About the Series
Why photos?
After I watched a powerful female warrior take on the world on screen, from the eyes of Patty Jenkins, an incredible filmmaker, I felt like I could go out and lift a car. I wanted to be Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I cannot lift a car, so I had to find some other way to express that excitement. Photoshoots are something my best friend and I have always done, so after the movie, I texted her and said "We should do a Wonder Woman photoshoot." She replied, "You welding in a Wonder Woman shirt would be badass." So here we are.
Explain your connection to the activities pictured.
Most of them - welding, motorcycles, boxing - I've come to more recently. I learned how to weld on a ranch in California a year ago, and since then I've been going full-throttle, picking up contract work when I can. I was also recently exposed to motorcycles by my boyfriend and his sister, who would show up in their helmets and boots and make me think "damn that's cool." It still makes me nervous to ride, but when you suit up to go out on the road, it does make you feel a bit like a superhero. Same goes for boxing, which I learned after joining the college boxing club for a semester. There's something about knowing how to hit, and knowing how to take a hit, that makes you feel like you can take on anything. I wouldn't call myself an expert at any of these, in fact I'm sure any professional can look at these pictures and say "well this isn't right." But they've all managed become a piece of my identity nevertheless.
Horseback riding is the one out of them that I've always done. Remember the horse-crazy girl in middle school? That was me. Saddling up a thousand-pound animal and climbing aboard takes some confidence, and it takes even more to get back up after you've hit the dirt a few times. But it forms a fighting spirit in you, encouraging you to continue after failures, and I think getting the backbone to do it has given me confidence to pursue other things in life. The horseback scenes of Wonder Woman, of course, were some of my absolute favorite parts.
And my last connection is to the place behind each photo: Kansas. My family has lived here for generations; I am actually the seventh generation to farm the land we currently sit on (this has been my part-time job through summers and college). I grew up loving animals and the outdoors, and this place gave me the freedom to explore all of the activities pictured. No mater where I go or what I do, the Sunflower State will always be a special place to me.
Does one of these activities stand out as a future career for you?
Actually, no. Well, unless I could get a job as a movie extra doing one of them -- I've always wanted to do that (maybe there's an opening in Wonder Woman II? Eh, worth a shot). But I'm about to finish my last year of film school, which is another reason this movie was so important to me. To see a female director accomplish what Patty Jenkins has gives me so much motivation; after watching Monster I finally pounded out the pilot to a script I'd been thinking about for a long time, and since then I've found the energy to create new material. It was just another reminder that behind every big movie is a crowd of people, everyday people, making it happen.
After I watched a powerful female warrior take on the world on screen, from the eyes of Patty Jenkins, an incredible filmmaker, I felt like I could go out and lift a car. I wanted to be Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I cannot lift a car, so I had to find some other way to express that excitement. Photoshoots are something my best friend and I have always done, so after the movie, I texted her and said "We should do a Wonder Woman photoshoot." She replied, "You welding in a Wonder Woman shirt would be badass." So here we are.
Explain your connection to the activities pictured.
Most of them - welding, motorcycles, boxing - I've come to more recently. I learned how to weld on a ranch in California a year ago, and since then I've been going full-throttle, picking up contract work when I can. I was also recently exposed to motorcycles by my boyfriend and his sister, who would show up in their helmets and boots and make me think "damn that's cool." It still makes me nervous to ride, but when you suit up to go out on the road, it does make you feel a bit like a superhero. Same goes for boxing, which I learned after joining the college boxing club for a semester. There's something about knowing how to hit, and knowing how to take a hit, that makes you feel like you can take on anything. I wouldn't call myself an expert at any of these, in fact I'm sure any professional can look at these pictures and say "well this isn't right." But they've all managed become a piece of my identity nevertheless.
Horseback riding is the one out of them that I've always done. Remember the horse-crazy girl in middle school? That was me. Saddling up a thousand-pound animal and climbing aboard takes some confidence, and it takes even more to get back up after you've hit the dirt a few times. But it forms a fighting spirit in you, encouraging you to continue after failures, and I think getting the backbone to do it has given me confidence to pursue other things in life. The horseback scenes of Wonder Woman, of course, were some of my absolute favorite parts.
And my last connection is to the place behind each photo: Kansas. My family has lived here for generations; I am actually the seventh generation to farm the land we currently sit on (this has been my part-time job through summers and college). I grew up loving animals and the outdoors, and this place gave me the freedom to explore all of the activities pictured. No mater where I go or what I do, the Sunflower State will always be a special place to me.
Does one of these activities stand out as a future career for you?
Actually, no. Well, unless I could get a job as a movie extra doing one of them -- I've always wanted to do that (maybe there's an opening in Wonder Woman II? Eh, worth a shot). But I'm about to finish my last year of film school, which is another reason this movie was so important to me. To see a female director accomplish what Patty Jenkins has gives me so much motivation; after watching Monster I finally pounded out the pilot to a script I'd been thinking about for a long time, and since then I've found the energy to create new material. It was just another reminder that behind every big movie is a crowd of people, everyday people, making it happen.