The Rollerblading Project by Michelle Gerard
quoting a mail from Michelle Gerard:
I’ve been working on a personal photography project over the last 18 months called The Rollerblading Project. I’ve been mostly documenting the Detroit rollerblading scene but have also covered a 13 day rollerblading road trip to Toronto, Rochester, NYC, Philly, Pittsburgh and have covered a few trips to Ohio as well.
The idea was to photograph rollerblading in a way that was different from the cliches and to show more of the lifestyle and fine art aspect of rollerblading.
I did give myself 3 rules: no flash, no wide angle or fisheye lenses and nothing is staged or set up. I never asked someone to do a trick again, or tell them what to skate. I wanted this to be from a purely documentary viewpoint and I focused more on chill street sessions and the environment rather than the biggest / best tricks.
Anyway, I’m nearing the end of my project and would like to hold a gallery show in Detroit this winter to expose the general public to rollerblading as a lifestyle and as art, and to thank all the people who participated in the project.
The goal is to hold the show during Bittercold Showdown this year (on the Friday before, so no one misses any of the competition). I think it would be amazing to see rollerblading showcased in the art world and open to the general public and I want you everyone to have a chance to see it in person if they’ll be in town for the comp.
I’m using a website called Kickstarter to help raise at least $7,000 for a show that will cost close to $15,000. In exchange for pledges, I get to offer rewards such as prints, stickers, a limited edition book, digital copies of the book, advance private screenings and more.
Tags: detroit, kickstarter
September 5th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
There isn’t a show in the world that would require you to put 5,000$ into it because there is no way you can even break even nor can the gallery that is hosting it, although i will donate something i don’t feel that 5,000 is a light amount,
September 5th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
LOL
Your comment was a bit too short. Please go back and try again.
September 5th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
And before you go any further and tarnish our image forever lol pleaseeeeeeee look up and redefine rollerblading because we don’t rollerblade- rollerblade is a skate company lets not put ourselves back another 10 years hearing how nobody knows what kinda of rollerblading we do… No one will ever know what kinda rollerblading we do if you keep calling it rollerblading!!! FREESTYLE ROLLING,BLADING,AGGRESSIVE SKATING these are all terms that come up with our sport when you type in google, When you type rollerblading in google that is not what we do so please go about this differently before you tarnish the very thing your trying to save an present.
September 5th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
I can’t believe what I just saw at 0:30, that first skater had the audacity to grab the rail to hop on. WTF? NO! That’s NOT how you do it. I also agree, what we do is ! FREESTYLE ROLLING,BLADING,AGGRESSIVE SKATING.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
seriously? 7000$?!
please stop while you’re ahead.. you are only going to make “rollerblading” look gayer than it already is.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
That’s just how much it costs to do a legit show like this. Just the printing alone is going to cost Michelle around seven grand. We’re talking hundreds of prints, with a few dozen being massive 40″ by 60″, 200-megapixel composite shots, being done by a pro printer.
Michelle is going big with this- this isn’t some girl who got her first DSLR a year ago hanging her shots of flowers and ruin porn in a coffeeshop and calling it a “photo show”. This is a real, respected artist, who makes her entire living from her craft, doing an intensive, two-year-long project and then presenting it in a REAL gallery, in a town with a world-renowned art scene.
Have any of you “don’t call it rollerblading” proponents ever used “freestyle rolling” with a non-blader and had them understand what you’re talking about, and you didn’t have to explain it to them? Didn’t think so. This project is aimed at more than the blading community, so using the most-recognizable name makes sense.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
i like the name rollerblading better than your needless slang. i think all this money is needless as well. i fully support you. but maybe it doesn’t have to cost so much? find a different venue? some places might even let you just rent a place out for an evening for a couple hundo. i would avoid any “art” related placed because they tend to rip people off.
i like what your doing and how its filmed and looks.
also quit pretending that anything has a rule book . if the dude wants to hand up to ao fish thats his deal. why tell him how to skate or what he does is wrong. !thats! what is going to ruin our sport and prevent it from growth. is idiots like yourself.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Rollerbladers have a god complex where they think there’s only one way blade, but in reality the possibilities are endless. On another topic though, if AJ could barely raise 5 grand, what makes you think you can raise 7? Good luck though.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Ok let me start off by saying that Scotty B’s hand up ao fish is dope and for me harder than a normal ao fish. Like the guy above me said, there’s no rulebook on how you should do tricks and that’s part of what makes our sport so great.
