I’ve been wanting to do a roller deby portrait project for several years but did not have the opportunity until now. Several of my friends actually compete in roller derby leagues around the country, and I’ve always wanted to somehow capture the energy, intensity, and unique personalities associated with the sport.

After a bit of research I came across the St. Louis-based Arch Rival Roller Girls league (ARRG). For the photo essay I decided to do a diptych of several members from the three teams in the league to contrast their roller derby and “daytime job” personalities. A diptych consists of two photographs, or actually any two pieces of art, that are placed side-by-side and play off of each other in terms of composition and/or content. The photo on the left side of the picture above was taken during a practice session with a colored backdrop to match the color of the team represented and lit with a ringlight to achieve a “halo” effect. The photo on the right was taken to represent the “daytime job” of the skater and was lit with two battery operated strobes hooked up to Pocket Wizard wireless transmitters to the left and right of the dog and derby skater respectively.

The members of ARRG were incredibly cool people to photograph. I hope you are as intrigued as I was by this underground sport and maybe even take some time on a Saturday evening to see them in action in person. Until then, you can check out more photographs and hear them talk about their derby life at:
http://www.stltoday.com/mds/lifestyle/html/1693