Last Wednesday I attended the night time senior training session at St Austell Boxing Club in Cornwall to photograph boxing as part of a 10 Part Portfolio I am currently working on for my degree course. Before this, I’d never photographed sports as I’m not particularly interested in sports or sports photography but I found the physical and mental strategies in boxing incredibly rewarding to photograph.
The aim for the portfolio is to have one photograph from many of the elements that make up ‘Press & Editorial Photography’ – News/Event, Sports, Fashion, Mini Feature, Observed Portrait, Lit Portrait, Group Portrait, Creative Standalone, Music, Product/Still Life.
Jimmy Waugh, owner of the club teaches a simple ‘jab-jab-punch’ to students on their first day of training.
During editing I realised that although I went to St Austell Boxing Club to photograph a sports action shot for the 10 Part Portfolio, I seem to naturally want to tell a story through a set of pictures. This is something I wasn’t doing consciously. You’ll see in the following pictures that there was one particular boxer that I was particularly interested in photographing as he seemed to have a real drive for the sport and was incredibly focused. I’ve managed to make an edit that I think could be used as a mini-feature about him and his boxing. (I’m still to learn their names and will clarify next week!)
Photographing this club has lead me to want to go back and try doing some lit portraits of the boxers moments after they come out of the ring. It will allow me to get to know them better and to continue their story. The energy in the room was something I really can’t describe in words, so I hope that by making photographs of their portraits at this adrenaline filled moment will allow me to understand and communicate the incredible energy I felt in their space.
The shoot will take place this Wednesday so keep an eye out on here for the photographs.