First here are some of my favorite photos that were not used. I have no misgivings at all - just wanted to show some outtakes.
This project was first envisioned in June 2007 when I met Crissy Perham (the Olympian above with the American flag, standing next to the pool). She won two golds and a silver in the '92 games and I was fascinated to know how it felt to be the Very Best at something - something I know very little about. We chatted about other athletes in the area and if they kept in touch. I was amazed to learn how many former Olympians were living here. Some of them I had heard of (Tom Dolan, Dominique Dawes, Michale Weiss) and other I had not (Lacey O'Neal, Arlene Limas, Charles Jenkins). I wanted to find out what they were doing now. So a project was born - Portraits of local Olympic athletes called "Glory Days".
Arlene Limas, it turns out, is the DC Olympic Chapter president. I contacted her, told her about my idea, and asked for help in locating athletes. We made a list of about 12 athletes that were willing to participate in my personal project. I took some photos of Crissy, Wendy Weil and Lacey O'Neal and went knocking on doors to see who might be interested in publishing the project. Not as easy as it seems...
First stop, The Washingtonian Magazine. They loved the idea, but after they found out that not all the athletes I had contacted were medal winners, declined the project. Now, even though I can, somewhat, understand their position I thought it was a little shortsighted (which I told them). I guess it's just not good enough to be in the Olympics... I told them there were some amazing stories that needed to be told - ie: Lacey's experience in the '72 Munich Olympics (read it here), or Michael Weiss's battle with injuries (read it here). But they were not convinced.
So I asked the Washington Post Magazine if they were interested. They loved the idea, but were also a little worried that not all were medal winners. After hearing some of the stories they became convinced that this would be a perfect piece and lead in to the summer games in China. They assigned a writer, Christina Antonaides, and off we went. I can't tell you how important it was for Christina to be a part of this project. She did loads of research, contacted Dorothy Hamill (who I had not known was in the DC area), but most importantly it gave me credibility when I called either the athletes or their agents. Try calling Dominique Dawes and tell her you are a photographer and would like to take their photo - you won't get far. Once the ground work was set everyone was more than happy to participate. The only one we could not take photos of was Michael Phelps. He agreed to the interview but did not have the time to get photos taken - completely understandable. Maybe we could do a follow up with him after the Olympics.
Taking the photo of these athletes was a truly amazing experience. Honestly not a prima donna in the bunch. Everyone gave more of their time than I asked, were very open about their experiences and even gave me some personal time - skating with Dorothy Hamill after our shoot, being able to walk on a balance beam with Dominique Dawes and taking some photos of her with her two dogs, having Michael Weiss perform some flips for me (at his insistence). I'll show some of those photos in my next posting.
In the meantime, enjoy the article in the magazine and take a look at the time-lapsed video of me while photographing the group shot in my studio.
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