A love note to derby photographers everywhere*
*With special mention to Maritime derby photographers, especially our very own Richard Lafortune
To all of our derby photographers (Richard Lafortune, Paul Vienneau, Steve Clarkson, Evan Shanks, Roy Crawford, Jason Hickey, Andre Reinders, Travis of Digital Reflections, Cassie Latta-Johnson, Andrea Crowell and anyone else who has captured Anchor City Rollers on camera):
Thank you.
There is so much you do for this sport, for us, that I think we could thank you every day and it still wouldn’t be enough.
Thank you for coming to our games. Tournaments. Practices. Training camps. Fundraisers. Events. Travelling by bus, by car, by plane. Thank you for being a friendly face at home and away.
Thank you for capturing us at our best and our worst (and often checking to see if the latter is okay to make public).
Thank you for inviting us to your photography studios. For taking headshots, team photos, and pictures for epic bout posters. Thank you for giving us priceless mementos of our derby life.
Thank you for making us look Powerful. Strong. Tough. Resilient. And helping us realize that it is because we are.
Thank you for showing us the things that our bodies and brains can make us do. I don’t always love or appreciate my body, but it is when I look at your pictures that I do the most.
Thank you for spending countless hours organizing, editing, and posting pictures. Promptly, voluntarily, and in your free time. It is one of the things we most look forward to after a game. (That and checking out our new bruises.)
Without you, we wouldn’t be able to relive every bout, every jam, every moment. We can recount that time we jammed for the first time, that time we delivered a sweet hit, that time we recycled the jammer, or that time we made the silliest face (there are a lot of those ones).
Thank you for the countless Facebook profile pictures that make us look so badass. And for the proof we do this thing that we can show to our non-derby friends.
Thank you for documenting this sport, the way it has grown, evolved, endured. The way we have grown, evolved, endured.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you! We appreciate you! Thank you for being such an important part of our derby family.
p.s. Share your favourite derby shots in the comments!
