Photographer Brittany Rose Bradley is rolling her mobile darkroom, nicknamed Ruby, through the Pacific Northwest this summer to capture the diverse roller derby community on film. Instead of using a digital camera, or even an ordinary analog one, Bradley, a roller derby player herself, will use what's called alternative process photography. For this project, entitled Jamnesia, Bradley has chosen something called the wet plate collodion process, which originated in the 1850s.

"It just made sense — the crossover between roller derby and the type of photography I'm using, and my own personal philosophy and practice really, really meshed well," Bradley told the SGN.

To accurately reflect the diversity of the roller derby community, Bradley knew she had to capture skaters from all over. She will travel from California to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho between August 11 and August 23.

"I started to make connections with teams in other states, and I had enough players — groups — in different areas that it just made sense to start chunking it out into road trips," Bradley said. "The Pacific Northwest is a huge leg of the project, but it's not the only one." She also has plans to travel to Hawaii in September.

The wet collodion process requires Bradley to develop her images very soon after she shoots them. She coats a glass plate — the "film" — with a concoction of a soluble iodide and a cellulose nitrate solution known as collodion. Speed is of the essence; if the plate is allowed to dry, it becomes waterproof and unable to react to the darkroom chemicals. "I need to be able to develop photographs on site," said Bradley, "so I have a mobile darkroom I'll be taking with me."

The project is a chance for Bradley to reclaim wet collodion photography, which was used in the past to document minoritized people. "The format I'm using really was used to contribute to the 'othering' of people," Bradley said, adding that historically there have been so few images that adequately represent people of color and the LGBTQ+ community that they are "almost nonexistent." Therefore, said Bradley, "It made perfect sense for me to use this medium to re-maturate history a little bit."

Bradley sees this road trip adventure as an exciting opportunity to mingle with fellow skaters. "Each team has their own flavor. I'm already seeing that in basic communications and how they want to represent themselves."

While there are areas for improvement, Bradley said the roller derby community seems to be highly welcoming, with many players identifying as LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit. She said each team has the opportunity to welcome skaters of all genders, sexual identities, and race or ethnicity, and she has personally seen an increase in the number of skaters of color.

"Being Bisexual, at least for me and from my experiences, creates a unique dichotomy of how I look at the world," Bradley said. In her view, Bisexual, Pansexual, and Omnisexual people tend to operate in spaces differently from others in the LGBTQ+ community; for example, they might be in heterosexual-passing relationships, which allows them to see darker sides of homophobia. In her photography, Bradley evokes as much empathy from people as possible because she herself doesn't feel empathy in every space she's in.

After completing her road trip, which includes photographing Seattle's very own Rat City team, Bradley plans to create a photography book of her roller derby images and hopes to mount an exhibit of her work.

For more information on Bradley's work and a sneak peek at Jamnesia, see https://www.brittanyrosebradley.com/.