Well it was the first wrestling meet of the season for the Santiam Christian Eagles wrestling team. This past Friday, December 4th the Eagles traveled south to the nest of the Harrisburg Eagles for the annual Harrisburg Eagle Classic. The season opener marks new beginnings for veteran high school wrestlers, and gives freshman a taste of what’s to come over the next four years of high school.
The hunt begins for hundred of athletes looking to earn their right of passage to the State Championships in February 2010. It will be another exciting season with both its ups and downs.
The Santiam Christian Eagles did well with four wrestlers earning medals at the tournament. Junior Hayden Tedrow placed 1st in the 119 lb weight class, which was followed by a third place finish for Sophmore Jacob Howard at 152 lbs. Both 189 lb wrestlers, Cody Manzi a freshman, and senior Jesse Sutter placed. Cody was 2nd and Jesse placed 3rd.
For us photographers who enjoy trying to catch some of the action shots, it marks another season of trying to get the best possible shots in some poor lighting situations. It is amazing how much light can vary from gym to gym, and even from one side of a particular gym to the other. I particularly like those that use colored lights. I remember up until a couple of years ago…one gym that liked a nice orange tint to its lights. Thankfully those were changed out, and now only the wrestling uniforms and mats reflect the school colors of orange and black.
Another great lighting trick, that apparently the wrestlers like, but doesn’t do much for my photographs are the strobe lights used for the championship matches at the conclusion of a tournament. You’ve waited all day and half the night for the showdown between the two top wrestlers in each of the weight classes. The competition should be great, and so should the photographs. I groan as a single mat is laid out in the center of the gym, the lights go out, and a strobe is lowered to within a few feet of the mat. The light is so bright and harsh your photographs become mixes of white blown-out highlights and dark shadows. Even the latest high-end camera sporting a sensor with the widest dynamic range possible would struggle to produce a great shot in these conditions. I just sigh, pack-up the camera and enjoy the wrestling.
Of course then there are the gyms that seem to be in permanent energy saving mode. They seem to have half the number of lights of the gym I was in last week, and if that isn’t enough they are usually painted in a dark green, with black or grey wrestling mats. Trying to keep my shutter speed up to 1/500 sec and at the same time minimizing the grain in the photos becomes the challenge of the day. If I am not too successful, I may spend the next week playing fix it with Photoshop or just chalking this batch of photos up to artistic expression.
I finally broke down and bought an Expo Disc. We’ll see if this little gadget will enhance my white balance settings from the auto settings I generally use in the gym. This little gadget appears to be easy enough to use. I put the disc on the front end of my lens and point towards the gyms lights that will be illuminating the wrestlers. Presto I get a custom white balance setting. (I guess it isn’t quite that simple, but almost.) We’ll see how it works.
I also started shooting exclusively in RAW format. The RAW format gives me more control over my images in the post-production process allowing me to adjust for those little variables like white balance and exposure.
Of course it’s not just the lighting, white balance, and exposure. You have all those refs running around, getting on their knees, lying down and slapping the mat. I can’t count the number of times I have just initiated the downward motion on the shutter when the ref’s hind end is suddenly…poof…right there in the view finder. There should be a competition for the best ref’s behind; because I’m sure I have a shot of it. Just last night, a perfect action shot was in plain view of the photographer (me). I have the shot in my view finder, wait no, what happened did the lights go out? Nope, just the ref’s hind end again!
Oh well! I think it is the challenge of trying to capture that perfect action photo that makes wrestling photography enjoyable. I suspect it might get boring if all you had to do was take the camera… point, shoot, and have a cover for Sports Illustrated with every shot. So when the lighting is good, the ref is out of the way, the shot is there, the shutter synchronizes with the action, and I get a great image, it is a good feeling.
This year should be another great year of wrestling action and rivalries, and some great photos as well.
Freshman Cody Manzi in the 189 lb final
Tournament photos available at bradtedrowphotography.com.
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Brad Tedrow Photography 