Ringside

There’s nothing like bad weather to ruin weekend plans. 

Being a photographer who shoots mostly outdoor events, a lot of my events are at the mercy of unpredictable Texas weather. As such, I like to think I have become somewhat of an expert at pivoting in situations where my plans have been canceled and I'm left with no work for my camera. This past weekend was just one of those circumstances.

I was all set and ready to head to Troy, Texas, to shoot video footage for another Texas NICA race when it happened – the dreaded race cancellation. 

The weather forecast for Saturday showed up to an inch of rain and a lot of lightning near the venue. With the safety of riders and volunteers in mind, the league had no choice but to cancel the race, leaving me with a suddenly empty weekend.

So what’s a photographer to do?

Well, the first stop is the Events Near Me page on Facebook. This has proven itself to be an invaluable resource for me when I’m looking for events where I can put my camera to work when mountain biking gets quiet. 

A little bit of scrolling later, and there it was! An event flier for a wrestling show by DFW All Pro Wrestling at the Haltom Theater. Even better, the goal of the show was to raise money for one of the members whose mother recently passed away. I sent them a message to see if they would be interested in having a photographer out. After a quick conversation, I was all set to shoot ringside. 

When I say ringside, I mean right up against the ring for every second of the 3-hour show. 

As someone who has never been to any kind of wrestling event, or even really watched it on TV much, this was an incredible introduction to the sport.

Now Entering… Jordan the Wrestling Newb!

Before this show, I knew next to nothing about wrestling. Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock are just about the only professionals I could pick out in a lineup. But it wasn’t long after arriving that I started to really see the appeal.

Then it was time for the action. Hopefully, we all know that most of what we see in the ring is an act (if not, spoilers I guess). But after all the bravado and shouting, there’s only so much that can be faked when it comes to actual wrestling. 

As someone who sat just inches away from the impact of several hits and slams, I can tell you that male and female participants alike showed insane displays of strength and toughness. I know I heard the wind get knocked out of some of them several times.

But just like with concerts I have been to in this exact venue, the audience is what brings an event like this truly alive. 

The Haltom Theater isn’t a big venue. There were maybe 60-70 people there that night and every one of them was as much a part of the show as the athletes in the ring. The back-and-forth banter between them and the crowd fueled the energy of the matches, while the rivalry between competitors stoked the cheers and taunts.

The highlight of the night for me was when a little girl, maybe 10 years old, started heckling one of the wrestlers. After a couple of minutes of this, the wrestler turned to the little girl and asked, “Where is your mom?”

The girl fired back without even a moment of hesitation, “Where’s yours?”

I wish I had caught a picture of this exchange, but I was too busy laughing.

Everything’s a Learning Experience

Overall the show was awesome. Not only was it a great way to continue practicing in low to no-light situations, but I also learned a lot.

One thing that I never thought about before was how valuable knowing different wrestling moves and tactics would help me anticipate where I needed to be to get a good shot with the camera. 

The wrestling company keeps a static camera set up on one side of the ring to capture video footage of each match. This seems obvious looking back, but I never thought about how this means the wrestlers themselves will almost always be facing in the direction of the camera in dialogue moments between matches. Positioning myself in a way that I could see their faces without obstructing that static camera was something I had to quickly learn.

During the matches, of course, the wrestlers move around a lot more. Over the course of the evening, I came to realize that familiarizing myself with wrestling moves and techniques would help me a lot if I ever had an opportunity like this again.

When I’m shooting mountain biking races, I can anticipate the riders without even thinking about it. I’ve ridden so much myself and taken pictures at so many races that knowing how another rider will move is just second nature. 

Wrestling, not so much. I’ve got a lot to learn about the different moves and techniques the performers use to better showcase their abilities.

All in all, I’m more interested in the sport now than I’ve ever been and I am very much looking forward to hopefully seeing more opportunities to capture the action again.