Another blast from the past!

Hitting up my father’s side of the family. This is my grandparents. No date on the shot.

A few years ago, I was looking for different subjects for photography.

I did a search for independent wrestling and came up with a group — 2CW — out of Syracuse. A couple of us went to an old Legion hall in Binghamton and watched. I was sold.

I’ve long been a fan of pro wrestling and have written about it here at times. I’ve done photo posts and other things. I’m slowly even working on a few bigger writing projects about wrestling. Slowly being the key term.

I’m heading off to see an event tonight. It’ll be the first live show I’ve seen in several months. It’s always a lot of fun to watch, from the action in the ring to the fans in the stands.

And, as always, I’ll bring my camera.

Since that first event, though, I’ve hit up more than 20 independent events and they’ve been a hoot. There’s been some great stuff, some bad stuff and everything in between.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to make this week’s Foto Friday about the squared circle and the battles going on. I probably have done this before, whether in a regular post or a Foto Friday, so I’m going to try and pick a few different shots.

I’ll be sure to leave the gore elsewhere though.

No matter what, though, I have to start with a certain image. Truthfully, it’s what sold me on going to many more independent shows, especially 2CW. From there, the images are in no particular order and I’ve tried to mix the federations a bit.

1. Fire!

This came after the last match of the evening. The one guy — Jason Axe — dragged his foe out of the ring, brought him back to this spot and set up a table. As he started squirting lighter fluid on the table, I knew what was coming. The camera had already been put away as this was it — but I quickly grabbed it and the flash and started snapping. (From 2CW in Binghamton, Sept. 24, 2010)

Through the table, Mikey.

2. Here’s dust in your eye!

One thing with pro wrestling is knowing how things work. I’ve watched and learned about the way things go for a long time. So I can usually anticipate. This one was setting up pretty well and I was just hoping I’d snap at the right time — and I did. (From BTW in Delhi, Sept. 30, 2011)

I can’t see!

3. Packed house

Sometimes, it’s about capturing the atmosphere. With the lights on only over the ring, the dusty look and feel and a packed house inside an old Legion hall, this is independent professional wrestling. (From 2CW in Binghamton, Feb. 24, 2012)

A packed house makes it even better.

4. Up close and personal

In many independent setups, you are really close to the action. So if you are prepared and snapping away, you can come up with some cool shots. Such as this one with Tommy Dreamer and Colin Delaney. (From XCite in Binghamton, Sept. 28, 2012)

Beat down!

5. Stars of the past

Finally, going to independent shows often gives you the chance to see the stars of the past and those you watched growing up. Many of them are very approachable and friendly, which makes it even better. These guys have been through it all in the industry, and are still going. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan is one of my all-time favorites and I’ve had the chance to see him on these indy shows several times. (From 2CW in Rome, April 14, 2012)

Hacksaw!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Another blast from the past!

It’s Mother’s Day weekend. Did you think there would be somebody else this week?

I don’t know how many of you out there are photographers.

I’m sure most of you take photos and all, but I mean somebody who really takes photos. It doesn’t even mean you’re a pro or anything. When I take photos, I take a lot. And it takes up a lot of space.

I shoot in RAW, which makes storing all of these photos harder than somebody who shoots just with JPEG or not many photos. I’ve filled three external hard drives — a 250 gig, a 500 gig and a 1 TB.

That’s a lot of space.

I also have about 500 or 600 gig on my hard drive.

Now, I’m out of space. Seriously. I have a heap of memory cards I need to empty. So after talking to a computer guy friend of mine, there’s a better way of doing this. Basically, it entails getting a certain cable and hooking it to the computer and then grabbing an actual hard drive (not external) and using it like an external. Once I fill it, unplug and store.

Why is this good?

Because none of the parts are moving. The hard drive doesn’t age or go bad (hopefully) because of that. So when you need it, hook it in and get what you need.

Now, I can order the cable off Amazon (which I am doing). But then I need to grab a couple of hard drives to start doing this.

My eventual goal is to have a good place to store all my photos and have an easy access system to get them (in other words, a good organizational setup). I plan on starting from the beginning and working my way through.

Things I am going to do:

• Create a filing system I can access (maybe in my DropBox), so when I need something I can search it and find where I have the photos stores;
• Go through photos to delete junk, duplicates and stuff that never would be used;
• Upload a ton of photos to Flickr, so I have an online spot for my images.

This isn’t going to be easy. I started digitally in about 2006, and with a DSLR in like 2007.

That’s a lot of time!

But in the end, I think it will be a good thing to do as my images will be safer, I’ll know where images are and I’ll be able to build the Flickr set a bit. I’ll also be able to do some blogging about things I find and such. I also had a few other ideas for photo books and it’s my hope to eventually do a couple of those, too. Especially with going through all of my images!

As much as I’d love to say this is a challenge I could finish in a week or two, the reality is this will take months and months. In the end, I hope it makes it so it’s easier to find and access my images, as well as show me what I’ve done with photography over the years.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Another blast from the past!

I am glad I actually checked to see if there was a photo posted as there wasn’t. I have had several months worth of Snapshot Saturday features all up and ready to go and now it appears I need to get scanning!

Anyway, this is one I had already scanned. One of the Brothers Harmer.

In the Navy!