UFC 105 - My Cageside View
by VikingPhotography on Nov 16, 2009 7:51 PM EST
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PrintPromoted from the Fan Posts by Kid Nate.
Well I haven't had this much fun since... well, UFC 99; this past weekend in Manchester saw an action packed card full of surprise and thrills and luckily I managed to capture some of those moments from my viewpoint that I can share with you. I'll likely blog about my experience in a day or two but, for now, I'll let the pictures do the talking
First up, Andre Winner lives up to his name with an early stoppage of Rolando Delgado
Ten more images (in the same, new format) after the jump...
Alexander Gustafsson made Jared Hamman eat his fists and taste defeat
Dennis Siver gave Paul Kelly a pair of broken ribs with his trademark spinning back kick
Nick Osipczak figured out a slick way to solve the problem of Matthew Riddle
Terry Etim left Shannon Gugerty all choked up - but not in the emotional sense
John Hathaway and Paul Taylor brought a modern day "War of the Roses" to the octagon
Ross Pearson forced a medical stoppage via a flying knee, one of many strikes to land on Aaron Riley
James Wilks ate leather courtesy of Matt Brown until referee intervention spared him more punishment
Michael Bisping menaced Denis Kang until his GnP brought Miragliottas intervention in round two
Dan Hardy fought tooth and nail against Mike Swick to get the chance to take on GSP - not much of a prize IMO!
And lastly, Randy Couture weathered the early assault to later bust out his famed dirty boxing on Brandon Vera
I hope you all like the shots and also the new format I have for showcasing them.
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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Good stuff man
The look on Kelly’s face…painful.
"Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity." - Bullet Tooth Tony
@deowade
Nice shots, KN!
And I assume there were some pretty good sound effects from that distance, including but not limited to:
“fmpthgg” (Siver’s spinning back kick)
“thumbpk” (Winner’s overhand right)
“krphsplatgh” (Vera’s liver kick)
The Terry Etim picture can’t be enlarged by clicking.
Love the pics though and the whole during the fight/end of the fight thing. Did you have any trouble getting an angle during the Hardy fight? I expected different sort of action shots for that one. Excellent work overall though.
Some of the Hardy / Swick fight was tough
A bunch of it happened on the cage at either an extreme angle to my left (similar to the left part of the shot) or right in front of me… both of those angles are challenging. I chose those two shots as they highlight the emotional / visceral reaction on Swick’s face to the power of Hardy’s strikes.
by VikingPhotography on Nov 16, 2009 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
Ya I like the shots I was more curious about how hard it is to do that through the cage. You’re at a fixed position I assume? Amazing you get the shots you do then, you work for ESPN in the UK I assume?
You. Lucky. Bastard.
How does one get your job?
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Nov 16, 2009 8:35 PM EST reply actions
Cat-like reflexes and a hair-trigger SLR.
You definitely know when to push that shutter, dude. Glad you weren’t stuck working a wedding instead of doing this?
The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering BROCKLESNAR; to the last I grapple with thee.
Whoa that’s uncanny! Good call.
I tell you the beard is a punch magnet.
by casey manrique on Nov 16, 2009 9:32 PM EST up reply actions
roli delgado = meat for the grinder.
The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering BROCKLESNAR; to the last I grapple with thee.
Wait, are we still talking about Arlovski?
I kid, I kid.
by casey manrique on Nov 17, 2009 12:55 AM EST up reply actions
Until someone fixes it here’s a link to the full Terry Etim pic http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/313007/4110828838_983983c0fd_o.jpg
awesome job as usuall..
quick question though, aren’t you worried that people would steal the other half of those pics?
weoweoweo.deviantart.com -- @antontabuena
Due to the Questionable decision: "The only thing Fishbob does consistently is dissapoint."
I’m sure ESPN’s legal team would be happy to be let out of their cage should another outlet try to use the shots without permission.
Nothing is stopping people from cropping the watermark out if they were that desperate. Not that it would get them anywhere – these are quite unique shots.
"Like a ballet of violence clothed in fine Brazilian silk." ~ MMASuPreMaCy
i know,
but Viking was known for the huge watermarks right.. it’s just interesting that now, on these shots, only one picture gets a watermark, and a tiny one at that.
weoweoweo.deviantart.com -- @antontabuena
Due to the Questionable decision: "The only thing Fishbob does consistently is dissapoint."
by Anton Tabuena on Nov 17, 2009 1:01 AM EST up reply actions
pretty easy to sue for it. a photo is a photo. even shepard fairey is being sued for his obama poster since he used an AP photo for it.
there might be more money in catching pirates than in actually selling the photo yourself.
