Ryan Nicholson

Who printed it?
It was printed by Spangler Graphics in Kansas City where I am based.

 Who designed it?
Designed by Kirk Lakebrink a Kansas City based designer.

Who edited the images?
Edited by myself and JP Perlmutter an artist consultant.

How many did you make?
We printed 275 copies of the piece and I mailed out 220. I will use the remaining pieces as leave behinds at portfolio shows, etc…

How many times a year do you send out promos?
For the past two years I have sent out 6 direct mail pieces a year (basically one every other month) and this year I am going to do them quarterly.

Where did your idea of women and hoops come from?
It is a long story on how I ended up shooting the piece but I will try and summarize. I played high school and college basketball. I graduated with a history degree and started my professional career as a high school history teacher/basketball coach. I taught and coached in Moore, Oklahoma then in Kansas City, Missouri and finally out in Phoenix, Arizona. The last year that I taught in Phoenix I actually switched from teaching history to photography but through a combination of teaching burnout and revitalized interest in photography (my father was a photographer) I decided not to renew my teaching contract and to give photography my full time attention. I started as a stringer for a couple small newspapers in Phoenix and my business has grown and shifted in a variety of ways over the past ten plus years. I am now based in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri shooting a mixture of editorial and commercial work.

Despite my career change away from coaching I have always maintained a love and interest in basketball and decided over this past year that I wanted to dedicate some time and attention to shooting it specifically. I had a trip scheduled to New York for portfolio shows last summer and was digging around for information on the street basketball scene in the city. I found a documentary on NYC street basketball called “Doin’ it in the Park” on Netflix which led me to their Facebook page. I was looking at the film’s Facebook page and saw a post about a group of women that play pick up ball every Sunday at Goat Park in the upper west side. I found that “Ladies Who Hoop” Facebook page and sent a message to the organizer asking if I could come and photograph them while I was visiting. The organizer Amber Batchelor welcomed me with open arms and I spent a good portion of a Sunday photographing the group while I was in town.

The second part of my interest in photographing the women was my desire to create images of women in a manner that shows them as strong, athletic, etc….I have two young daughters and any opportunity that I have to use my time and talents to document women that are strong and pushing boundaries I consider time well spent. I have to say watching the women take over one of the courts in a prominent New York City park was really cool to watch and document. I am in the planning stages of another trip there and will definitely go back and photograph the group again.

Read more in SLAM Magazine here