As if the trip a weekend ago to The Hague for the Walk the Line festival wasn’t exciting enough already (all the photos from that festival will be published soon too), the weekend after that I embarked on another little adventure to Kaiserslautern in the South-West of Germany.
The Roller Girls Of The Apocalypse had invited me to come over and shoot their bout against the Hell’s Ass Derby Girls from Strasbourg. Title of the bout was ‘Red, White & Bruised’ and in retrospect this proved to be true, as it turned out to be a hard-fought battle…
This was my second official bout I photographed, so I already had a bit of a better idea what to expect. And as with all roller derby events, the warming up is an integral part of the proceedings. RGA’s captain NebrAss Kick’r took the lead during the warm up, which isn’t exactly surprising since she’s not only an expert ass kicker, but also very proficient at yoga…
Next up for track reconnaissance and warm up were the French girls. All new faces for me, as I never saw them skate before, but they were probably equally surprised to see ‘that guy with the big white lens’ too, hehe.
A pre-bout briefing with the head-zebra (referees in roller derby are often called zebras and it’s easy to see why), making sure everybody understands the drill…
Last minute changes to the wheels… Each surface of each sports arena is different and getting the wheels right is very important. Derby girls don’t rely on someone else doing the guessing and are their own mechanics… Cool!
Bout time! And the place exploded! Frantic action on the track and a lot of ‘red, white & bruising’ going on…
The girls from Hell’s Ass just didn’t have an answer to the very effective ‘no pack’ strategy often applied by RGA, the speed of their jammers and the power of the blockers. When I had my first real look at the score board, I just couldn’t believe my eyes. RGA’s score was already into the triple figures, when Hell’s Ass’ score hadn’t even reached double digits…
Heated discussions on how to turn the bout around and which tactic to follow during half-time…
And not without result, as in the second period the Hell’s Ass girls managed to become lead jammer and get some extra points up on the score board a lot more than they did in the first period.
But in the end the RGA girls weren’t satisfied with just a win, they shouted and fought for a big win… And that’s exactly what they managed to do: final score RGA 230 – Hell’s Ass 49. Wow!
Hell’s Ass’ Nr. 14 Nuf-Nuf was probably telling RGA’s Jax that they kicked their asses in a ‘magnifique’ way… All I can say that this was a magnificent experience for me too… My love for roller derby is only growing more and more, just can’t get enough of the sport and I really urge you to check out a derby bout too if there’s one in your neighbourhood. Let me know if you like it as much as I do!
And if you’re in a roller derby league and would like to have your training, scrimmage, or bout photographed, or would like to have some promo shots taken, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me!
Huge gallery (100 photos!) after the break…
Enjoy the photos!
I had a look at all 100 photos and came to a conclusion that they are all great! The colours are fantastic. I like your style Dennis.
Thanks so much Charlyn! I feel I still have a lot to learn, as this was only the third time I’ve shot a roller derby event, but I’m totally loving the experience