Last April, Jerry LaBuy (the head of the Mass Com Department at RVC) asked me if I would want to take photos for his small film festival in the fall. I figured that would be a good opportunity to build my portfolio in the event photography realm, so I accepted. Jerry also mentioned that there was a former student of his that made a documentary that takes place in Rockford, which could play at the fest (Making its hometown Premiere).
Around that same time in April, I was taking a class called Writing for Multimedia, with Professor Eric Wilson. One of our final assignments was to write a feature story. I chose to write mine on Bing Liu the creator of that same documentary that would be playing at the festival I would be taking pictures for. He was finding major success in the industry with his documentary Minding the Gap. A documentary about growing up struggling with abusive relationships and using skateboarding to help cope. He went through the same department I was going through at Rock Valley and was receiving some of the highest forms of praise at one of the largest film festivals in America. I reached out to Bing and sent him a bunch of questions. He was very generous and answered all of them in good detail. This was prior to me seeing his documentary so I went into the interview process blind.
I was very happy with the finished product that was my paper, and believe it gave good insight into Bing’s creative process. I was ecstatic when I found out the documentary would be making its way onto Hulu, I would finally have the opportunity to watch the documentary I read so much about months earlier. I watched the documentary and absolutely loved it. Knowing I would be able to take photos for the hometown premiere was exhilarating. Mosaic World Film Festival took place August 25th-27th. The 26th, a Saturday, during of the matinée screening of Minding the Gap, Bing and one of his best friends Kiere Johnson (Also a subject in the documentary) were out skating in downtown Rockford with Ground Floor Skateboard Owner Eric Neubauer.
They talked about how much of a healing experience it was, and I was just happy I was able to be a fly on the wall and document it. Here are some of the photos from that skating session.
Editor’s Note: All photos property of MWFF and expressed permission has been given to The Valley Forge.
