joseph ford sets a mind-bending match of tennis in an abandoned swimming pool

joseph ford sets a mind-bending match of tennis in an abandoned swimming pool
all images courtesy of joseph ford

inside a derelict swimming pool in glasgow, photographer joseph ford worked with seven assistants, two anamorphosis artists, two parkour athletes and 2.5 kilometers of blue tape to make one mind-bending match of tennis. for an editorial in avaunt magazine, ford and the team mapped out the boundaries of a court with gaffer tape, carefully positioning the lines within the empty pool to intentionally distort the perception of space. the anamorphic quality of the composition means that the viewer must occupy a specific vantage point to reveal the image correctly — in this case, as seen from the building’s second level balcony. 

the anamorphic image appears inside a derelict swimming pool in glasgow

from here, the tennis court seemingly reaches across the architecture and spans from the bottom of the pool floor, to the upper storey. two parkour artists — kevin francomme and david banks — interact with the graphic as ‘players’, jumping off balconies, scaling walls and running sideways along the pool to ‘retrieve’ the ball bouncing around the space. see the editorial images below, and behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot at the bottom of the page. 

two parkour artists interact with the graphic as ‘players’

the parkour artists jump off balconies, scale walls and run sideways along the pool

the lines within the empty pool have been designed to intentionally distort the perception of space

the team mapped out the boundaries of a court with gaffer tape

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project info:

retouching: laure favel & sylvain roux @ wanda print.
styling: penfield, aeance, wood wood, lacoste, le coq sportif, franklin & marshall, wåven, asics, nike, cmmn swdn, ymc.