Tito and Me

 

One of the perks of shooting the UWC events for Bloodyelbow.com!

That's me with Tito Ortiz. Normally I don't like to put myself in my own shots, and in the past I have ignored the celebrity guests as I try to maintain some semblance of professionalism *snicker*, but hey.... it's Tito Ortiz! The only way I could be more excited is if it had been Forrest Griffin.

Check out my latest shots to be featured exclusively on www.bloodyelbow.com!!

*Life is sooooo good.*

My UWC Pics on BloodyElbow.com!

EDITED to add: I updated the links below as they were mobile versions that my blackberry inserted. Sorry for the glitch!
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Sorry for the delay in posting. Those of you who know me know this was a trying week for a number of reasons, not the least of which was a severely limited internet connection. Nevertheless, I am happy to log on briefly tonight (thank you Blackberry!!) to include the following link.

Yep, that's one of my shots featured on BloodyElbow.com! Luke Thomas, Editor-in-Chief, was nice enough to let me cover the event for his website. It was a great experience. I had a ROCKIN seat, right up against the cage and within earshot of Luke calling the event for the UWC.

The fights were fantastic, especially the bout between John "The Magician" Dodson and Jose "The Pistol" Villarisco. Those guys are a photographer's dream come true with all their flying kicks and acrobatics. Amazing!

The matchup between LeVon Maynard and Kyle Baker was also pretty exciting for me. It was something I'd been waiting for for a long time as I'm a fan of both fighters. I was torn who to root for, but enjoyed it immensely even though I knew one was gonna go down.

Finally, the fight between Iman Achhal and Felice Herrig was a new one for me. I'd never seen a girl MMA matchup before and wondered if I would enjoy it as much as the men. The answer is yes. It was definitely different but still enjoyable.

On a whole, it was a great night with great fights and good photo ops. I also got to rub elbows with my photog friend and (dare I say?) unofficial mentor, Keith Mills, and schmooz a bit with friends and FighterLink owners John and Jen Tackett. Thanks guys, for looking out for me at this event! I'm still really new to this world so I can use all the Big Brothering I can get! ;)

Pics taken for BloodyElbow.com can also be found here.

Fingers Crossed........

Folks, it's that time again. This Saturday night I will be sitting cageside shooting the UWC Man "O" War event at George Mason University's Patriot Center. I'm especially excited about this event because, if all goes well, my pictures will be featured on another website with a pretty wide MMA audience. I'm a little superstitious so I'm not going to say too much more until after the event. The reality is that a lot of things could go wrong and I obsess about every single one of them. For instance, I may not get a good seat- it's entirely up to the promotions staff. If I don't get a good seat, then all I will get are pictures of a chain link fence and a blur of pink beyond it. So until I know my shots are golden, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, hope everything works in my favor, and try not to jinx myself by giving too much away.

At any rate, check back on Sunday to see how things went, and wish me luck! Oh! And if you want to watch the event yourself, Sherdog.com will be streaming it live. Here's the link. It's free, and you might even see me.... I'll be the chick wearing the stupid grin and taking pictures.

Welcome home

 

Today was our first day back at our old box and I went straight back to my exploratory photography, lying on the mats, shooting up, down, across, and toying with the exposure settings. It felt good to be back!

Halfway through I noticed a disturbing trend: I tend to favor full-body shots that take up about 3/4 of the frame and lack facial details. Once in a while is ok, but dozens of the same type of shot can get boring. So for this one I got up as close as possible without shoving the lens in Treefrog's face (sorry Treefrog- you were a good sport!) which sort of exaggerated the size of the near olympic plate. I cropped it even closer in picasa so that the plate filled almost half of the frame.

I'm going to try and shoot tighter shots from now on. I haven't used my 50mm lens in a while so maybe it's time to dust that bad boy off again now that we're back in the old gym. Actually, I will be using my 50mm very shortly for another purpose this weekend. I'll give a few more details in a day or two, but if all goes well this weekend let's just say this isn't the only website where you'll be seeing my shots....

The Pointe of CrossFit

 
Betcha don't see this everyday!

