Tough Guy
Photography, Writing, and Video Production
“For years, the pinnacle of my creative ambition was to turn the table: establish the original, the authentic Tough Guy as the Mecca of the OCR industry and to reaffirm Mr. Mouse as its prophet. I wanted to compel the masses to make their own pilgrimage to farm outside of Wolverhampton the way that we had… to sleep in the Founding Father’s freezing farm; to soak in legends of past runs in dirty pubs and makeshift congregations around mid-winter fires; to willingly submit themselves to cold and misery, fear and injury; to learn the boundaries of their possibilities”
— The War I Wished For
The Legacy of Mr Mouse
A short film to capture and express the true ethos of Tough Guy and set it apart from the many imitators that followed in subsequent years. As legal battles grew, financials struggled, and the organization’s foundation became less secure, this film served as one of the purest captures of Mr Mouse’s vision and what Tough Guy represented in a world living in such stark contrast to the values the race espoused.
Worked on with Good Line and Micah Dahl Anderson
While much of the imagery surrounding the race indulges a hyper-masculine and extremist aesthetic, I wanted to see the race captured from a more-attuned, editorial lens—focusing on the humanity of the participants; the circus-like celebration of the surrounding crowds; the pain, fear, and despair that grips runners no matter their make or preparation; and the hodge-podge mix of infrastructure (including the founder himself, Mr Mouse) that holds the race together.
I also felt it important to capture the event with the grain and authenticity that only film can provide. The evocation of war-time imagery that this approach provides is no mistake—Tough Guy was made, in part, to pay homage to great battle’s of Britain’s past. I worked with Jonathan Canlas to document the days we were there. All photographs were made via analog means (Bessa R4M w/ Fuji Acros; Mamiya RZ Pro II w/ Kodak TRIX), in the rain and chilling January temperatures of England’s Midlands.
The War I Wished For
I spent years thinking about and working on Tough Guy. But when the last official Tough Guy happened, I was in Brooklyn grappling with my absence and the feeling of loss and defeat I felt.
Tough Guy, for me, was about more than the race. It was about friendship, mattering, my career, and integrity.
Scope of WorkN/A
RoleArt Director
Writer
Designer
TeamCole Nielsen
Joseph LeBaron
Travis Pitcher
Micah Dahl Anderson
Jonathan Canlas