Largely popular in places overseas like India and England, cricket is a sport that hasn’t gained much traction in the United States. So, when DC–based photographer Noah Willman happened upon the Washington Cricket League online he reached out to one of the teams in hopes of shooting a game. This self-assigned, self-funded project came about after his recent move from Wisconsin to D.C. Noah knew that it was going to be slow until he got himself established in his new location so he wanted to make the most of his free time and shoot a personal project.
Noah says the planning was pretty minimal and he opted out of hiring an assistant to attend the shoots with him even though he decide to artificially light the subject.
All in all, the project went smoothly once it was started. The most challenging aspect was the initial research on the project. Much of the information on the Washington Cricket League (and the teams in it) was pretty scattered. It took a good chunk of time researching to see if the project was worthwhile and how I should go about starting it, but once I made some contacts and started going to games things were relatively easy and everyone was very welcoming.
Noah discovered there is a thriving cricket community in D.C. with over 150 teams made up of almost exclusively South Asian and Caribbean players. Shot over the course of three months the images were layed out in a promo piece that Noah sent to local photo editors and clients he hopes to work with in the area. So far, he has gotten some really great feedback on this relatively undocumented sport and has found that most people are completely unaware of its existence.
To see more of Noah’s work visit noahwillman.com and to view the full video preview of D.C. Cricket go to vimeo.