Rolling with the Punches
This past week was the Tennessee State Fair was in town in Nashville, held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. I've been really wanting to photograph boxing, mma, or anything really in the fighting realm. Through wonderful people I was able to come out and photograph D and Company, the ring girls! Owner and operator Dilsia Alfaro is a killer business woman offering ring girls for fights in Tennessee and surrounding areas. I was able to photograph weigh in and three fights, while focused on photographing these great ring girls. Here are the photos from the weigh in:
Night two was fight night. This was my first experience photographing anything involving a fight. I got myself acquainted with some of the other photographers, asked what was the norm ect.. After the first fight we were informed that all photographers had to stay down below the ring during the fights as to not obscure the view of the attendees, which I know should have been common since, but I was so excited shooting I didn't even consider it at first. The fight will also come right up to your lens. I watched a photographer grab his camera just in time before the boxers came crashing down right where his camera had been. The first fight only went one round, the winner remained undefeated 15-0. Needless to say it was a warm up round for both the crowd, and me learning to photograph.
The second fight went two rounds. This gave me a little more time to move around the ring and find better shots. Also I am IN LOVE with the look of black and white from these fights.
Photographing the ring girls turned out to be very difficult in this setting vs. the weigh in of the previous day. They walk each side of the ring rather quickly, stop and pose, but they have to keep moving because of the strict schedule. They were also only a few feet away from the ropes, so the straight up shot wasn't the most flattering and all other shots had the ropes in it. By the third fight I had found what I thought was the best shot of the girls, from the balcony. This is also where I got some of my favorite fight shots.
A huge huge huge thanks for Dilsia for having me out and allowing me to have this opportunity! Hopefully there will be more like this in the future. D and Company Tri Star Boxing