One of our athletes studies ballet when she's not CrossFitting. During warmup the other day, I noticed her bag sitting against the wall with one of her pointe shoes tumbling out. It was such a juxtaposition with the surroundings I had to take a shot. I grabbed a kettlebell and a jump rope that were in my path and placed them next to the bag, et voila! Pointe Shoe and Kettlebell still-life!

I submitted it to the CrossFit main site a few days ago but they didn't post it (I'm not upset; it might be a little artsy fartsy for their taste). But I didn't want to sit on it any longer. I'm pretty excited by it and I want to share it with everyone.

Basically, I adjusted the levels in GIMP to build up a little contrast between the pink slipper and the pinkish dance bag, desaturated it, and then selectively re-colored the shoe and kettlebell.

CrossFit Level I Cert - VA Beach

 

Just got back from Virginia Beach where I attended a Level I CrossFit certification course. It was.... humbling. I'm in awe of our instructors and their level of knowledge and fitness. They've given me something real and tangible to shoot for from here on out and I'm grateful for that. The course was made up of both lecture material and break out sessions, with plenty of time to practice the concepts we had just learned in the classroom. I got to try out equipment I had never seen before, and even started to develop the beginnings of a butterfly pull-up! Holy smokes, didn't see that one coming! Yes, I'm sore. Very very sore. And I did see spots after one of the workouts. But here's the thing- most of the stuff we did was all body-weight and PVC-pipe intensive. Very little time was spent carrying loads. And yet they still smoked us completely.

My one regret was that I didn't bring my DSLR. I felt naked the whole weekend without it. All I had on me was my little point and shoot, which I used to capture a bunch of images from the instructors' WOD on the second day. This is one of our instructors, Pat S., attacking a set of 15 push-jerks. Check out those shins! Reminds me of the day a guest athlete came to town and drew blood as well. You can't see it here, but Pat bears an uncanny resemblance to Ben Stiller (think Tropic Thunder, not Zoolander.)

Anyway, thank you everyone, instructors and fellow students alike for an amazing weekend! It was a wonderful learning experience and I can't wait to put all I've learned into practice. Now if only I could straighten my legs.......

The Struggle

 

This is Dave Branch battling Robbie Houston. To me, this is what I love most about MMA: the strain, the amazing physical struggle between two men trying to best one another. It's so basic and so visceral- you can practically see the blood pumping through their veins.

When people ask me why I enjoy watching MMA, I always stammer. I can't find the words that will cast it in the light it deserves. Instead, I shrug, shake my head, grin shyly, and admit I don't know the answer to that. But this picture sums it up. Whatever words are failing me, they're visible in this photograph. Why do I enjoy watching MMA? Because of moments like this.

Exhaustion

 

Last month I posted a picture of an unidentified tattooed fighter. I finally figured out who he is. His name is Daniel Sarafian and he defeated his opponent, Lamont Lister, by arm bar in the 3rd round. This is the two of them in the second round. I have a couple of shots of them in this position, one with Sarafian's arm wrapped tightly around Lister's neck. With his tattoos, his arm looks exactly like a boa constrictor suffocating its prey. But you can't see Lister's face in those, and one of the things I like about this shot is how you can see his face. Well, partially. Lister is breathing out of his mouth and he's exhausted. But that's what draws you in and that's why I chose to post this picture.

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.

Never too old

 
This is Buck "The Coach" Grant. After 7 years of retirement, he's back on the mats showing his students at Hybrid Academy of Martial Arts how it's done. He's also a CrossFit athlete (thanks Brown!). Not hard to imagine that; this was him last month during the Battle at the Nation's Capital. Did I mention he's 32 years old? (As a 33-year old who refuses to accept the idea that age=deterioration, I love it when the older guy wins.)

I like this picture for several reasons. First, I like the dichotomy between the bodies of the victor, tall and proud, and the loser, bloodied and on his knees. This was a messy fight, with Grant cutting Dixon early in the first round and the ref stopping the fight when Dixon was no longer able to defend himself. That brings me to the second reason why this photo is interesting to me- the ref was still signaling a call to the fight long after Grant walked away from his opponent. He stayed there waving his hands forever, as if driving home the message that there was no question this fight was over. I'm glad he did because it allowed me time to take a frontal shot of Grant, arms raised in victory, while the ref was still gesturing over a stunned Dixon. Finally, I'm drawn in by the facial expression of Dixon. He's staring down at the blood on his hand as if in disbelief. (He'll have to watch the video of his fight a couple of times before he knows what happened and how he came to be in that position.) Shortly after this picture was taken, he and Grant hugged in the center of the cage before Grant's arm was raised.

