Mitchell Valentin - FINAL

Mitchell Valentin - Final Statement

I am very satisfied with the work I can present. These twelve images are stacked images of the men and women's hockey teams here at Penn State. When I was deciding what to do for this final assignment I was very unsure of how to go about deciding what to focus on. In my mind, I always had the idea of being a sports photographer and decided to stick with hockey. Starting with wanting to show only motion in the photos I soon discovered with the help of the class that I could do much more with using stacked images to tell more of the story of the game since I have a great understanding of the sport I am deciding to work with. I was having a pretty smooth time the first two weeks because this was a new experience and then after that, it began to quickly feel like a job that then leads to me overthinking about my abilities as a photographer. 

During the project, life at home became very challenging with issues that began to happen during this semester. This heavily affected my editing process and ability to want to create the work from this point on. With the help of my classmates and professor, I was able to gain the joy I had with the final few sessions of bringing in stacked images. After fall break, I was struggling with stacking and telling a story but I was then able to find that missing piece and began to create images that suited what I was going for and this is thanks to the support I was able to receive from everyone.

The images I present is what hockey is when I visualize it in my mind. I aimed to capture what hockey truly is aside from all of the typical thoughts of it being just fighting, The images I created allow you to look into the photograph and find something new with every look. I created images of hockey both men and women and did not label that in any photograph to allow the viewer that women can play just as rough as men even though they have more rules. The photos show emotion in movement, gear, and facial expressions.

Most importantly, I felt the growth I have had as a photographer throughout this class and I am forever grateful. I have produced other images during this course and they do not compare to how motion can help a photograph breathe and speak. I do not see myself anytime soon taking ending this kind of photo process anytime soon. Motion and stacking feel as if they are my new normal and that normal is different. Once again thank you for allowing me to see the potential I have in myself as a photographer and producing work that I will be proud of for a very long time.