Photographing Cross-Country Skiing Legend Jessie Diggins for ESPN Body, and the Fine Line Between Representation and Objectification.
An Olympic-Size Problem: How to Portray the Bodies of Female Athletes
Welcome to In the Flash, a reader-supported publication about intent and creativity in photography.
Happy Friday everyone!
Last week, I’ve done a podcast with Ben Smith, discussing topics like wedding photography, getting started in editorial and free work for exposure.
https://bensmithphoto.com/asmallvoice/dina-litovsky
In 2009, the now-defunct ESPN magazine launched their first Body Issue. Its biggest competitor at the time was Sports Illustrated, whose biggest clickbait was the annual Swimsuit Issue. How do you compete with supermodels in bikinis? By photographing the world's top athletes in the nude. The first Body Issue came out featuring Serena Williams, naked, covering herself tastefully and shimmering in body oil. It was a hit.
For the next decade, ESPN’s Body Issue featured athletes from every sport imaginable — from soccer to NFL to skateboarding. The photos were meticulously produced, presenting the bodies as they were, without Photoshop to erase bruises or “imperfections”. All the private bits had to be covered in creative ways, through strategic posing or creative lighting. It was an early masterclass in bypassing Instagram censorship.
For ESPN's 10th (and penultimate) annual issue, I photographed Jessie Diggins, the most decorated American cross-country skier of all time. Jessie won the U.S.’s first gold medal in her sport at the 2018 Winter Olympics, took bronze in Beijing 2022, and just this month, claimed victory in the World Cup 10K freestyle in France. Yet, despite all her achievements, Jessie Diggins remains a relatively unknown figure for the general public. Sports have their own unique popularity scale. Though cross-country skiing is one of the most physically demanding Olympic sports, it also has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the least watched because of its long distances and the lack of immediate thrills. Jessie was the first and only cross-country skier featured in the whole decade of the Body Issue.