Jun Dang Retoucher

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Gabriel Odujobi is a talented athlete competing in hurdles and sprints. Last year we shot a campaign style shoot emphasising on his stature and presence to show him as a commanding figure towering over the city. A year later, we revisit Gabriel. But this time we are at his training ground exploring the pursuit of greatness.

I wanted to take a deeper look into how athletes take their minds and their bodies to the very limit of human performance and capture the exhaustive processes that shave off those precious milliseconds. In particular, I wanted to witness and capture the relationship between Gabriel and his coach, Tony Jarrett. Coach Jarrett is himself one of the former greats of British athletics and formed part of Team GB in Britain's golden age of athletics. The doctrine of the master and the disciple and its role in nurturing talent fascinates me. Aside from the amazing numbers and revolutionary science from the sports world, there is an equally important human element, and with this shoot, I sought to turn my attention to the humanity of it and to capture the mental trials athletes face.

Gabriel overcame massive barriers and defied huge odds just to be able to travel along this path and work toward his dream. His work ethic can only be understood by those who have given everything to achieve their goals. He does this because he refuses to live a life of mediocrity. He demonstrates the level of discipline which we see on a daily basis in social media's barrage of motivational quotes but seldom witness beyond our screens. He sprints and hurdles with the focus and determination of a champion. And on this day, in 2015, I had the privilege of capturing greatness in the making.

MADEIT CREDITS

Project featured: on 11th August 2015

The Pursuit of Greatness

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