O L I V I A  B R A C L E Y

When people think of the word failure, some often think about failing a test or failing out of school. Others may think of it more seriously and their mind will go to failing at marriage or failing at life. The word “failure” has a strong dark and negative connotation. For my photo, I wanted to take a more lighthearted approach.

Parkour is a type of training that focuses on movements derived from military obstacle course training. The purpose is to get from one location to the next in a complex environment without any kind of assistance. Parkour consists of running, climbing, jumping, and any other movements necessary to complete the obstacle. In recent years, it became popular on social media to mock this training technique by shouting “parkour” then continuing on to some type of ridiculous movement that usually ends up with them falling and possibly mildly hurting themself.

In my photo, I wanted to photograph a parkour “spoof.” I took a typical minor stunt someone would do on a daily basis and photographed what it would look like if someone were to fail at it. For the minor stunt, I decided to take a photo of someone hopping a fence because it is something everyone does, or has done before, so they can relate to it. I also photographed the girl falling instead of landing on her feet. This represents the failure of the “parkour” activity. I took the two photos and put them into a diptych to complete the narrative.