Behind the lens
As a cage shooter you see and experience the action – you don’t watch it. You feel the energy, the adrenaline, the pain. You hear the impact of every punch and kick and the slamming of bodies to the mat. You’re constantly negotiating focus and composition through a fence. It’s relentless. I’ve photographed various types of subject matter over the years and I find shooting mixed martial arts to be the most exciting and challenging.
Your main goal as an MMA photographer is to capture motion, but I approach shooting the UFC as an endless opportunity to create artistic expression. From the weigh-ins to the event, I try to document things in an artistic style and give the viewer an up close and unique personal perspective, to capture the various emotions of the sport and to tell the story of the fight in just a few frames. Not just who won or who lost, but the emotion of winning and losing. A fight is chaotic and unpredictable to shoot. That’s what makes it so challenging. Sometimes the fights are mere seconds in length so you must follow the action and shoot fast right from the start of the horn and then follow the action for 9 hours straight kneeling on a chair with your finger on the trigger anticipating the perfect moment. Shooting doesn’t get more challenging or exciting than this. This sport doesn’t give you the privilege of time, especially when shooting portraits with big UFC names. You have only seconds to grab a few frames of them. It’s not your traditional portrait session. It’s challenging, unnerving but exciting, much like the sport my subjects compete in.
Shooting MMA hasn’t been an easy road. It’s taken years of sacrifice and diligence. The MMA landscape in Canada has changed over the years and I’ve been there with it, documenting every growing pain. From illegal Native Indian Reserve bouts in Ontario and shady overnight leagues to shooting Canada’s Premier League W-1 to the league that single handedly created the MMA industry, the UFC.
The massive crowds seen at two Montreal events, combined with a growing group of increasingly competitive Canadian fighters, have made Canada and Ontario specifically, the mecca of MMA. It’s a testament to the passion for the sport in the country. Tickets for UFC 115 on June 12 at GM Place in Vancouver sold out in 30 minutes, making it the quickest sellout in MMA history. UFC 97 set a North American MMA attendance record with 21,451 fans. Two of the five largest paid gates in UFC history were in Montreal. UFC 83 came in third at $5.1 million (U.S.) and UFC 97 was fifth at $4.9 million (U.S.).
Now that MMA is sanctioned in Ontario, residents no longer have to travel outside of the province to take in an MMA event. The fighting style no longer contravenes section 83 of Canada’s Criminal Code, which bans the promotion and staging of “prize fights,” except sanctioned boxing. UFC officials have estimated that cards in Toronto would generate $23 million in spending, including ticket sales, $6 million more in salaries and $4 million in tax revenues.
The name from the bad old days before rules and safeguards and gloves were put in place are no longer. The fastest growing sport in the world today is filled with Olympic athletes, martial arts world champions and NCAA college champion wrestlers. It now has the legitimacy and respect it’s been waiting for and the passion for this sport in Canada is unparalleled.
See you at the fights!