In other news....
I had to take some time away from the 'blog over the holidays so that I could focus my photography on Photo calendars, family get-togethers, and kids on Christmas morning. Apologies for the hiatus. I hope to feature several more shots from the Battle at the Nation's Capital over the next few weeks, interspersed with the CrossFit pics, of course. Then, in February, get ready for UWC Man O' War.....

Do you know this man?

 
I would love to tell you who this is but the truth is I don't know. As far as I can tell, he wasn't on the original card and I can't find him in the press kit I got from the Battle at the Nation's Capital reps. His corner man seemed to be shouting Portuguese, but his tattoos seem to reflect Asian and Pacific Islander influences.

At any rate, he won his match in convincing fashion and I love this shot of him raising his arm to deliver a hammer fist to his opponent. If you can ID this fighter, let me know so I can give him due credit.

Note to self: Next time, write down the names of the fighters before each match....
*sigh*

Body Shot

 

Got to shoot my second MMA event last Saturday night at the DC Armory (Battle at the Nation's Capital). It was..... a learning experience. First, the whole affair was rather informal with press allowed to mill about the cage area wherever they pleased. As the fighters moved around, so did the photographers and I found myself jockeying for a new position every time the fight moved to another side of the cage. There were some rounds where I didn't get one decent shot because the optimal side of the cage was already filled with photographers shoulder to shoulder.

Second, the catwalk around the cage was about twice the width of the last event I shot, which meant I couldn't get my lens as close to the cage as I would have liked. This made it much harder to get a clean shot of the fighters as the autofocus of my camera kept locking onto the chain links of the cage instead of the action inside. The night was a constant struggle trying to balance my depth of field so that the fighters were in focus but the chain links were not.

Third, I was stupidly left the exposure setting in multi-segment metering mode rather than in spot mode and didn't realize until halfway through the night after wondering why the hell my fighters were coming out blurry and overexposed. (The camera was fooled by the predominantly dark background and kept selecting slower shutter speeds to compensate.) The problem went away after I changed to spot metering, but a good portion of my shots suffered for it.

This is one that managed to come out ok. This is Beaux "Blackjack" Baker taking a kick to the ribs by Ron Foster. As nice a body shot as it is, it isn't representative of the fight. Baker dominated and submitted Foster 4 minutes into the first round. It's a good thing too. If he hadn't he'd probably never hear the end of it from his brother, Kyle, who enjoyed similar success against Foster a year earlier. (Yep, that's the same Kyle who I featured back in November. He fought last Saturday as well.)

As before, I'll feature some more shots from the event every day or so until I run out of good ones. In the meantime, I'm sifting through all of them and studying the settings of each so that I will be better next time. As a good friend of mine said, "it's only your 2nd go. Learn from it and get better next time."

The lesson learned from this weekend is: make a checklist of critical settings prior to an important event and CHECK THEM before shooting. I learned this lesson once before when I learned how to fly a plane; you'd think I would have remembered it when learning how to shoot a camera!

The First

 
Not much to say about this shot except: How great is Zoya's grin? It's the same look we all get when we accomplish something momentous for the first time. This is Zoya after she did her first clean & jerk. The smile says it all. Click here for more pics.

Projections

 

This was a neat shot: I was photographing Treefrog today while she was doing kettlebell swings. The light from the mid-day sun was pouring in through the front window and projected our Gracie Jiu Jitsu logo from the window onto the far wall of the gym.

Once again, I'm always amazed at how blind I am. Rather than look around my environment and find something interesting to shoot (like this projection), I spent most of the workout trying to force some interesting slow-shutter shots of people doing box jumps (you can see them in the Dead Weight album). The box jump shots were sorta fun, but I need to be more aware of situations that present themselves, rather than trying to concoct them. I'm beginning to realize that many of my favorite shots are the ones I didn't set out to take.

Red blood in black & white

 
Normally I don't like to post pics I haven't taken myself, but I'll make an exception for this one that Brown took today. Today's WOD was an AMRAP-20 (as many rounds as possible in 20 min) of 5 Deadlifts and 10 Burpees. We had two guests today, one of which was so vigorous with his deadlifts, he shaved the top layer of skin off his shin with the knurl of the bar. Ouch.

