St. Louis-based photographer and skateboarder goes back to high school to shoot a familiar subject to him,  cross-country running. The intimate, earnest quality of his photos — everything from fellow skateboarders to kids being dropped at rock concerts — Worful has a unique talent for capturing ‘high school’ moments. On the radar of such photographers as Tim Barber and Tobin Yelland, its certain that his artful eye towards the exuberance of youth will continue to find an audience. Including his personal projects, he has produced photography zines found at Printed Matter and Nieves, as well as designed a few skateboard decks for his local Pretty Skateboards.

Where are you from?
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri and I still live there.

How old are you?
I’m 29.

What inspired you to shoot ‘Big Dogs and Little Dogs’?
I ran cross-country in high school and have very fond memories of it. Its a wonderful sport that’s very simple and pure in my eyes. There’s also a lot of emotion involved when the runners are giving it all they’ve got. I thought it would be a fun and interesting challenge to try and document that world through photography. I’m also just very interested in high school life in general, as a subject matter. This seemed like a good entry point to start from for my photography, since I was familiar with the cross-country.

Where are these shot?
At various high schools and parks in Missouri, mostly in the St. Louis area.

Did you identify with these kids?
For sure. I have run some of the same courses they have, and all the memories of how hard and rewarding the races were came rushing back as soon as I started this project. There is a general anxiousness and excitement at cross-country races that I got caught up in.

What was it about this shoot that made you want to make it a ‘theme’?
I hadn’t shot many series before, but I had started to around 2006 and enjoyed it. So I tried to think of something that interested me that was also somewhat familiar. So I chose cross-country.

Do you run?
Not much anymore, unfortunately. I would love to get back into it some day though.

Are you athletic? Just an enthusiast?
I wouldn’t call myself athletic, but I try to stay active.

You also shot a series of skate photos, how did these come about?
I’ve been skating since I was in junior high, and over the last few years have shot a lot of photos of my friends that I skate with, as well as various other people I’ve met through skateboarding. I love skateboarding and think its very similar to cross-country and even photography. They’re all somewhat solitary pursuits to a degree.

Is skate photography a major inspiration?
Definitely. I really look up to a lot of skate photographers, both for their photos of skating as well as the lifestyle associated with it. Skate photography is very hard and takes a lot of patience.

What are your thoughts on the intersection between sport (activity) and art?
I think there’s a very natural intersection between the two sometimes, and other times it can feel forced. It just depends I think.

Tell me about your photo zine with Jason Polan.
Jason’s a good friend and an amazing artist. He had asked me to do a zine of drawings together, but I hadn’t been drawing much at the time. So I suggested we put a zine together of our photos. Our photos work very nicely together I think, and it was a very fun project to work on him with. We’ve made two photo zines together now, and I hope we make another one.

Do you have any other ‘sports’ series like these coming?
I don’t have anyting planned, but it would be fun to do something else related to high school sports. Maybe something outside of my frame of reference. We’ll see.