VFL Virginia 3_23_13

I keep kicking myself in the rear end after I photograph a show, and drive home...only to realize I didn't pick up a program.  A program is how I know who to find, and let them know that I shot photos of them.

The show was VFL 39, Revolution of Combat.  A great night of fights in Virginia.  I think I'm back in Virginia in April.

I met a couple cool people there too.  This official that I photographed, my friend mistakenly thought was a fighter.  Couldn't blame my friend though, it was his first show that he was at, and this dude drove up in his vehicle, branded with his kick boxing school, and to boot, the guy doesn't exactly look like a slouch either. 
Met another photographer, and a photo/videographer too.  The photographer, I didn't get to chat much with. T he photo/videographer I did get to speak with.  He is a brown belt in Judo, and he and I spoke at length about Judo and equipment.  Good night of action and communication.

Sorry this is kind of rushed, I've got a pile of paperwork to take care of.  I just wanted to get these photographs up for you to check out, and the link for the fighters/families to purchase if they want them.

Here's a couple quick pictures from the night, and the link for the full gallery to purchase photographs.  Please do not download, crop or edit without permission.  Thank you.

 

Here's the link to the full gallery, VFL Revolution of Combat

CDMMA8

 

Full gallery available for purchase here.....CLICK HERE

 

On March 2nd 2013 Complete Devastation MMA had its 8th show at the Blair County Convention Center.  This is the last show with the (now) previous owner, Jason Davis.  Davis has sold the company to pursue other business interests.  Since Jason is a friend of mine, it was a little bittersweet seeing him sell the promotion.  He always took great care of the fighters and workers.  It will prove interesting working with the new owner *(whom I met and he seems incredibly nice and wonderful for the job), at the same time though, it is nice that Jason is doing something else that he enjoys.  Best wishes to him.

 

The night of fights was a good night of action.  The matchmaker, Ryan Glunt, did a great job of putting the fights together.  There was a bunch of my training partner/teammates on the card.  I use the term loosely, because I don't train day in and day out like they do.  I've got more of a traditional martial-arts background (I could write an entry on this) but I do go in there and get on the mats from time to time.  This is the same fight team/school where I received my black belt in Judo.  The group is like a family and the fighters, even if I don't see them a lot, are like an extended family.  There were five guys from the school on the card.  All of them, even if they lost, had good performances.  

During the night there was one controversy.  The referee stopped a match between Jason Royer and Doug Haupt, and the crowd wasn't pleased.  What happened was Royer took Haupt to the ground, and Haupt went to lock up Royer's neck.   When they hit the mat, Royer's head spiked the canvas.  The referee said that he asked Royer to give him a thumbs up if he was okay.  The referee said after the third time of asking, he stopped the fight.  Bill, the ref, told me that he was concerned when Royer didn't respond after Royer had just spiked his head off of the canvas.  He didn't want to find out Royer had broken his neck AND was being choked at the same time.  Royer was visibly upset, as he popped right up and protested the stoppage and was no worse for wear.  I'm not exactly sure if they can restart a fight or not, or what procedure they could even use.  I'm sure it sucks for Royer, because I've seen him in the gym putting the hours in, and I know that he trained hard to fight.  The referee though, has to look out for the fighters and I assume they have to assume the worst has happened in a situation like that.  The fact the Royer isn't hurt and can live to fight another day is something that I feel is great and I hope that he makes his appearance again soon...though I feel bad for the person who fights.

I think that is enough of me rambling on and on.  So here are the photographs.  As usual, please ask permission before posting online at all.  This means fight blogs/news/advertising et cetera.

 

(Read on for a secondary rant).

UFC photographer, Josh Hedges, recently wrote a piece about the lighting in the events he shoots.  He said that the UFC is consistent venue to venue and country to country with his settings varying 1/3 stop or so at most.  He also said that his settings were f/2.8, ISO3200, 1/2000 of a setting with a custom white balance of 3400.

I would honestly shoot a show for 1/2 of what I charge to get those settings at a show.  The show I shot on the 2nd was f/2.8, ISO3200-25600, 1/500 with an "I give up" custom white balance.  His lighting is even and consistent.  The lighting I was working is, is varied and inconsistent.  I'm used to this, after shooting a pile of shows...it just makes me so jealous.  The files would look INFINITELY cleaner at ISO 3200 than at 25600, and the shutter speeds of 1/2000?  Wow...just wow.  I am pleased when I can get 1/640....If I was able to get 1/2000?!?!?!?!  I think I would do a back flip.  The other bonus about that even light with that much quantity is that the auto focus of the camera works even better.  In the dungeons I have shot in, the auto focus isn't always spot on...even on the most recent camera bodies from either major manufacturer (I shoot Canon).  When there is more light, there is more for the camera to work with.  *sigh* a guy can dream, right?

