How to take photographs of fighters

There are a few easy rules worth remembering if you’re going to take photos of fighters. They are as follows:

Who needs food?

Who needs food?  Huh? That shit is old, man.  No one eats any more.  Get with it, dude.

Photos from Ringside

Jimmy asked me how I was doing with my photography last night at the Cage Warriors show. It’s something we always do between fights - chat shit and talk camera stuff.

“Getting any good shots mate?”

“Nope,” I said. “Fuck all.”

I wasn’t at the time, although things did get better later. The truth is that I was out of practice, and it took me a while to warm up again. Just like when you’ve had a lengthy period off the mat, it took some time for the cobwebs to disappear and for me to get into the rhythm of the fights.

I needs my fix, man!

Due to a cascade of drama, crises and a shitload of work, I couldn’t get into the gym all week.  It’s rare for me to go a few days without a session on the mat. From Saturday through to Sunday I barely made it out of the house, let alone to the gym.

This much became clear.

• Working out by yourself is shit in comparison to the kind of exercise you get when pushed by others
• Not training for more than three days is enough to drive you crazy
• Taking a week off does not necessarily mean you lose your edge.

I’m going to try to get into the gym a bit more often next week. This has been probably the most difficult week I’ve had in ages. From dental surgery to drama, relationship issues to flooding in my house, it’s all come at once.  Oh, and work’s been a bitch, as usual. But hey ho, on we go.

Drinking the Kool Aid

Bravo doing what Bravo does

Rubber guard. Lockdown. Mission control. Alcatraz. The Zombie. Dead Pussy Order. All names concocted by cult leader Edgar ‘Eddie Bravo’ Cano.

If you’re into MMA or BJJ, the chances are you’ve encountered Eddie’s 10th Planet Jiu- Jitsu system. If you’re on the mat you might have had someone slap a twister or a funky gogoplata on you. If you’re a fan, you’ll have heard Joe Rogan (Eddie’s best friend) talk nonstop on-air about the effectiveness of this style of jiu-jitsu.

Personally, in all honesty, I dislike much of Eddie’s ’system’. My first bugbear is that it is NOT a system. It is a set of rules and strategy within a system. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is the system, not Eddie’s 10th Planet JJ (The fundamental rules and precepts of Eddie’s style comes from BJJ, of which Eddie studied for 10 years or more).

Balls of Steel

Casey hits a one-arm swing

I hate traditional weight training, but I really like kettlebells. I never really bought into the whole gym culture thing of pumping iron for pumping’s sake. The sets, the reps, the PB’s and shit never did anything for me. It felt hollow, and I felt fake next to the gym bunnies for stepping onto their turf without the same level of seriousness required to becoming a living sculpture of muscle and sinew. I just didn’t like it.