This project is pretty incomplete, but I suppose the end result would have been similar to what this has become anyway. I started filming in 16:9 and saving this footage a little over 2 years ago, with the idea to create an old school style video, just runs, hip hop. Real parkour. Originally I'd planned to make more of an effort with the edit and post it on YouTube, but my channel got hacked a few years back and no one would even end up seeing it, so I'll just post this on here instead.
Anyway, this past couple of years has felt like a slow, painful break-up with parkour. I've repeatedly gone out to train, hoping to feel the same sense of joy that parkour gave me for 10 solid years, only to go home feeling disappointed. With all the injuries I've encountered over the past 4 years, I've struggled immensely to rebuild robustness to the demands of parkour on the body, and naturally this is a big part of it, but also, I can't help but feel that "parkour" is just not what it once was. Whether that is mostly influenced by my own experience and perception, or if parkour has actually changed more broadly is up for debate, but I can't help feel that both are true, which ultimately leaves me feeling sad.
I may well just be another 'past his prime' old school guy moaning about how things have changed, and how things were better back in the day, but I'm not sure if anything will compare to what parkour was back in 2011-2018. I'm excited to see people still pushing the sport, I'm just not really excited to be part of it. I hope parkour can grow its way out of this strange teenage phase and rediscover the essence of what captivated the 14 year old me.
I've also only logged into instagram a handful of times over the past year, and if I do it will more than likely be on my
@jackhollandbartlett account where I post my photography. I have an otherwise fulfilling life rich in non-parkour related interests, and not being "Jack who does parkour" is something I'm getting used to.
Thank you to everyone who helped film for this project.
#Parkour #freerunning #pkfr
