December 3rd, 2022 - “The Boy in the Arena”

This past weekend was the 2022 “Hands Down, Gloves Up” charity amateur boxing event in Springdale, AR. With my combat sports portfolio continuing to grow thanks to the last MMA event, I reached out to the promoter and asked if he had a photographer for the event. Luckily he said no and I was able to get the staff photographer gig on short notice.

Much like with the MMA event I met with the promoter before hand to talk about what he was looking for, where I should sit/stand, and any rules that I needed to follow. It seems like the running theme is “don’t block the audience members too badly and try to capture the best photos of the fighters.“

I had so much fun shooting the event. There were 26 fights in total with about a third of them being younger kids (the youngest being eight years old). I wont lie, it made me a bit uncomfortable shooting kids fighting but this was an amazing opportunity to capture the moment for them, their parents, and the young fighters themselves. Some of my favorite shots of the event ended up being the first two below that were kid fights.

The lighting was rough - pitch black in the entirety of the venue save for a single large light above the ring. As the fighters moved to the edges it was harder to capture the shots and I was forced to crank the ISO. But when they fought in the middle, toe-to-toe I was able to get the best shots of the night.

Today’s blog is titled “The Boy In The Arena” for that reason.

This was the last combat sports event for the year but hopefully I’ll be able to get on a January 28th card in Bentonville, AR for the next one. Until then..