Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

[SnapLocally.com]

I took these on Saturday night in St. Paul, MN:

http://snaplocally.com/22710/2.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/3.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/4.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/5.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/7.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/8.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/10.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/11.jpg

[SnapLocally.com]

http://snaplocally.com/22710/9.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/12.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/22710/13.jpg

[yagimax]

Great action captures. Were you shooting through the chain link fence?

[flapsmcgee]

nice work ...love the first one

[jcpoulin]

nice work as always

[jcpoulin]

Looks like the first arm bar (#5) wasn't set right...he ended up getting arm barred (#6)!!! How ironic

[SnapLocally.com]

Thanks guys.

Great action captures. Were you shooting through the chain link fence?

Yes. I never shoot over the top. In my opinion the shots don't look good when you're shooting 2 feet above the fighters heads.

Looks like the first arm bar (#5) wasn't set right...he ended up getting arm barred (#6)!!! How ironic

This is true, however neither fighter finished the fight. That was the fight of the night, and they both displayed excellent ground work. When it comes to MMA I'd rather watch good jiujitsu than bad, sloppy kickboxing.

[Azar]

Where are you based out of? How far do you travel for events?

It seems like you always have new MMA/Kickboxing/Boxing shots, yet I try to keep my eyes peeled for events and it seems there are only a few around here (Northern Indiana). Chicago is 3 hrs, Indy is 2, Columbus is 3.5, Detroit is 2.5 or so.

Also, good shots as always. :)

EDIT: Also, that double leg pic is amazing!

[SnapLocally.com]

I'm in Minneapolis.

None of the other local photographers cover the range of Combat Sports that I do- some are boxing guys and gals, some cover MMA. I'm the only one that routinely covers kickboxing, as well as the other two sports.

I don't travel far at all for most events. A few events I've driven 2 hours for, and that's with guaranteed pay and hotel. Believe me- these are the exception, not the rule. Otherwise I have a 1 hour rule: if I have to drive more than 1 hour to get to the venue I'm either hired to shoot it, or I'm not going. Most shows I cover I'm shooting on spec.

[syphlix]

nice shots... its cool that the chainlink completely disappears...

[SnapLocally.com]

Thanks. I like for the viewers to have a feel for the action.

[ehsphoto]

Great shots as always. What lens/body combo do you use primarily?

[SnapLocally.com]

I've got to stress, it's far more the photographer than it is the equipment, though there some exceptions to that rule. That said, I'm not at liberty to discuss specifics as it would be unfair to my paying students, but I'll offer you these examples with exif intact:

http://snaplocally.com/favs/cody.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/favs/Sam.jpg

http://snaplocally.com/favs/gogo.jpg

[ehsphoto]

I was most curious of what lens you use the most - not my avenue of photography - just curious. Nice shots - and I understand the "not the equipment" reference. I post limited images on social network site and have had "wow - great shot - must be the camera" on shots from my cell phone. :-)

[2Eco]

The fighter getting interviewed looks like he had a tough night. Great shots!

[SnapLocally.com]

Thanks.

You might like these pics as well:

http://snaplocally.com/121809

http://snaplocally.com/22010

[EDPhoto]

Thanks for posting with the EXIF data Snap. I shot some Kick Boxing for my club a while back and thought I had to use my 85mm prime so that I could shoot at ISO1600 and f1.8 so that I could get a shutter speed of 1/500 becuase the light was so cr4p but looking at the light here, it was a lot brighter where I was so I should have risked a wider apperture/slower shutter speed and a different lens.

Going to shoot an MMA event in July so will take some risks with the settings and not rely so much on what the cameras meter is telling me.

[SnapLocally.com]

You're welcome.

I have a school for those interested in learning such things in greater detail: www.MMAphotographySchool.com

Anyhow, as to not confuse this thread for a much newer one, here's my latest set of pics: http://snaplocally.com/42410

[EDPhoto]

Yes, I noticed that. I would definately consider it but I think futher down the line when I've maybe reached the limit of how much I cna impriove just looking at other peoples work and well, practicing! :-)

I take its an online thing, much as I would love to fly over from the uk!

[SnapLocally.com]

Hey, I can teach as well online just as well as in person, and maybe even better in some circumstances as the written word has no grammatical, semantic or dialectal differences!