Chamber Music and Boxing

[Petepix]

Bruce Silverglade, owner of the famous Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, NY, hosts evenings of chamber music at the gym. He combines it with youth boxing in order to get the local teenagers into a venue where they are exposed to the arts. Instead of ring card girls, he uses improvisational dancers. Chamber groups supply the entertainment between bouts.
I know these images are not the greatest. C&C if you wish; I can take it. I was just inspired to give a plug to a worthy cause.
(Dwight; it ain't no Chumash Casino so go easy on me!)

[mattograph]

Very nice. Well communicated with regards to what is going on. I think a tighter crop on the musicians faces yields an interesting shot, if you felt the need. How did you light this?

[René Damkot]

Looks like you had the flash a bit higher then the camera, and off to the right a bit, so I assume a flash bracket? If you use flash, IMO you should bounce it.
OTOH: I can see some ambient light in the shots. So why not use higher ISO, and no flash?

First would have been nice, except for the lighting.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, they could use a smoke machine and some gelled cans but other than that I think it's a winner! :-)

[Petepix]

Thanks for the replies. I used bounce flash for most of the shots. I wanted to keep the kid's wide-open eyes in the shots, so I didn't crop as tight as I would have if I were trying to feature the artists.
They set up bare-bulb spots around the gym which houses 4 sparring rings. It's very dark in there and everything is either painted black or white. I used ISO 400 to try and keep the depth of field as deep as possible.
The gym has been featured in 42 films and recently trained Hillary Swank for 'Million Dollar Baby'. But it's still your textbook gym; hot, dark, smelly, full of characters!

[SilverHCIC]

... Now who would have guessed -- Performing arts INSIDE a boxing ring.
I think an UWA would have been interesting as well, to put the musicians and dancers further into the context of their setting. ... While it is obvious that they are inside a boxing ring, the crop is a little tight for the ring itself, and focuses on the performers. I like the previous suggestion of the tighter crop of the musicians' faces, so a series from wide through tight would capture the overall context of the setting, as well as the focused concentration of the performers.

Neat concept. Thanks for sharing.

[DwightMcCann]

But it's still your textbook gym; hot, dark, smelly, full of characters!
Wow, sounds like the story of my life! :lol::lol::lol:

[Photodawg1]

I saw this and wanted to go, but had another engagement. Such cool event. It looks like a cave in there!