Joe Briggs-Price

We dive into the Manchester School of Art graduate photographer’s focus on sport psychology

Back in June, we took a closer look at the work of Launch Press and their collaborative projects with graduating photography students. With the dust well and truly settled, it seemed high time delve a little deeper into the work of Joe Briggs-Price, the man whose Why Do We Fall? project was re-interpreted as The Black Line by Launch Press.

Both Why Do We Fall? and All I Knew focus on sports in which the athlete, for the most part, competes as an individual and look to cut through the facade, into the psychology of each discipline. I was curious to see if this was something influenced by Joe’s own involvement in sports. He began by explaining that he was the eldest of six siblings and as such grew up in an environment rife with sporting rivalries. He also took up golf aged thirteen and considers it a highly technical game. “You don’t have any impact on your opponent’s game and so have to focus solely on your own”. Joe draws a clear parallel to boxing and swimming as well noting that, “it involves a lot of self analysis to develop your technique and improve your game. Making those small changes can make all the difference”.

His swimming focussed WDWF? takes a look at role models, with the subjects’ dedication to their sport befitting of great admiration. Joe feels that skills like leadership, self-analysis, teamwork, perseverance, self-analysis and determination are all evident in the swimmers. “It’s hard not to admire these people”, he tells me, “they each push themselves to the limit to reach their goals. If they don’t reach those goals, they haven’t lost either, they have learnt”.

Joe harks back to his childhood again in reference to this point. “I was given the opportunity to be anything I wanted to be, but it was always stressed that whatever I chose, I should do it to the best of my ability, and that’s always stuck”. It’s an attitude that is evident in the precise and meticulous way he approaches his craft and it seems to me like his golf analogy is one that could be easily applied to his photographic process.

“All the people who I have photographed have made the decision to win from an early age. This is a huge thing for anyone. They want to achieve and I have no doubt that they will”. It’s another statement that seems to be steadily playing out in his own career, as he was picked up by Creative Review as one of their 20 Graduates of 2015. The scheme, in partnership with JCDecaux, has seen Joe’s work displayed all over the UK on digital advertising screens for the month of August. It’s been a surreal but fantastic experience according to Joe, with the possibility that 50% of the UK will see his work, often at a grand scale.

His plans now are to freelance, while studio jobs within the sports industry are another option. Not that there’s any rush of course. It will be of great interest to see how Joe’s personal work continues to develop and it’s exciting to hear that he’s currently working on a project which, somewhat cryptically, is about “looking at things in a different way and investigating possibilities”.

With a great eye for composition and a fascination for exploring the personality and drive of his subjects, Joe is undoubtedly going to find himself in demand. Regardless of his path professionally, we hope he will still have time to work on projects that are as personal to him as those we’ve gleaned a selection from below.

josephbriggsprice.co.uk