The original picture was a tad dark and the blood didn't really stand out. Blood, sweat, and tears always make for interesting photography, so I thought I might tweak the shot a bit. In order to emphasize blood (a common occurrence in both MMA and CrossFit), I've found that a green filter in Picasa's filtered B&W tool works wonders. And there we have it: another picture of a CrossFit casualty to add to our collection. I love it.

For more of Brown's incredibly fuzzy pictures from today's WOD, check out Thanksgiving Penance Part Dos. Yeah yeah, I know. I promise, I will show him how to use my camera one of these days. ;-)

Congrats Aaron Riley

 

Last night was an exciting night for One Spirit Martial Arts. Our very own Aaron Riley appeared on the undercard of UFC 91 and scrapped with his opponent, Jorge Gurgel. It was an exciting match, with both fighters landing some good blows.... as well as some not-so-good blows (Nice groin kick, Aaron. *grin*) But in the end, Aaron's arm was raised thanks to a unanimous decision. Much to my glee, (as well as about 20 other OSMA diehards who had joined me at the local sports bar), they televised Aaron's fight after the Couture vs. Lesner title match. I thought Aaron looked great. He was quick, had excellent defense, and seemed cool and calm while Gurgel seemed frustrated. When they announced he won, we all went crazy, even though we already knew the outcome thanks to a txt message from one of our guys who was actually attending the fights.

It makes for a whole different experience when you actually know the guy on TV. I'm still not used to that. For instance... the above picture is from one of the very first CrossFit workouts we did in our gym back in June. Aaron Riley joined us that day as well as Reshad "The Show" Woods (now at Lloyd Irvin). This was the first time I had really met Aaron and he struck me as the nicest guy- very polite, soft-spoken, and courteous. I think I even toned down my own potty mouth so as not to offend him too much. We all did the workout and vanity requires me to mention that I -a 33 yo mother of two- kicked the asses of both of these Pro MMA fighters on this particular occasion. (Reshad bristles every time I bring it up, which is why I mention it every chance I get.)

And look at Aaron now. Here he is, our very own instructor on tv, tossing head kicks at his opponent and getting bonuses for delivering the "Fight of the Night." I know he's been there before and done this many many times, but for me, it's a first. I know a fighter in the UFC. We've worked out together. And he's a super nice guy. Way to go, Aaron! We're very proud of you.

PS- If we help you move next weekend, will you treat us all to a few cold ones with that sweet bonus you just won? hahaha

The big red button

 
Yes, that is an Easy Button from Staples. We use them when we do burpees and push-ups. If your chest does not hit the button on the way down, it doesn't count. It can get pretty noisy some days when we're all cranking out loads of burpees and the sound of "Well that was easy" and "It's your house" overpower the heavy metal coming in over the speakers. The fact that it says "Easy" right on the button is a little annoying too. CrossFit is never "easy".

I used Picasa's focal B&W for this shot because the button was a perfect circle and lent itself well to being emphasized.

On Veteran's Day...

 
...I would like to acknowledge my friends at the gym who have served their country selflessly and honorably in the US military. Porkbelly, Brown, Freeze, Dan C, Brad, Big Ben, and the countless others who know the pride of wearing a uniform for our country- it is an honor to know each and every one of you. Same to my friends across the globe who are serving right now in far off places. Thank you and your families for the sacrifices you have made.

And thanks to veterans everywhere, not just US personnel, but members of the armed forces in the countries of our neighbors and of our friends around the globe. I've had the privilege of knowing Aussies, Brits, Canadians, and Netherlanders, who are serving or have served in their respective services. Wherever you are, know that your actions are appreciated.

And since I'm on a roll with the All-Military love fest, let me finish with a special shout out to CrossFit Fort Meade for checking out my blog and leaving some kind words the other day. You put a smile on my dial. Thanks for that. And thanks for your service too.

Focus point: Kyle Baker

 
Two weeks ago I posted a shot I took of James 'Binky' Jones after being defeated by Kyle Baker during UWC Confrontation. Tonight it's Kyle's turn.