 

 

 

VFL MMA 1_19_13 Broad Avenue Brawlers

Please do not repost these images on any "news/blogs/sites" without express written permission.  Please do not edit these photographs, as they are owned by me and are copyrighted material. Thank you.





1/19/2013 Jaffa Shrine, VFL MMA came back to Altoona to bring on an action packed night of kick boxing, boxing and MMA. The VFL promoter, Lionel, is a long time boxing trainer, so it isn’t uncommon to see some boxing matches at his shows. At this show there was 1 ammy Thai bout, then 2 pro boxing bouts, followed by a mixed card of ammy vs. pro MMA bouts.

The opening bout were the youngsters in the Thai bout. Roman Taylor KO Luke Hess in the 2^nd.

They brought out an Altoona boxing favorite Spoon to fight Rocky Burch. The fight was ruled a draw, much to the chagrin of the crowd where many felt Spoon did enough to win the decision.


The second boxing bout was between PA’s Andres Taylor and Harvey Jolly. Jolly took a majority decision. Depending on who you spoke with during the evening their feelings on the decision were mixed.


There’s been a divide between boxing and MMA fans. I feel that the pace of MMA has largely taken something away from the boxing fan base. However; MMA stands for mixed-martial-arts. While boxing isn’t exactly thought of as a “martial art”, I would certainly say that it is an art and it is included in MMA (many MMA fighters have boxing backgrounds or whatever). A similar comparison would be this. I dislike watching college wrestling. However, wrestling is in MMA, and a big part of it. The included and excluded aspects of the sport could be what sways fans.

The evening opened with ammy MMA. Ryan Everhart defeated Jordan Haslerig in the 2^nd. The Dr. stopped the fight due to cuts.


A female MMA fight featured Rachel Gray who defeated Melanie Bremer.

In a match between Curtis Link and Nick Kerr, Curtis link surprised the hell out of a lot of people with a triangle choke. Nick was a huge aggressor in the fight but Curtis, who you can’t count out, seen an opening and took it.

Brandon Lux defeated Scott Athey in the 3^rd, his corner tossed in the towel. Scott has one thing that you can’t teach, and that’s heart. He absorbed one hell of a beating but came out to each round without hesitation.

Roman Swaner fought Paul Riggleman, and in between rounds the fight was stopped do to injury to Riggleman’s ribs.


The opening Pro MMA bout had Cory Propanz against Matt Dean. Propanz waited and baited Dean with a Triangle in Rd 1.


Altoona’s own Brett Shoenfelt scored a beautiful first round submission over Bobby Ferrier.

In the co-main of the evening Eli Garshnick defeated Donald Crawford Jr in the first via submission. After the fight Donald was quoted as saying that he thought Eli was going to stand with him. A experienced fighter in the group asked him if he did any research at all on Eli and asked him why he thought he would’ve stood and brawled.


In the main event of the evening, Holidaysburg’s own Charlie Brenneman defeated Eric Irvin in the 2^nd by RNC. It was an exciting bout where Eric was having some luck on the feet (but to be fair, Charlie was as well) but as soon as Charlie wanted the fight to be fought horizontally rather than vertically, it was on the ground. Once on the ground Charlie maintained position, and worked “dirty wrestling” (my term for superior position allowing you to drop short punches and elbows AKA like dirty boxing) and punished Eric. The momentum he was able to generate in such a short space was remarkable as there were audible thuds when his strikes connected.

The full gallery is uploading to my website as I type this and should be completed before the evening is out. Here’s a few sample pictures to get you started. Thanks for reading and be sure to check back for my CPWC photos in Feb, and CDMMA photos in March.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WCC in Tamaqua

Here are some fight photographs from the WCC in Tamaqua PA that occured Dec 8th.  As always, Mr. Yasinsky puts on a great show. This blog is sort of rushed, so I just chose some random photos from the night. 

For the full gallery to view/purchase photos click here!

Day after Christmas!

I have a few blog updates to do.  This one is from Pittsburgh, back in Oct when I went.  I'll post the photos from it first.  Then in an update coming very shortly, I'll show you photos from WCC5 in Tamaqua PA.  Then after after, some Christmas photos.

This is the third part of my trip to Pittsburgh.  Hope you enjoy the photos.