KEEPING UP with Michael Lamoureux

For the vast majority of us, getting out of bed in the morn is a rather painless procedure, unless you spent the prior night out partying. But for my good friend Mikie, a task as simple as getting out of bed can be a very painful one.

Mikie has a genetic disorder call Rickets. Put bluntly, his bones lacked the phosphorous they needed to properly develop and as a result, many of the simple things we do everyday gives him great pain.

But early in his life, Mikie chose to fight his disability, and for over a year now he has been part of the Crossfit Gym here in Sudbury, a move that he believes has made him stronger, mentally and physically, than he ever thought possible.

In telling his story, I wanted to give the sense that his whole life up to this point has been lacking something, something that he felt made him different then everyone else. For this, I chose to shoot it black and white. It’s a beautiful medium, one that allowed me to focus on letting the lighting set the tone and enhance Mikie’s commitment to his workouts.

His girlfriend Taryn originally proposed the idea of telling his story, so I’ll let her synopsis tell the rest:

Michael Lamoureux was never an athletic individual and he often struggled with the pain of his disability whenever doing any physical activity. When he was introduced to CrossFit – the sport of fitness – he uncovered a new strength within him that inevitably changed the way he thinks about how his body performs. “Keeping Up” is a short film about the perseverance of one man to defy the limitations of his body.

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A special thank you to Adam Ball, owner of Crossfit Sudbury for letting us shoot in the gym long after it closed. And to Chris Elliott at Insight Media Works for donating the lighting gear.

Mikie’s story has been shared on the Crossfit journal and since has spread all over the world; even to Cairo as Mikie mentioned recently.

It’s so motivating to see how many people have viewed and shared the video!  I am thrilled to imagine how others might be drawing their own inspiration from it, and considering what they might accomplish too.  Thank you for your support.  As they say in CrossFit… know you limits, and crush them!

Here’s some BTS pics Taryn took on her cell phone.