As for the term rollerblading. I see nothing wrong with it. Yes its a company name, but like it or not it’s become a name for the sport. It’s also the most recognized name for the general public. Plus it just has a nice ring to it:)!
The costs of the show are so high because she wants to do something big and legit. She doesn’t want some coffee shop style show. She wants a serious looking art show and I’m personally really excited to see our sport in that format. Most of the cost comes from prints and books. If you can find a place that print as big as she wants with comparable quality for a better price, please let her know. She’d be thrilled! But trust me, she’s done her research.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Can’t wait to see this!!!!
September 5th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
I love how everyone that aggressive skates wants more exposure and wants the world to understand our sport, but when someone wants to actually do something productive and appealing to the non-blader world, our own participants shoot it down and talk shit. make up your god damn minds. Good luck Michelle, as a detroit blader ill def be checking this out and supporting.
September 5th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
“this isn’t some girl who got her first DSLR” -al dolega
WELL IT DAMN LOOKS LIKE IT JUST BY LOOKING AT THOSE PHOTOS?!?
(just the type shit you can see in ONE magazine blog..piff)
September 5th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
If she is a well respected photographer and artist then she doesn’t need to invest 7 thousand of other peoples money to get her stuff out there. Thats not how it works in any field of galleries. If she wants support like i said i will support it but none the less its bullshit to have something so expensive because No one from outside the Skate world is going to care. When was the last time you went to a YO-YO gallery lifestyle show or a Scooter gallery show. Life doesn’t work like that, And even so you cant expect to make any money back in this to help support skating. ALL OF THIS SHOW IS GOING TO FALL BACK ON THE ARTIST THIS WILL NOT HELP OUR SPORT IN ANY WAY OTHER THEN THE 2 WEEKS ITS OPEN FOR.. I SAY GET 7 THOUSANDS DOLLARS TOGETHER AND PUT I LOVE ROLLERBLADING on a billboard somewhere for a month, rather then put 7 gs into something you wont make back and wont change our sport in any way. Il donate 20$ right now but i highly doubt it will succeed onto of this
September 6th, 2011 at 12:09 am
I can’t believe people are hating on this. She seems to be putting a great deal of work into this project.
September 6th, 2011 at 2:16 am
Bunch of bitches on Rollernews. What else was to be expected?
September 6th, 2011 at 2:50 am
All these dumb ass people need to shut the hell up as a DETROIT blader i find what shes doing awesome, its a good idea shes doing what she wants and shes happy so leave her alone. and for the dumbassses talkin about scottys fish just stop the sport this sport is about individualality people will do what they want the quicker dumbasses like you learn this and stop bitching about every little thing people do the better off we all will be. we all need to join together were to small of a sport to be hating.
keep up the good work~~!!
September 6th, 2011 at 4:57 am
LOL what trash — DIY
September 6th, 2011 at 5:14 am
this is such bullshit, asking for handouts and this doesn’t even support rollerblading or rollerbladers at all, the money just goes to the artist… give me a break. the book is more for her then for rollerblading, it will accomplish nothing.
September 6th, 2011 at 5:16 am
VX 20/20 tour only asked for 5gs, and that money is for a video and for the top pros in our sport… this is 2 more g’s for what? fucking nothing.
September 6th, 2011 at 8:32 am
showcased in the ‘art world’? will someone tell this girl that just because you’ve shot a load of images when the sun is coming down with a shallow depth of field that it doesnt make it ‘art’ and her website named ‘inspiredartphotography’ is possibly the most pretentious name i have ever seen. Just because someone does something for a living doesnt make them good at it al
September 6th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
So someone tries something different in the rollerblading community and this is the support they get!? Way to move forward guys!
And just so everyone knows, she doesn’t have any plans to make money off of this. She actually plans to spend more than she’s asking for. And I don’t know how vx did their video and only asked for $5000. That’s impressive. That’s a serparate issue though. Michelle wants to do a big serious show for her project and it’s gonna be expensive. That’s just how it is. So she went to Kickstarter for help, which is exactly Kickstarter is there.
Bottom line is, if you don’t like it, then don’t support it. Don’t just flat out hate on someone trying to do something different. Especially when you don’t even know the person.
September 7th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Rollernews = worst kids.
September 7th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
alexbeaupre Says: Rollernews = worst kids.
More like worst adults who act like kids!
September 7th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
hell yeah, michelle!
get it, girl.
HAIL SATAN!
September 10th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
beautiful job
congrats girl