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Project Reflection...



We're two months into the new year and it's already showing a ton of promise. With new opportunities on the horizon and old ones coming to a close, one can't help but to reflect on the journey of it all. Today I found myself sifting thru archival footage as editors often do, and I came across an unreleased video file that I filmed and voiceovered a couple of seasons ago.  It was video of the final season of the beloved Archbisop Spaulding High School head football Mike Whittles.  Coach Whittles was a man with a contagious personality.  If you were one of his guys and was having anything short of a good day, it would all get better if you were in his presence.  Being a former football player myself his voice had a very familiar sound to me.  It still resonates with me.

Prior to the beginning of his last season Coach Whittles was diagnosed with Cancer in its advanced stages.  He went thru chemo with minimal success a the while remaining a relentless warrior. During the course of the season he'd miss a day or so of practice and battle his way on game day.  During that season I remember one instance where he called the team on speakerphone from his hospital room.  It was more than apparent that he loved his players and colleagues.

Unlike anything that I'd ever done before I found myself recording voice memos of my thoughts during that season.  There were moments that I couldn't even speak and I'd just let the recorder roll on dead air.  I broke the golden rule that a colleague of mine made up.  He always said, "J, we (video-journalist) never insert ourselves into a story".  I thought to myself if you don't insert yourself into the story you can't capture the emotion the story.  It was the one time in my career that I don't regret not listening. 

Nearly two weeks after the season I decided to pull my voice memos and lay them to the video that I'd filmed.  Little did I know that soon after Coach Whittles would lose his battle to cancer.  The video was the safest way for me to purge myself of what I'd witnessed with the team and what I'd just witnessed in my personal life.  A few months prior to the start of the season I'd just lost my childhood friend and high school teammate Jeff Wilson to a sixteen year battle to cancer. "Cancer Season 3" is what I titled the short narrative.  Mainly due to the fact that it was my third and final season covering Spaulding football.  

Project reflection keeps me grounded.  It's a firm reminder that not every story that we capture has a happy ending but they all have infinite value to those that we film them for.  They also impact you/us the photographers for the rest of your lives. 

The link below is the short narrative from the 2011 season.   





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