Jacob Moscovitch (University of Missouri)
Falling in love, on wheels
Gold
Domestic Picture Story
“Skating by yourself is still great, but skating with someone else is just magic.” When Noah Doolady and Kev Presley met, it was as if they had known each other for years. Noah had always dreamed of having a skating partner, and had even bought 5 extra pairs of skates hoping to find someone to skate with. Now, he just calls up Kev. “When we skate, we dance. Our bodies are together and our movements become complementary.”
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
“There’s nothing I love more than skating — other than, like, my mom,” Noah Doolady said as he tied the laces of his roller skates before leaving his home in the late afternoon of May 15, 2019. Noah has been skating since he was 5 years old.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
Noah always dreamed of having a skating partner to zip around town with. Although joined by a group of ducks in the early afternoon of May 23, 2019 at Stephen's Lake Park, he seeks the company of another skater. When the local roller rink closed early this year, Doolady, now 20, went and bought five extra pairs of skates “hoping that someone would skate with me.”
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
Unique to Noah is his love for street skating — no rinks necessary. Noah Doolady talks to local children at Douglas Park in North Columbia on May 15, 2019. The children took interest in his skates and his graceful movements.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
Now when Noah wants to skate: “I just call up Kev.”Noah Doolady and Kev Presley listen to music and skate during a roller skating date in North Columbia on June 6, 2019.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
Doolady met Kev Presley, 19, last year through mutual friends, and “within a week,” Doolady said, “it felt like I had known them for years.” Noah Doolady and Kev Presley chat outside of Doolady's new apartment while Presley smokes a cigarette on July 30, 2019.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
“We are really close-knit, just all smushed together," Presley said. “We love skating around campus and sometimes we actually go to the gravel roads when we’re feeling dangerous,” Presley said. Here, Noah Doolady and Kev Presley sit on the stairs in a local bar in downtown Columbia on June 26, 2019 at midnight.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
“When we skate, we dance. Our bodies are together and our movements become complementary," Kev said. Kev Presley and Noah Doolady dance after a local drag show in South Columbia, MO on June 27, 2019 at Yin Yang Night Club.
Story: Falling in love, on wheels
Falling in love, on wheels
"Skating by yourself is still great, but skating with someone else is just magic,” Noah said. Kev Presley and Noah Doolady lean on each other on the roof of a parking garage on June 26, 2019 at dusk for a portrait.