If you read my previous post, you know that this weekend I had the chance to go ringside and photograph the Rumble of The Kings. I will come out right away and admit that fighting is not a sport I regularly follow. Neither on TV or live, however as a sports photographer it’s something I’ve wanted to go and shoot for a long time know.
Going to a fight and being ringside was a fantastic experience. You are close as you can possibly get, ahead of all the VIPs and celebrity’s. Equal only to the judges who each sit at their own table on each side of the ring, all of them surrounded by photographers. It really gave me a better appreciation for the athleticism of these guys. Being so close you can really see and feel how winded and absolutely exhausted they become after just one or two rounds.
Photographically it was smooth sailing. I used my 24-105mm f4 lens on my Canon 1D Mark IV. I had a second camera, my trusty 40D, armed with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens but I only used that to take pictures of the fighters as they made their entrance. If I had to nitpick or complain I’d say they could add a bit more light to the ring. I shot mostly with a shutter of 1/800 but would have like to have pushed higher to maybe 1/1000 and that was impossible without pushing the ISO to far for my taste. Maybe next year I can go with a 24-70mm f2.8 or maybe the Canon 1D X (which I hope to buy) will allow me to go even higher ISO wise with less noise.
I’ll leave you with some of my favorite shots from the evening:
