It's quite a technical challenge to take good photos of wrestlers, because if your shoot available light (as I do; flashes are too distracting for the wrestlers) you need wide apertures. Unfortunately, wide apertures mean low depth of field, so you have to been right on with your focus. And you want the shutter to be fast enough to stop the motion, but low enough that you get enough light to take the picture.
On top of all this, you're trying for an artistic shot with good composition that also conveys the "energy" of the moment--two men engaged in fierce but controlled competition. It's a real challenge to have it come out well, so I'm happy if you enjoy my work.
(The other problem with flashes, besides them blinding everyone, is that the picture is then of starkly-lit wrestlers against a dim and gloomy background. The light from the flash only goes about 15 feet with any strength, so the other side of the gym is going to be pitch black. This makes for a very unrealistic picture, because anyone who is a spectator at the event see things lit much more like my pictures. There are 1600 ASA films readily available; use them. You just have to live with the grain.)
Stay tuned for some updates in the near future with a lot more scans, and of a lot higher quality (since scanners have improved so much).
Please Note: These pictures are protected by my copyright, and cannot be used anywhere else (including other websites on the Internet) without my prior written permission. I have yet to deny permission to anyone who has asked for it, but I have asked several people who simply 'lifted' my pictures without permission to remove them.
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