Return to Childhood

Remember being a kid at the playground? The slides, swing sets, monkey bars, and of course the see-saw all laid out in front of you just begging for you to come and play. Hours could be spent running, jumping, swinging, and climbing. The thought that you could fall and get hurt never once crossed your mind, hell even when you did fall you would (with assistance from Mom and the always handy Band-Aid box) be back on your feet and ready to go again in minutes.

What happened? When did our yearning to experience life at break neck speeds with all our senses fade? How did those thoughts of broken bones, insurance bills, and sick days creep into our minds?

There are those among us who have fought off those creeping thoughts, pushed aside the rules of being ‘grown-up’ and have returned their bodies and minds to that adventurous state we more commonly know as childhood. Who are these fanatical free thinkers you ask? The men and women who participate in a sport known as Parkour.
These crazed athletes run, jump, climb, and dodge their way through modern day cities transforming our streets and buildings into the grown-up equivalent of monkey bars and see-saws. Their moves are graceful, even zen like, as they traverse their concrete and brick laden path.

In the most simple terms, the sport is all about getting from point A to point B. The fun, though, is in how you accomplish that seemingly simple task. This, in case you were wondering, is where photography comes into play.

I’ve been interested in the sport for some time, since seeing one of the founders of the sport Sebastien Foucan, in 007: Casino Royal, in fact. How can one not be fascinated by watching people jump off buildings, crawl through pipes, vault over railings, and backflip off walls.

My goal was to seek out the local Parkour community and see if I couldn’t capture some of these amazing acrobatics on film. Lucky for me, I happened to know a few guys in the video world who happened to know another few guys in the Parkour world. Oh, how I love networking!
A few emails were exchanged and bing, bang, boom we met up down town for a preliminary photo session. I’ve found that when dealing with athletes, especially those who aren’t used to working around the camera, if you can squeeze more than one session in you really will get better images. It not only gives them a chance to get used to the camera and the lights, but it also gives you as the photographer a chance to learn their moves and better anticipate the decisive moment to click the shutter.

I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse at our first session. These guys are certainly amazing athletes and I am currently in the process of setting up our second session. Stay tuned for more information and of course more images!