not WWE, WWF, NWA or WCW or Mid-South

I got my first taste of shooting high school wrestling on Saturday at the Cabot North Arena. It was the first time I had ever witnessed any type of amateur wrestling in person and I must say, I loved it. I wasn't feeling well so I left early but I got some good shots, I think.
The lights in the gym aren't bad so I started out shooting with a 100 2.0 lens at 3200 ISO on the 40D. I was shooting at 1/400 of sec but I felt like I was limited with the 100 mm focal length. Other photographers, like my buddy Bryen Ford, suggested using the strobe and I had contacted by Cabot coach and he told me I could do "whatever I wanted." But after shooting HS bball on Friday, I left my synch cord for the pocketwizard on the ledge at Carlisle's Raymond H. Brown Gymnasium. So, that was out.
I put my 430 EX flash on my camera, set it at 1600 ISO and decided to try to bounce it off the high ceiling. I was pleasantly suprised by the results. One thing I've got to learn is to be patient with that setup. It is the same deal as shooting with the Alien Bee B400. You have to shoot basically one frame at a time and not blast away like I would when it is direct on-camera flash.
I hope to shoot more wrestling later on this season, probably at the state finals. Let me know what you think.
Mark


with flash


without flash at 3200 ISO

Without flash at 3200 ISO

With flash

With flash

With flash

With flash

With flash

Latest work

Here is selection of pictures from work in the last week. Some where shot with an Alien Bee B400, some were shot available light and some where shot with on-camera flash.

Arkansas Razorback basketball

I shot the Arkansas Razorbacks' basketball game with North Texas at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock. The Hogs won the game, pulling away in the second half but they did trail at halftime. Maybe it was a bit of a hangover after beating No. 4 Oklahoma on Tuesday of this week.
Michael Washington is a beast. Courtney Fortson is for real. Marcus Monk is a difference maker and John Pelphrey is the man. It was the first time I've ever seen him in person and he would be worth the price of admission. He even got a technical today. It was fun.
Now the Hogs play Texas in Fayetteville next week. It will be the first time the Horns have played in Fayetteville since Nolan and May-Day beat Sweet Tom and BMW in 1991 at Barnhill Arena and I was there and it ruled.
My shots were all that great today but I had a good time. Let me know what you think.
Mark