wrestling photos

sp - please tell me you told the pissy wrestling coach to lick ass.

 

When it comes to photos in general, I don't always use the best photo... I use the best photo that goes with the story. For wrestling, if Team A pounds Team B, 72-6, but the best photo is of a player from Team B pinning a player from Team A, I probably won't use it.

Most of the time it works out where the best photo is the best photo that runs with the story. I think that should be the first priority over anything else.

If the kid doesn't want his feelings hurt, then stay off your back.

 

Yeah, shot, I think you said what we were all thinking.

But, he sounds like he's young and he's learning, so I can't fault him for asking for advice. Now, if he doesn't learn from this and continues down this line or this habit of second and third guessing himself, then there's a problem. If he is learning from the wise advice given here and uses it to further improve his performance and paper, by all means, I applaud him.

 

I wrestled in high school and lost in the county finals by one point. Two or three days after the tournament one of the local papers ran a picture of me on the mat with my head between my hands and the other guy with his fist pumped in the air. It was actually a pretty good wrestling photo, but I was pissed they ran it two or three days later and I got harrased by a lot of other wrestlers for the photo.
I took that photo clipping and posted it above my locker for the rest of the year and for two years in college and used it as motivation.

 

For tournaments and duals always run your best art. Hell, honestly the wrestling coach should be grateful for the photo and that you are running it. I know the wrestling coaches I know are glad to see ANY wrestling coverage in newspapers typically.

That said, I'm doing a feature on a wrestler that missed all last season with shoulder problems he's 21-1 right now. The only picture I have for the story right now is one of him getting racked in his only loss of the season. I know the photo should at least convey what they story is about so I'm sending someone out to get another shot today so I hope he doesn't get smoked again.

 

Had a photog bring me back a photo from a heavyweight match in the wrestling meet I covered.

I just couldn't bring myself to use this one particular photo.

The guy was trying to keep from being taken down, and in plain sight, was this huge booby hanging out of his singlet. The mother of all man-boobs.

I didn't have the heart to run it.

 

I ran this photo 5 columns last week. Any thoughts?

 

Yep. Gotta work on that, SP. A thin skin's no way to go through life, son.
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Neither is fat, drunk and stupid.

We just shot a wrestling match. I had two photos from which to choose: A pair of Goliaths (i.e. fat kids) locked in arms (one of the kids was wearing a (see-through) white singlet with man boobs) or the photo of a wrestler celebrating a pin with one finger pointed high in the air and his third finger, with full package bulge, standing at attention.
I cropped option B and used it.

Wrestling photos: Keeping NAMLBA members devoted sports page readers since the invention of the flashbulb!

 

Why does Eugene Levy have his hands down that kids pants?
Are they making another American Pie?

 

I can understand why sp is getting it from the wrestling coaches. For a group of supposedly tough guys, I have never seen more crying and wailing than I have in that sport, based on my experience of watching my 9-year-old try out the sport this year for the first time. I'm not talking the little kids -- the older they are, the more crying there is. A lot of that might be based on the way I hear their daddies and/or coaches talk to them. I'm guessing there are a lot of father/authority figure issues being worked out on the mat.

 

That photo is as queer as a three-dollar bill.
I hope your cutline was..."Coach DirtyOldMan checks out his wrestler's package.."

 

One thing about wrestling that makes it different than just about every other sport ...

Usually, the "offensive" wrestler has his face down toward the mat, away from the light (which is coming from above) and the camera lens, trying to squeeze the other guy onto his back. Fill-flash can work, but you've got to be a rather experienced photog to make it work (and even then, it's not easy in wrestling).

Meanwhile, the guy getting pinned usually a) has a great expression, because he's trying to get out of a hold, and b) has a face that's looking *directly* at the light. He's more likely to be looking at your camera than away from it. Therefore, it's more likely that your best art is going to be of guys getting stuck.

And, with wrestling, most mats are dark-colored (and therefore absorb light), therefore you get no reflection from the floor that might illuminate the "offensive" wrestler's face -- like you would in basketball or hockey (the rink is the ultimate white card).

If you get the chance to shoot from above (e.g., a balcony), you can get some great stuff. Unfortunately, it's probably all going to be of guys getting pinned. The best wrestling photo I ever shot was from an overhead balcony, of a guy getting pinned, grimacing, looking straight up into my camera. Our photog (a former HS wrestler) told me "great shot, but that kid is going to get it on Monday."

I used to shoot a regional tournament where one of the mats was Carolina blue and actually did reflect light (shooting at that mat was two stops brighter than the other mat). I'd shoot there, because I could usually get decent shots of both wrestlers, but it used to give this really freaky blue tint to all of my shots.