Chris Wage Photography 

Lady Fury of the Nashville Roller Girls. Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN. September 15, 2012.

Photographing roller derby has given me an opportunity to learn and perfect pan shots — a skill that has been surprisingly useful elsewhere! I was pretty proud of a couple of shots from their most recent bout last weekend, this one included.

So, over the past few years, I’ve had a lot of people ask to buy prints of my photos. It’s incredibly flattering to know that people appreciate my photos enough to want to hang them on their walls at all, much less pay me for it. As such, I’ve always felt compelled to do my best to fulfill these requests, despite the fact that I know very little about the actual printing industry, much less matting, framing and decorating. To be honest, though, it’s become a hassle. The industry is changing daily due to the digital revolution, and the frequency of people asking me for prints is relatively rare. Thus, every time it happens, I have to re-evaluate the vendors, and then negotiate a price (read: pull one out of my ass), which always felt a bit disingenuous (more below). Plus, again, I’m often asked to provide expertise in an area (printing, framing and decoratin) that I know nothing about. I actually once had someone ask me which of my photos would work best in their living room, and gave me a rundown of the furniture and color scheme. At the end of the day, I’m a photographer, not an interior decorator.

To that end, I’ve decided to start offering prints for free. Of course, I don’t mind if people want to compensate me for them, naturally, but it’s easier for me to just handle that via donations. (Seriously, if you want to donate $2,000 or so, there’s this lens I could really use.) This gives people the flexibility to get whatever they want, and frees me to focus on what I do best: taking pictures. I’ve put up instructions and details, but I felt like some elaboration was necessary — hence this post:

This year, I had the honor of photographing the Nashville Roller Girls through their 2010 season. I skulked around in the background through practices, scrimmages, bouts, and, begrudgingly, afterparties, where I was forced, against my will, to cavort and socialize with all of my subjects. It was hard work, but in the interest of journalistic integrity, I felt it was necessary, to give you, dear readers, the real deal. Seriously, though: I met a lot of truly, truly amazing people, and made lots of great friends. I also, surprisingly, found myself the fan of a sport. No, really! I know the rules and everything! I’ve even found myself yelling alongside other belligerent individuals at other sporting events. Roller derby is apparently the true gateway drug.

I witnessed a team of young, raw recruits training their asses off, while a tireless group of individuals worked behind the scenes to keep things running. I witnessed that team face the uncertainty of their entire league’s future, with their former home at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds uncertain. I saw the team bent low by injury and relocation, but not broken. I watched the same team rise to the challenge and emerge victorious — eventually heading to the national championships. A true accomplishment. I understand Atlanta wanted to be there, but they couldn’t make it.

So, I’ll probably be featuring a lot of the 8 brazillion photos I’ve taken over the last year on this blog, but I have actually made an effort to edit all those photos into a coherent set, which you can find here. See you all at the next bout!

I spent some quality time in the rain with my new best friend.. I really wish the radio station advertised on the top of the Stahlman building was one cooler than WKDF. You know, like some imaginary radio station that’s actually still cool.

I am pretty sure the guy on the right there has been at Melrose every time I’ve ever been there. Including, like, 10 years ago.

What more can I say?

I’ve been forcing myself to take my LX-3 out more, and point it down instead of up. Old habits are hard to break.

Shortly before Trail West moved to its new location, it shut down briefly because its current location (pictured here) was apparently infested with a giant bee hive in the building. It’s been sitting there empty ever since. I can only assume that there’s some sort of mutant master alien bee race regrouping and growing stronger in there. Waiting, patiently waiting.