Just A Man With A Camera

I love professional wrestling. Not everyone gets it, and that's fine. Personally, I don't understand the cult-like dedication people have to their particular sports teams. I fell in love with wrestling around the year 2000 when I was 15. I lost track of it around 2006 when in a pre-streaming world I couldn't keep up with it anymore because I didn't have cable (and admittedly was tired of being made fun of for enjoying it by my then girlfriend as well as other friends and family). But in late 2015 through Youtube list videos and old highlights, my new girlfriend(and now wife), and a friend who was simultaneously redsicovering the sport, that spark reignited and by 2016 I was back with a vengeance making up for lost time.  Not only was I catching up on what I missed in my 10ish year gap, but also learning about what I missed pre-2000 and everything else I could get my hands on. 

What many people don't realized is that it's one thing to watch a show on TV, but there's nothing quite like going to live show especially if you can get close to the ring. I've been to other live professional sports and nothing is quite the same as live pro-wrestling. I have had the priviledge of being able to sit ringside for a few WWE and AEW shows, but something I have never taken proper advantage of is going to my local independant promotion, Ringside Wrestling. Pre-covid my wife and I went to a handful of shows, and at the time I always thought it would be a fun challenge to do photography for them. However at the time there were a few problems with that: I don't know anyone connected with them or how to reach out to them about the oppourtunity, I had no appropriate gear, and at the time even if the first two criteria were met I did not have the confidence to do it. 

If you read my last post, you may remember that I have a photography gig coming up. It's with a different small indy company who has a show coming up, Souris Valley Wrestling. A friend and local business owner who is one of the show sponsors encouraged me to reach out to them when they put out a call for a photographer. At first I wasn't sure if I should throw myself out there, but when I look back at those three things that would have held me back a few years ago, they don't exist anymore. I have a referal and potential in with the company, I have the gear, and eventhough I have never done it before dammit I actually think that I can do this. So I reached out to the promoter on Instagram, and after a short back and forth, I got the gig! I am excited to say the least. As a lifelong wrestling fan, I am stoked to be ringside with my camera for the first time.

A problem is, while I know my gear is good for action I have never put it to the test. That's where Ringside Wrestling comes back into the picture. Last weekend they had one of their monthly shows. It's been more than a few years since we attented, so it felt like the perfect oppourtunity for me to get off the couch and support a local comany as well as test some of those camera settings that I've never touched but am going to need.  Even though I was there just a spectator, I was close enough that I could try and get some shots, and for the most part I think it went well. 

I thought the high ISO performance was excellent. I was shooting at 3200 ISO to be able to reach a fast enough shutter speed to freeze action, and I think it looked very good and with little noticeable noise. Honestly, I am still not used to ISOs that high looking as good as they do. The ProCap modes on the OM1 are a godsend. They start capturing images into the buffer after half pressing the shutter and when you fully press the shutter it lets of a huge burst of images. One drawback is the buffer fills up quickly when you are shooting at 50fps. I could definitly benefit from a faster memory card to clear out that buffer faster. That being said, the 50fps bursts are amazing for capturing action like this, and to provide so many options in post as you can see below.

One other concern I had was how the focus tracking was going to perform. While it may not have always locked in quite right, for the most part it did the job.  In the photo below, I was started shooting with tighter framing of the wrestler standing on the turnbuckle, and then both zoomed out and panned across as he dropped an elbow, and the focus stayed locked in. However, there were other times where it would hunt to someone that was closer resulting in the subject I wanted to be in focus becoming a total blur. 

Since landing this gig I have been researching what I should be shooting by watching videos from other photogrpahers on youtube, searching out any articles I can find, and reading reddit threads. You can have all the tech in the world but if you don't get the right coverage then what's the point. So outside of technical concerns, something I wanted to test was whether I could take enough photos to capture the story of the match. In some cases, the answer was not so much, but I think the limitation of me being a spectator played a role in that. I think even with my limited mobility (aka sitting or standing at my seat) I was able to do decent job, which has given me confidence going forward. I was able to capture some good action that evening, but my favourite photo of the night was the one below from the ending of the main event.  The new champion being presented with his belt in the background, and the defeated villain with a shocked face full of blood. This wasn't a result of just pointing, firing a burst, and hoping for the best. I saw the moment coming, I locked in, and captured the moment. 

So all in all it felt like a good test of my skill and equipment that filled me with confidence for this upcoming oppourtity.  Will it lead to more oppourtunities going forward? Who knows. I'm not getting my hopes up, because I'm just focusing on being excited for this first shoot.  Not only to take some pictures, but to also be involved in a wrestling promotion, even in just a minor way, for just an evening. It's a new way for me to combine my passions and hobbies and honestly, the idea kind of it makes me feel a little bit like the kid that fell in love with wrestling in the first place.