vincent laforet.

I love the endless versatility of photography, and my latest find is the perfect example of it. The depth and breadth of work on New York-based photographer Vincent Laforet’s site is outstanding. In fact, he’s got so much totally different stuff going on that it’s hard to know where to start. My personal faves are his “miniaturized” shots of big time sports events. He uses a technique called Tilt-Shift to give the “Honey, I Shrunk the U.S. Open” illusion of everything being miniaturized and almost model-like.

I love the plasticized, surreal quality of the photos and the unnatural vibrancy of the colours. It really does look like someone’s created an extremely detailed little sports diorama and carved thousands of wee sports fans out of plastic.

He’s also got a beautiful series called “Aerials”. I love the structure in the picture below, and how it shows that even though each person just walked in and found their spot on the grass, there’s always an organizational structure running through everything we do.

Vincent’s doing all right these days. His work has been featured in the world’s best magazines like National Geographic, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Time, Life, and Newsweek. In 2005 he was named one of the “100 Most Influential People In Photography” by American Photo Magazine and it’s not hard to see why. His more traditional journalistic documentary photos are the epitome of “a picture’s worth a thousand words”. There isn’t a single shot that doesn’t evoke and portray emotion. He’s captured several heart-breakingingly honest and hardcore images from the war in Afghanistan and the devastation to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

And to top it all off, in his “Adventure” series he’s got some ridiculously beautiful pictures of Paniolo cowboys in Hawai’i.

adidas: original games.

Adidas is my favourite brand in the world. Hands down. I worship everything they do, and their latest hype spot for the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics is old skool meets new school at its best. Plus, and it’s kind of a sad statement that this is surprising, it’s just really fun. A genuine, heart of joy kind of fun. I can’t stop watching it.

Plus, it’s got events called “Café Ping Pong”, “Freestyle Balance Beam”, and “100 Metre Dive Bomb”.

(Agency: 180 Amsterdam, Director: Henry Alex-Rubin @ Stink)

no olympics for oscar pistorius… for now.

This pisses me off. A few days ago the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that South African athlete Oscar Pistorius, “the fastest man on no legs”, would not be allowed to compete at any events under it’s jurisdiction – including the Beijing Olympics. A bilateral amputee from the knees down, Pistorius runs on mega-high tech carbon fibre artificial limbs called Cheetahs. Maybe the name is too intimidating. They should call them “Slowpokes” or “Turtlesticks” or something.

Pistorius has been annihilating Paralympic records since he first started running. After only 8 months of training, he broke two Paralympic world records in his very first race. Since then he’s gone on to consecutively break his own world records 29 times and holds the world record times in the 100m, 200m, and 400m. More than that, Pistorius was simply too fast for the Paralympics.  Suddenly, for the very time, an amputee athlete was running at almost the same times as his able-bodied competitors.

At the 2007 South African National Championships he won silver in the 400m against able-bodied runners. In July 2007 Pistorius competed in an able-bodied international 400m race for the first time – and came in second. He then announced his intention to become the first amputee-athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. That’s when the international debate began…

Pistorius has blown up the expectations of what a Paralympic athlete should be to compete at the very top of his sport. Rather than assume that maybe he’s one of the best runners ever, it’s assumed that it’s only possible because of his prostheses. Not because of the triumph of his will or a natural talent so great that it simply couldn’t be hidden.

Watching him run is amazing and has to be seen to be appreciated:

Soon, the IAAF was being asked questions it never had to face before. Pistorius was breaking out of the box. What exactly was he? Disabled or enhanced? Transcendent or assisted? A bunch of slower able-bodied runners wanted to know how he was beating them. Because it couldn’t possibly be that he’s just better.

In November 2007, German professor Gert-Peter Brueggemann began testing the artificial limbs at the request of the IAAF. His study found that Pistorius’ limbs used 25% less energy than able-bodied runners to run at the same speed. In December, prematurely discussing his findings before the release of the official report, Brueggemann told Die Welt newspaper that Pistorius “has considerable advantages over athletes without prosthetic limbs who were tested by us.” This week IAAF made the announcement.

The argument is that Pistorius gets an unfair advantage from the spring provided by his prostheses and that since they’re lighter than organic legs he doesn’t tire as easily – giving him an advantage at the end of the race. The counter argument is that since his prosthetics lose 20% of the energy they expend (an organic leg only loses about 7%) it’s harder for him to build momentum – giving him a disadvantage at the beginning of the race. Easier at the end, harder at the beginning. So doesn’t everything even out?

The greater question here is one that will keep arising as biological technology evolves. A scientist can bounce his prostheses up and down in a machine and determine that it releases some percentage of energy versus a human leg, but how do we quantify the effort and skill it takes for an athlete to adapt their body to function that way? If we’re cool with assisting an amputee to a point that they’re considered “equally normal” to us, how can we then use that very assistance in a bid against them if they excel at something? Clearly Pistorius is naturally gifted. At what tipping point do we decide that someone is being given an unfair advantage instead of a fair one?

In a world that over-uses the word “hero” and makes false-champions out of a lot unworthy personalities, he’s the real deal. Imagine the training and willpower it’s taken him to train his body and the courage to fight the dissent he clearly faces. He’s a pure example of turning what everyone tells you is a disability into a unique ability. He inspires me.

Pistorius has said before that if the IAAF decides to not let him run he’ll appeal. I hope he does. And I hope he kicks ass.