lot different from shooting strangers. Is it easier or more difficult to shoot people you know?
For me…its easier and much more fun to shoot my friends, but for others it isn’t so. Here are some things that i keep in mind when i have a frame full of homies aka idiots.
It is important to remember to not let your friend control the session, keep them at bay and remember that while standing in front of your lens they are subjects, not friends. If they are true friends they will respect what you are doing and respond accordingly. If not, just keep breaking out your camera until they get used to it.
Schutz- This is his quintessential face. Someone told him that it was a costume party and he showed up in that damned hat. Nobody else in attendance wore a costume and schutz never took off the hat.
When shooting, I suspend the fact of friendship and what I do is treat them like models, not the guys you just spent 9 hours drinking with. The camera in my hands gives me a license to be the boss and them the employee. So I direct them as such, tell them what to do and react to their responses. If it isnt working then we try something else and continue to move forward.
Dave- He bought those sunglasses in Venice the day before. I think everyone at the party tried on those glasses and they quickly became the prop of choice during the photo shoot. He wanted to fix the glasses and I stopped him from putting them on correctly. This is the “i know what you are trying to make me look like” face.
Smith- has never been to Brooklyn
The environment and circumstances played a large role when i chose to photograph these guys. All of the images in this post were taken from 6am-7am after a party at a friends house where we all spend too much time. I saw that the sun was coming up and I had 5 of my best friends together all on the same level (which was lower than most at 6am). I grabbed my camera bag with the 6×7 and 35mm bodies and put my friends up against an ivy wall in the yard. We were still drunk and still drinking. It was an overcast morning so light was everywhere and the mood was somewhere between excited and haggard. The setting was neutral place for everyone, nobody was intimidated by their surroundings and my equipment was minimal which made everyone that much more comfortable.
These are the first five images that I shot. It was a little after 6 am and the sun was just coming out behind the overcast sky. There wasn’t a lot of light and I had Velvia 50 in my camera not the best for this situation but i worked with it. The images are a bit dark and grainy but the moments are still there. I think these were taken at about a 15th or 30th at f2. This combination worked because I didn’t necessarily want to freeze the action. The movement in the images adds life to the pictures.
With friends, you are already familiar with their distinct facial expressions and unique behaviors and you know what you can do to get your friends to react in ways that clearly demonstrate who they are. Use that to your advantage, get them smiling or get them looking at you the way they always do. Take the time to freeze them the way they really are.
Dylan- was actually flipping off Morgan
Morgan- was deeply saddened about graduating college. That night he challenged three University of Arizona frat kids to a drinking contest and won. The other three guys passed out hours earlier. One even needed to be slapped awake and put in the shower.
Smith- ? i have no idea whats going on here but that’s a stale bagel in his hands.
This was fun. it was one of those times where everything just lined up and i was in the right place at the right time. Sometimes thats just what happens.
That is pretty much my process or at least was the way this particular shoot went down. We had way too much to drink and couldn’t laugh enough about it. It was a fun time and well worth the seven rolls of film. Thanks for reading and l please let me know if you have any questions. I promise to get back to you as i’ve been working on my correspondence technique.
-J