One thing was immediately obvious when Baker entered the ring: he was absolutely chiseled. He was also phenomenal to watch, technique-wise. He landed several spectacular kicks that took the wind right out of Binky and, as I mentioned earlier, the other photographers and I kept exchanging looks of disbelief as he relentlessly and ruthlessly took Binky apart. It was a great fight to shoot with two extremely athletic fighters, devastating blows, and amazing heart shown by both. I enjoyed it immensely.

I love this shot of Kyle, except for one thing: it cuts off his legs. Aaarrgh! I didn't realize it until later, but I should have used the select mode and set a different focus point toward the top of the viewfinder, not the center (spot) one. If I had done that, I could have focused on his face and still had room in the frame for his lower body. Instead, I focused (and centered) on his tattooed shoulder and cut off his legs.

I even remember complaining to one of the other photographers, "It's so hard to focus on their face and then recompose when they're moving so fast..." (And it's next to impossible to do this if you're using continuous autofocus.) Nobody offered me a better technique so I struggled through taking shot after shot of fighters chopped off at the knees. It never occurred to me to use a different focus point towards the top of the frame and avoid the problem altogether.

So that's why I'm including this picture. If anybody else out there is just learning to photograph MMA (or boxing, or any fast-paced sport) and you're trying to get a full-body shot of some totally ripped athlete (like Kyle Baker), play around with selecting different focus points. I've tried it now several times at other sporting events and it works beautifully. I can't wait to put it to use at the next fight.

Edited to add... Just found out the next UWC fight is scheduled for Feb 21. Yeah baby! No card yet, but who cares? It's a cagefight!

Anointing the Choir Boy

 
The first shot I ever got of Ron "Choir Boy" Stallings was back in April as he was getting body-slammed into the floor by my friend Reshad Woods. The impact knocked him out and, when the ref failed to stop the fight, Reshad went back and punched him in the head just for good measure. It was a pretty fantastic knockout and I believe you can watch the whole thing here (UWC Invasion Fight 1). Shortly after Reshad's arm was raised, Stallings was sent to the hospital.

Unfortunately, my pictures weren't as spectacular. I was trying to take pictures from the cheapo nosebleed section and had a hard time getting the exposure right. The only shot I got is fuzzy and cryptic. You can barely make out Stallings' inverted body as he dangles a few inches above the floor.

Fast forward several months. It was weird being at UWC 4 with my nose pressed up to the cage as Stallings entered. I kept remembering his ragdoll body lying limp on the ground after being picked up and slammed down Rampage Jackson-style. But things were different on this night. He absolutely dominated his opponent Tony Sousa in what I thought was probably the most violent fight of the night. Much of the fight took place pressed up against my side of the cage, so I had the very bizarre experience of looking up and seeing Stallings towering over me, seemingly looking down at me. Every time he raised his fists I felt sure they would land on my face, but instead they found their target in Tony Sousa. I heard every grunt, every gutteral growl, and the smack of every fist as it connected with Sousa's flesh just a few inches from my face. Many times I had to resist the very real temptation to put my own hands up, so close was the fight to my position. (ok, ok, technically, they were up because I was shooting the event, but you get my drift?)

As an aside, let me just say that it is a very odd experience to be so close to a fight and not go into defensive mode. This alone was the singular weirdest moment of the whole night- to stop for a moment and reflect on the fact that I'm coldly taking pictures while a man is getting beaten up 3 inches from my lens. Granted, both men chose to enter the cage, but during the whole fight I just had a really uneasy, almost voyeuristic feeling. It wasn't so much that I felt bad for Sousa; no, I felt uncomfortable with the proximity of the situation. If somebody's throwing punches that close to me, it's "fight or flight" that kicks in, not "photography."

Anyway, rather than post a shot of Sousa getting mauled by the Choir Boy, I thought I'd go with a shot that was more... well, Choir Boy-ish. Contrary to the fight, Stallings' 1-minute rest was spent sitting quietly, almost in reflection. Here, he almost looks tired (if he was, he didn't show it during the fight). You can't tell that he's winning just by looking at him. Lloyd Irvin is tending to him, re-applying Vaseline to his forehead, giving him sage wisdom. After this picture was taken, Stallings switched on once again,devastating Sousa and knocking him out 1 minute into the 2nd round.