The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering BROCKLESNAR; to the last I grapple with thee.
I'm taking a leaf out of fellow photographer's books as a test run
A lot of my fellow MMA shooters post pics online that are roughly the same size – large enough to be appreciated yet small enough so that the can’t really be nabbed for print except as a postage stamp. They watermark their images in the corners so that the shots can be attributed to them.
Besides if someone really got funky on doing a no-no then Benicio is right – I’d turn it over to ESPN’s legal team and they’d rip ’em a new one. The serial number of my cameras is embedded into each shot at the time of shooting so it would be impossible for anyone else to claim they took any of these pictures :)
by VikingPhotography on Nov 17, 2009 6:26 AM EST up reply actions
Oh okay.. :)
I actually think this is better since you get to appreciate the picture more, I just wondered why the huge C got out.
Plus, sites can use it and write “photo by…” and you’d get even more noteriety/exposure. (I think?) :)
oh and just a tip on posting,(if you didn’t know this already) if you don’t like the default white border they always add, click HTML view and delete the word photo, where it says – class=“photo”…
weoweoweo.deviantart.com -- @antontabuena
Due to the Questionable decision: "The only thing Fishbob does consistently is dissapoint."
by Anton Tabuena on Nov 17, 2009 10:36 AM EST up reply actions
I donno they're ok..........
but the focus is a little shabby and the DOF is sort of distracting as well.
Kidding of course, amazing shots, I’m super envious of you Viking! I’ve just recently started shooting sports and man it’s A LOT more difficult than it looks haha. Mind if I ask what you are shooting with?
Thanks again for sharing!
Gear
A pair of Nikon D3 bodies, a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200 f/2.8 – that way all I have to do is swap cameras when I’m cageside rather than fiddle around with swapping lenses… something that you probably saw me doing during the broadcast a fair bit :)
Future plans are to replace at least one body with a D3S to take advantage of the better ISO performance – though these shots were taken at ISO 3200, f/4 and 1/800 sec. What would really make the difference would be the larger RAW buffer, allowing me to shoot up to 48 frames at 9fps, giving me even more chances to nail the action.
by VikingPhotography on Nov 17, 2009 1:36 PM EST up reply actions
That's the sound of my drool hitting the floor.
I’d love to try my hand at a D3 let alone own two of them! I can’t believe those were taken at 3200 that’s incredible, there’s no noticeable noise at all. Thanks for sharing the info, super jealous, not only do you get to shoot photography but you also get to shoot cageside with two D3s! Care to switch jobs for a day (that is when you’ve got another UFC to shoot :) )
Lenses > Cameras
You’ll find all sorts of cameras being used cageside – the camera is less important than good lenses as you can always learn to anticipate the moment of action and nail it that way. Using a pro grade Nikon or Canon makes it just that little bit easier, that’s all.
Oh and shooting UFC’s unfortunately isn’t a full-time gig for me – I’d love that to be the case but they only roll around every once in a while. I’ve shot fourteen of the last thirty-five shows and likely will be out of the loop till Feburary; I’m hoping to get the nod for UFC 110 in Australia but we’ll see…
by VikingPhotography on Nov 17, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed in full
I subscribe to the Ken Rockwell philosophy for the most part. Need to pick me up a decent piece of glass sometime.
Ahh ok, well that’s still pretty damn cool man, do you shoot other sports?
No other sports
I’m doing my damndest to carve out a niche for myself shooting MMA; if I could get some sponsorships, I’d shoot more shows = more income and thus the cycle continues.
Short term, I need a revenue injection and I’m toying with the idea of making some signed prints of my fighter portrait shots available to purchase… I wonder if that would work??
by VikingPhotography on Nov 17, 2009 3:52 PM EST up reply actions
I think it's a great idea
in fact I think you could probably sell shots from the fights as well. Are you bound by Wire or Getty in selling your images to others? I think stuff like the Kongo and Struve shots from 99 would sell really well no?
I don't work for Wire/Getty when shooting a UFC ;)
I shoot for ESPN and I have a joint copyright deal with them, with only one restriction that I’m not going to go in to here. I’d probably have to clear it with the UFC, though,
by VikingPhotography on Nov 18, 2009 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
Bear in mind the signature on the print would be mine
… not the fighter’s – does that change the game?
by VikingPhotography on Nov 18, 2009 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
Thank you!
Just wanted to say a big THANKS to all who took the time to comment; it’s greatly appreciated. I might not be shooting another UFC event for a few months yet – hopefully earlier, but who knows.
by VikingPhotography on Nov 18, 2009 9:37 AM EST reply actions
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