Meet the Betties

Some new, some not as new.

The Smoke City Betties, one of ToRDs four awesome teams, had a fund raiser tonight. I looked over at the auction table and didn't recognize a bunch of the people there. While normally a first reaction might be "Who are these people?" as a photographer of derby one has to take into account that a derby skater does not always look like the same person in a real life environment compared to the big exciting sport life on the track.

There are a few factors that play into this.

• helmet - usually when photographing a skater their hair is covered by a helmet. When I first saw Slaughter Lauder off the track doing some NSO work I did a second take because she had a long mane of hair. She looked "weird".


• skates - skates add height. So if you're used to shooting someone who's 5 foot something and then meeting them without skates on you wonder why you're not looking at the same height you're used to. Also while on skates, the subject moves around differently. Gliding from point A to point B. Off skates, the subject moves differently. Maybe seems more clumsy, off balance (usually if holding beer), or just moves up and down more.
  


• outfit - the brain adjusts to the skater wearing an outfit. Should the outfit change into street wear the effect is like seeing a familiar comic book character wearing something else. Imagine Charlie Brown in a tux drawn into a Bloom County background. You might recognize him but you'd have to take a second look if he's not standing next to someone else you know.

Slaughter Lauder (11) "Some thing's a foot"

As it turns out the people behind the table at the auction were actually new skaters that I had not met yet. That was good, verifying that my brain and memory (at least for derby) was still intact. wheew.


"Don't stop believin'..."

At some point in the night the old derby standard of Journey started to play. I think that's also about the time the party picked up a bit. Some of the girls got up on the beer counter and started dancing to the song while singing along.

One of these days I'll have to make a book just on photos taken at roller derby after parties with this song playing in the background. It's magical. Gold! Photographic gold!!!


It's a magnet for foot notes.