Hey, have you folks noticed our shiny new banner ad over there —–>? Awesome! It’s from our friends at Profoto, who are doing a little partnership with the blog. As part of this partnership, I’ll be checking in each month with one of the folks who won their recent Profoto Assistant contest.

First up is Adrian Valenzuela. I thought he could go first, because he’s clearly a sport. And very brave, as he puts himself in the path of speeding, aggressive women on skates, often.

Off we go!

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Holy cow, you are the King of roller derby pictures. I love how incredibly thorough you’ve been in your documentation of this scene. How did you get involved with roller derby, and why did you decide to photograph it?

That’s quite an honorable title you’ve bestowed on me Rachel, but I am new to this scene and there are many others more deserving of the title King of Roller Derby pictures.

Maybe someday I’ll have truly earned that title. Shooting Roller Derby came to me in a roundabout way and it almost didn’t happen. A while back I attended a photography workshop taught by Charr Crail. Charr had photographed the Sac City Rollers and told us if we ever had the chance to shoot Roller Derby we should do it. At the time I didn’t even know people were playing Roller Derby, but she got my wheels turning and I wanted to try it.

Derby got stuck on my white board of ideas in my office and I’d forgotten about it until one night at Fat Cat Tattoo in Sacramento. The boys at Fat Cat’s were having an anniversary party and I had some of my work displayed there. I got into a conversation with a woman about photography and she mentioned that she was “Wrench Wench” from the Sac City Rollers. My wheels started to turn again…

Wrench Wench put me in contact with Sac City’s media people and they set me up to shoot “The Big One” a California Tournament they were hosting. I was extremely excited to shoot, planned out how I was going to shoot it and then shortly before the tournament I received bad news. I got a message from Sac City telling me not to come out. The league had bad luck with some photographers and since they did not know me and this was a major event, they didn’t want to take a chance. Discouraged, I once again put Derby on the back burner for another time.

A few months later I found a posting that finally led me to my first game. Sonoma County was looking for someone to take action shots in a rink with very little ambient light. Not a good thing for action shots, but not a big deal if you have strobes.

I planned on lighting the rink with multiple lights but quickly learned that Roller Rinks built way back when don’t have electrical codes of today. The only available outlet I found was at a DJ booth pretty far from the track. I was only able to use one light that night, but it was a blessing in disguise.

That one light enabled me to get some very dramatic lighting on the skaters, which became the foundation on how I light Roller Derby games today.

I initially wanted to shoot Roller Derby for my portfolio. I was thinking about shooting a couple of games and then put it behind me. But after spending some time with the different leagues and getting to know the girls, I could not walk away. I admire hard work. I quickly learned that these women are not just dressing up in costumes to stage a theatrical play for our entertainment, Roller Derby of today is a real sport.

These women are dedicated athletes, they invest themselves physically, mentally and financially into a sport they love. I wanted to create photographs for the skaters, for my friends, that show the intense physical and mental investment they have made. I want my friends to look good because they work hard and I truly admire them, this is why I photograph them. I want anyone looking at one of my photographs to be able to feel the intensity of the game and the emotions of the skaters.

Do you have a favorite derby shot? Share it with us!

You know that’s a touchy subject right? You’re asking me to choose a favorite photograph… a photograph of specific skaters out of a larger group of women that will get jealous if I don’t select them. Derby girls are a tough bunch but they are still have feelings. Ladies… put your kneepads on your feelings please.

I have two actually, one is of the Silicon Valley Roller Girls and the other is of the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. In the Silicon shot, Jammer Pia Mess is getting a whip from skater Feisty Irish in a game against the Angel City Roller Girls.

In the Santa Cruz shot, Jammer Lulu Lockjaw is getting a whip from Santa Cruz skater Eden Yourheartout in a game against Tucson Roller Derby’s Iron Curtain.

What’s your general lighting setup- how do you make the light work when you’re on location and shooting action?

My general set up for a Derby bout is fairly simple, I have two lights on each side of the track, the first positioned outside the turn and the other midway down the straight away to light up the far end of the track. These four lights give me even lighting down the straight aways and partially through each turn. So basically what I am setting up is a cross key situation, where depending on my position one set of lights is my key and the other is my fill and vice versa.

If time and architecture allow for it I sometimes also light the background to make the venues look a little more interesting. All the lights are triggered remotely with pocket wizards. When using flash, you just can’t and actually shouldn’t “machine gun” the camera and hope for a good shot. You have to learn how to compose quickly, lead your subject and try to predict where they will be to get the shots you want.

behind the scenes!

Thanks, Adrian!