Page 81 of Between the Blue
So we’ll make it work.
“Well?” Jules says, breaking me from my thoughts.
I shake my head, finding her turned towards me in her seat. She’s in a cute little pose. The U of T Hockey sweatshirt looks like it was made for her.
“How do I look?” she asks.
Like the love of my life.
I swallow. Tell myself to dial it back.
“Like mine.”
Jules smiles. And every last ounce of worry I had left melts away.
“Exactly what I was going for,” she says.
I lean in. Kiss her.
After a few seconds, she pulls back. She climbs over the center console, shuffling into the back seat.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
She reaches for my hand. Tugs on it.
“Make me yours, Ben.”
And I did.
twenty-two
HER
I did it.
The first couple of weeks of the regular season have been an absolute whirlwind.
It’s felt like I’ve just been trying to keep my head above water between getting used to the busy game schedule paired with my classes and schoolwork. I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to, but it doesn’t quite feel like enough for me. Right now, it feels like I’m just a level above the bare minimum. And that’s not how I’m used to performing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been posting to the Texas Storm’s social media accounts consistently every day. I know I’ve been getting great images and curating great posts. I’ve realized quickly this isn’t a picture perfect sport, so I’ve decided to lean into it, opting for grittier pictures, ones with some blur and shadows. I’ve been feeling more confident each day, but I still feel like I’m not completely connecting with it all. Now that I’ve gotten in somewhat of a groove, I’ve been ready to branch out. To do more. I just haven’t been able to figure out what exactly I was going for. But I just knew that I just needed one creative content idea to present itself to me for the floodgates to open.
And, last night, that idea finally came to me.
After combing through countless social media accounts of sports teams and looking through all of the photos in my database between my personal shots and those from the Storm’s contract photographers, creative inspiration struck. I knew it might be a little crazy, but it excited me. So much, in fact, that it had me grabbing my keys and running to the craft store at nearly 9 p.m. and rearranging my homework and study schedule to be at the arena two hours earlier than I’m required today to get everything set up.
I got inspired when I saw all of the photos that get taken of the players walking into the arena before the game. Seeing all of these guys who are usually in jerseys and helmets in suits and ties suddenly made them feel more real to me. More in my comfort zone.
Yes, these are top-tier professional athletes. But, at the end of the day, they are also a bunch of great looking men in really nice clothes. Why not use that? As soon as I saw it that way, and I started to think of the guys as models rather than players, I had a million ideas pop into my head. I had to ask myself though how I could combine what I’d like to photograph with what the Texas Storm organization is.
And that’s where I got the idea.
To put the guys inside of a storm.
I know,it sounds crazy.
But it came out amazing.
I’ve thrown together a whole photo booth from top to bottom. I used a photo backdrop with swirling shades of black and gray, attached a mixture of cotton balls and craft fluff in tufts all over it to create fake clouds, then finished it off with two standing spotlights in the team’s signature shade of green. I’ve spent a full hour adjusting things, making sure it was as close to the vision in my head as I could get it. And, I have to say, stepping back and looking at it now, that it is.
