Words and Light

I photographed the Midwest Fight League‘s Battle at The Blue Note X on Saturday as part of the final group project for my Advanced Techniques in Photojournalism class.

It was not a piece of cake.

For our group project, we have shot a few practices for Hulett House fighters. Hulett House was founded by Rob Hulett and is Columbia’s representative in the Midwest Fight League — which was also founded by Rob Hulett. The big tournament was this Saturday, so naturally all four of us went there to photograph and record audio.

We had one remote camera set up, as well as a lit portrait set-up out in a back alley. The idea for the portrait set-up was to photograph “before” and “after” portraits of the Hulett House fighters.

This is the portrait set-up we had in the back alley of The Blue Note for the mixed martial arts tournament on April 10. Two lights (can't remember what their name is) and a 5D MkII. I manned the set-up for the first three hours overall and first two 2.5 hours of the tournament.

I spent the first three hours out in that back alley. It was pretty cold, but I got to spend the rest of the time inside shooting the tournament after two of my group members relieved me of portrait duty. But by that point, there were only a few fights left, my lenses were fogged after coming in from the cold and I had no idea where I was allowed to shoot or how proceedings at the tournament worked.

So I had to make a quick study. It was a tough adjustment to make, and once my lenses were clear, I tried to get some good shots. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself, but this was not my best shoot. Below are three of my better shots from that night.

Mixed martial arts fighter Justin Kelly finishes greeting his fans from inside the cage after winning his bout with Darwin Hill in the Battle at The Blue Note X on April 10.

Tim Hillcock braces for a blow from Ira Mosely in a mixed martial arts fight during the Battle at The Blue Note X on April 10.

Mixed martial arts fighter and three-time champion Mario Vazquez raises his arm and Mexican flag after winning against Tim Hemmingway in the Battle at The Blue Note X's final bout.

So again: not really a piece of cake. I tried some other angles — namely, an above angle, from the stage rafters — but they didn’t really work out for me. I should have worked some other angles, such as from the balcony, but was still trying to get to know my way around the tournament in general.

And why do I keep talking about cake? Because I just made some delicious chocolate cake with delicious chocolate frosting. I frosted the cake right after it came out of the oven, so that part of the frosting permeates the cake. It’s very rich and moist and chocolate-y, and per Jeff‘s request, I photo’ed the end result. And while he didn’t request that I use a single-flash and shoe cord in the process, to show the cake and the frosting without cutting the cake, I did.

Mmm, the richness.

Oh, and spring break roadtrip photos? They’re coming along. They really should be ready sometime this week. Check the blog later!