When reviewing my project, I wanted to have a look at the challenges which have arisen in this project. At first ideas were flowing and I had plenty of options to go and explore what would have been strong projects however my first challenge came when emailing Bath rugby to enquire about photographing the squad for a live sport project however this fell through after ignored by both my emails. Contacting them and speaking to them through University of Bath rugby didn’t do anything either as I was turned down of doing any photography.
I overcame this challenge by starting to develop the project by looking at the changing rooms for my rugby club and personal connection however this idea also fell through due to the photos not having a great impact whatsoever, something I was disappointed with as my idea of a sensory experience wasn’t possible anymore something I was looking forward to experimenting with especially it being a different format to what I have used before. After contacting Aaron James, the gentlemen in the image, it allowed me to start developing this new idea all about retired rugby players. For me to start this project I explored players such as Steve Ojomoh, a Bath rugby player who had a stroke at 48 something which was later connected to him playing rugby. Another player I researched was Steve Thompson, a British rugby player who was part of the 425 players who sued the RFU for not protecting them enough.
While Aaron is fortunate enough to not have gotten involved with any rugby related injuries, he has played enough times to experience injuries which have ended people's careers. It’s why I wanted to explore him, a rugby player who hasn’t been able to retire and live a life of no work but instead gone into a day job because that’s all he has been able to do due to the tough nature of being a professional rugby player. Criticism on my work by both Tom Jamieson and Stephen were considered and after constant prints and development of my work I am happy to say that this project is successful.