Monday, September 13, 2010

Now for something completely different



What an adventure. As you know, this isn't a typical image you are used to seeing from me but you've got to experiment, right? I got the chance to watch and photograph the Luchadores, or Mexican Wrestlers performing on the deep west side of San Antonio Friday night. We are talking total cultural immersion here. The crowd was screaming. The wrestlers were hollering back. The announcers were calling the play by play in Spanish and a great time was had by all. A couple of camera club buddies and I were given free range to take as many photos as we liked. We could do anything short of crawling in the ring with them. This was my first experience as a photographer as a separate observer, as a recorder, not a participant. The music and language and crowd roared around me and because of the language barrier I felt like I was moving in a bubble through the crowd. Buffeted and surrounded but separate as well. On the way home after I'd put my camera up I started to feel the atmosphere humming against my body that I didn't feel at the time. What did I learn? Sports photography isn't my calling. Night photography is challenging (note to self, get over this before the haunted Scotland tour). Everybody needs to get out of their comfort zone every once in a while. The broader your horizons the better.

2 comments:

  1. Nice! haha, you know what I give you lots of credit...I should never turn down a chance to try shooting something different! A friend of mine photographs mixed martial arts and found that to be her calling...go figure! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Mary-
    It kinda makes me wonder what might show
    up next.

    ReplyDelete