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Creating Hoops with Swoopes
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 08:43:49 -0500
At our invitation, photographer/author Susan Kuklin has written to the CCBC-Net community about the creation of her newest book Hoops with Swoopes (Jump at the Sun / Hyperion, c2001). Thank you, Susan!
Questions for Susan? Comments? As you'll read below, she remarks,
"there's so much more."
If you haven't had a chance yet to see this book, you're invited to click onto the CCBC-Net Book of the Week for Megan Schliesman's review of Hoops with Swoopes, and if you click again, you'll see Susan's photograph of Sheryl Swoopes on the book jacket: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/review01.htm#swopes
SUSAN KUKLIN'S MESSAGE: I am delighted to share with you the initial planning of my book, HOOPS WITH SWOOPES.
As a photographer, I have been infatuated with finding ways to portray motion in this oh so static art form. To this end, I've photographed a number of dancers, not sports figures. My writing interests lean toward the arts and humanities. So when my editor suggested we do a book about a basketball player -- a woman basketball player -- a major, numero uno, woman basketball player -- I was a bit intimidated.
Though I enjoy the game, I wasn't convinced I had enough background to author a sports book. And so I watched -- learned -- and fell in love.
First, I watched Sheryl when her team, the Comets, played in Madison Square Garden. She was so graceful, so elegant on the floor. She moved like a dancer. She used space like a choreographer. She seemed to move to the rhythm of the cheering crowds. It was dance. It was theater. I thought, "I want to do this."
At the game I was mesmerized by the swirls of color both on the court and in the stands. Somehow I wanted to find a way to include that. [Later we added color behind some of the text as a subtle way to simulate the crowds in the stands.]
My editor got in touch with Sheryl's manager and sent them copies of some of my earlier books. Soon thereafter, I met Sheryl at one of her autograph signings. I watched once again as she spoke with her fans and signed her photograph. It impressed me how respectful she was with each of them.
I also watched practice sessions and warm ups before a game. She was funny, sensitive, and very hard working. At home, I taped her games to learn more how she moved. Winding and rewinding the plays on the tape made me feel close to her.
What struck me even more than her stunning talent was her clarity, her dedication, and her sense of self.
Throughout the planning of this book I thought quite a bit about the word
"competition." With others. With one's self. This drive is experienced at an early age and continues throughout one's life. Personally, I grapple with a kind of internal competition: The next idea. The next shot. The next book.
I thought that competition with one's self is a theme that could be addressed here. Sheryl agreed. The Photographs:
At one point, I suggested we do something different from other sports books about super stars. Rather than take pictures during the games, I would photograph her all alone with a ball and a hoop on a white background. In this way I hoped to zero in on Sheryl-the-person rather than Sheryl-the?mous player. In other words, I wanted her soul, more than her game.
Halfway through the photo sessions I came up with the idea of photographing multiple Sheryls as a visual way to portray competition within one's self. When I suggested it to my very tired athlete/subject, the idea was prefaced with "I haven't the faintest idea that this will work."
"You go, girl," Sheryl replied.
Photographing Sheryl Swoopes playing five different positions was quite complex. We worked from a huge chart with lists and drawings of key plays in each position. It was a grueling, exciting day.
Oh, there is so much more. But I've taken so much of your time already. Thank you for including HOOPS in your discussion,
Susan Kuklin
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Madison
Received on Tue 11 Sep 2001 08:43:49 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 08:43:49 -0500
At our invitation, photographer/author Susan Kuklin has written to the CCBC-Net community about the creation of her newest book Hoops with Swoopes (Jump at the Sun / Hyperion, c2001). Thank you, Susan!
Questions for Susan? Comments? As you'll read below, she remarks,
"there's so much more."
If you haven't had a chance yet to see this book, you're invited to click onto the CCBC-Net Book of the Week for Megan Schliesman's review of Hoops with Swoopes, and if you click again, you'll see Susan's photograph of Sheryl Swoopes on the book jacket: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/review01.htm#swopes
SUSAN KUKLIN'S MESSAGE: I am delighted to share with you the initial planning of my book, HOOPS WITH SWOOPES.
As a photographer, I have been infatuated with finding ways to portray motion in this oh so static art form. To this end, I've photographed a number of dancers, not sports figures. My writing interests lean toward the arts and humanities. So when my editor suggested we do a book about a basketball player -- a woman basketball player -- a major, numero uno, woman basketball player -- I was a bit intimidated.
Though I enjoy the game, I wasn't convinced I had enough background to author a sports book. And so I watched -- learned -- and fell in love.
First, I watched Sheryl when her team, the Comets, played in Madison Square Garden. She was so graceful, so elegant on the floor. She moved like a dancer. She used space like a choreographer. She seemed to move to the rhythm of the cheering crowds. It was dance. It was theater. I thought, "I want to do this."
At the game I was mesmerized by the swirls of color both on the court and in the stands. Somehow I wanted to find a way to include that. [Later we added color behind some of the text as a subtle way to simulate the crowds in the stands.]
My editor got in touch with Sheryl's manager and sent them copies of some of my earlier books. Soon thereafter, I met Sheryl at one of her autograph signings. I watched once again as she spoke with her fans and signed her photograph. It impressed me how respectful she was with each of them.
I also watched practice sessions and warm ups before a game. She was funny, sensitive, and very hard working. At home, I taped her games to learn more how she moved. Winding and rewinding the plays on the tape made me feel close to her.
What struck me even more than her stunning talent was her clarity, her dedication, and her sense of self.
Throughout the planning of this book I thought quite a bit about the word
"competition." With others. With one's self. This drive is experienced at an early age and continues throughout one's life. Personally, I grapple with a kind of internal competition: The next idea. The next shot. The next book.
I thought that competition with one's self is a theme that could be addressed here. Sheryl agreed. The Photographs:
At one point, I suggested we do something different from other sports books about super stars. Rather than take pictures during the games, I would photograph her all alone with a ball and a hoop on a white background. In this way I hoped to zero in on Sheryl-the-person rather than Sheryl-the?mous player. In other words, I wanted her soul, more than her game.
Halfway through the photo sessions I came up with the idea of photographing multiple Sheryls as a visual way to portray competition within one's self. When I suggested it to my very tired athlete/subject, the idea was prefaced with "I haven't the faintest idea that this will work."
"You go, girl," Sheryl replied.
Photographing Sheryl Swoopes playing five different positions was quite complex. We worked from a huge chart with lists and drawings of key plays in each position. It was a grueling, exciting day.
Oh, there is so much more. But I've taken so much of your time already. Thank you for including HOOPS in your discussion,
Susan Kuklin
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Madison
Received on Tue 11 Sep 2001 08:43:49 AM CDT
