In case you missed it last year, I shot 4×5 film portraits of the Red Hook Crit women’s field for the 2014 Brooklyn Red Hook Crit, and couldn’t wait to pick the project up again this year. To be honest I wish I could afford to do this during a select number of other races all over the world, and hopefully I can evolve this series to that point some time.
Last year, I was able to have 13 racers sit down for a portrait. This year I had about 26 total, and lost one frame during a film holder mishap. This mishap poke a small hole in the bellows of my camera that I didn’t notice until I saw the results on developed film. Some of these shots have a weird light leak in them due to the mishap, and I really regret losing that one frame.
I buckled down with the intention of shooting every single woman that registered this year, since last year’s series was so well received. I had over fifty 4×5 sheets ready to go, my camera, a ton of film holders, a tripod, a bunch of daylight modifiers, my digital camera kit, and a set of rollers for friends to use. I was lucky enough to be taken by car service with ALL of my gear from my home in Bedstuy, all the way to Red Hook thanks to my good friend Kym Perfetto and her sponsor Aventon Bikes.
I’m always floored by the women that come out to race for the Red Hook series. Can’t even put into words the amount of admiration and respect I have for them, and it’s been such an honor to document what I can in my own way. I started shooting film portraits of these women as a way of challenging a majority of the coverage that was out there. Women’s race coverage and advertising can be anything from a total lack of coverage, to incredibly sexualized portrayals of women in sports. The Red Hook Crit advertising and media coverage of the women’s field has been pretty spot on, and a good way of documenting how bad ass these athletes are. I want women’s racing to grow. I want these amazing, super strong, incredibly talented people to be seen as who they really are. No tricks, no bullshit, just admiration and respect. Black and white film, and clear, focused eyes.
These were shot on Ilford HP5, with a Sinar 4×5 camera and a Schneider 150mm lens. For any other inquiries on this, please don’t hesitate to email me: NoLifeLikeThisLife@Gmail.com, and if you share, please credit!
It’s been such an incredible honor to have every single one of these women sit for me and my camera. It’s been so humbling.
Thank you!!
-JP Bevins
