MMA: MECCA IV at the MUSE in Minneapolis

On Saturday, 04-26-14, I went to the MUSE Entertainment Center to photograph Driller and Sterling Entertainment Groups MMA event: MECCA IV. 

I've never photograph at the MUSE before so I had no idea how the lighting was going to be. Sometimes its hard to tell until shortly before the event is going to start. 

Well, the lighting was the worst I've been to for shooting for a Sterling Entertainment Group event. Many times for these MMA events in the smaller venues I will shoot at ISO 10,000, f/ 2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/1000. Not this night...I was changing my ISO from 16,000 to 51,200 with a varying shutter speed of around 1/320 to 1/500. I figured I wouldn't get many decent images...and I was right. 

I initially posted a couple images from the main event, Nate Howe vs Ben Smith, on my Charles W. Ryan II Facebook page. I wasn't going to post anymore images from the event because they aren't that great, but I eventually decided to post them after people were looking for the links. 

Later, I was told the lighting person for the MUSE didn't show up. There is another event at the MUSE on June 13th. There are additional lights, but I'm not sure how well the cage will be lighted because the lights are set up for stage lighting.  The images that I posted in this blog post are of Nate Howe vs Ben Smith from the Main Event. This was one exciting fight for the fans...not so much for the fighters. Ben Smith came away with the win.

Here is a recap of the fights from MN MMA News   

MECCA IV

Chuck Ryan Photography

Charles W. Ryan II (Facebook)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Facebook)

CIIcanoe (Blog)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Model Mayhem)

Savannah....at Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys

While down in the Florida Keys this year I made arrangements with Maria Garcia, Savannah's mother, to meet them at Bahia Honda State Park. This would be my 3rd year photographing Savannah. 

The first year was in 2012 when I met them at the Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon, FL. Those shots were natural light shots. We exchanged phone numbers and arranged to meet at Sunset Park in Key Colony Beach to get some shots using lights the next evening. 

Last year, 2013, we met again at the Seven Mile Bridge for some more shots for about 45 minutes. It really wasn't much time considering I had to run after Savannah to get most of my shots.  

This year I wanted a different location for our photo shoot. Last year I took one specific shot at Bahia Honda with the old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge in the background that I thought would be nice place to photograph Savannah. I also like to photograph from the south end of the rail bridge looking back toward the bridge. I knew the sun would be an issue there, but I like the views from there.  Below are the shots I got this year on Sunday, 02-23-14.

Here are the link to Savannah in 2013...HERE

Here is the link to Savannah in 2012...HERE 

This is the shot I really wanted to get with Savannah with the old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge in the background... 

Savannah

Chuck Ryan Photography

Charles W. Ryan II (Facebook)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Facebook)

CIIcanoe (Blog)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Model Mayhem)

Photo shoot in Key West with Monique Tuya...Chuck Ryan Photography

Well, I haven't posted on my blog for a while. I was on vacation for over a month...gone from 02-06-14 until 03-08-14. Once I got back home I post processed 5 different shoots.

I took two days to drive to Allentown, PA to attend a Beauty and Glamour Photography workshop at the home of Joe Edelman. The workshop was held Saturday, 02-08-14 and Sunday, 02-09-14. When the workshop was over I drove another two days to Cape Coral, FL where I stayed a few days before spending 18 days in Key Colony Beach in the Florida Keys. Then it was back to Cape Coral for a couple days before heading back to Minnesota.

While down in The Keys I was searching for something on my internet when I came across the Florida Keys Model/Photography Network group on Facebook. I decided to join this group and was quickly accepted. The next morning I had a message from Monique Tuya who was a member of the group. She welcome me to the group in her message. We eventually made plans meet on Saturday, 02-22-14, in Key West to do a photo shoot.

We didn't have any real plans for the shoot...we just planned to walk the streets of Key West to see what we could get. Although I planned to bring my Elinchrom Quadra lights for getting some shots at sunset. There was no room in my Suburban for me to bring my Multi-cart from home, but I had my dolly. The dolly/handtruck worked but it was not very practical if I wanted to shoot with my lights in several locations. Next time I will make room somehow to bring the Multi-Cart.

More images of Monique...HERE

Sarah (L) and Monique (R)

Monique Tuya

Chuck Ryan Photography

Charles W. Ryan II (Facebook)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Facebook)

CIIcanoe (Blog)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Model Mayhem)

Black Bear Casino Resort Presents Jungle Boy Boxing: The Cold War

On Saturday, 01-25-14, I was back up to Carlton, MN to photograph the Black Bear Casino Resort Presents Jungle Boy Boxing: The Cold War.  This was the 3rd boxing event that I've photographed for Zach Walters / Jungle Boy Boxing Gym.

When I photographed the boxing event in July I really liked the lighting. The entire ring was evenly lit, so I was able to capture the fighters no matter what part of the ring they were in. For some reason the casino went with a different lighting company for the fights in October and in January, and in my opinion the lighting hasn't been as good as it was in July.

The entire ring wasn't lit evenly and there were some extremely bright lights coming from the corners that caused others problems depending where the fighters were in the ring. I captured several good images but I also didn't use some others because of the lighting. I just hope the lighting gets worked out for the next fight... the entire ring needs to be evenly lit and not just the center.

The Al Sands vs Henry Namauu fight was a hard hitting fight. I came away with several good images from it. I've posted a few images of the fights here...there is a link to all the fights on my website after these posted images.

The Cold War

Charles W. Ryan II (Facebook)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Facebook)

CIIcanoe (Blog)

Chuck Ryan Photography (Model Mayhem)