Go Big Red!

 
When I took this picture of John Cholish, I didn't realize he used to wrestle for Cornell, my alma mater. It wasn't until tonight when I read his bio that I discovered he was a fellow Cornellian (hence my nod to Big Red). Funny that the two of us should find ourselves on opposite sides of the cage here in DC- him fighting and me shooting....

Apparently Cholish was quite a good wrestler and now he fights out of New York City with Team Renzo Gracie. In this bout, Cholish defeated Chris Connor from MMA Institute (on the bottom) by unanimous decision.

I think the thing that strikes me about this photo is how every muscle in Cholish is contracting- every single one. There is not one fiber that is resting; he is one giant spring-loaded weapon in the act of firing. You can even see the strain in his toes. Extraordinary.

I chose a square format to reduce distraction. Normally I crop to a 4x6 ratio but there was a distracting lady whose white forehead and eyes peeping over the mats stood out too much against the black backdrop. She kept drawing the eye away from Cholish, who I meant to be the focus. She had to go, so I tightened up the crop using a 1:1 and adjusted the frame to the Rule of Thirds. I also sharpened it and brought up the contrast a tad just to darken the chain links in the foreground.