THE WILD WEIRD WORLD OF SPORTS

A fun, weird, extended photo trip started nearly a month ago with an unlikely beginning: midget wrestling.

That brings me to yesterday here in Tampa, where happenstance leads me back to wrestling. While in Flo-rida for photos and friends, I end up stumbling upon a pro wrestling training center while meeting up with Melissa Lyttle, who was on assignment for the St. Pete Times.

Everyone there was super friendly, open-minded and fun. Recipe for photographic success.

I even met some Wrestling Royalty: Natalie Neidhart, upper left, who is the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. She’s also related to the British Bulldogs and a slew of other wrestlers. Fun woman.

There are so many events that photographers attend that have rules and regulations. But with Pro Wrestling, there are NO rules. Which meant that Melissa and I could jump into the ring – and stage a fake fight.

More stories from the road with my next caffeine buzz…

The funny thing about starting a new year is looking back at the past.

January always seems to be the month of retrospective: what did I do that I liked, what should I do in the future, how did I fuck up?

A lot of it has to do with the contest circuit. Mainly, Pictures of the Year International (POYi). Contest entries are due in mid January.

I’m not sure if it really has anything to do with adding street cred to the résumé as it does to trying to raise the bar in the profession. Though I suppose both go hand in hand.

I’m realizing that while January is nearly over, I’ve hardly photographed a thing. Spent the first two weeks editing my POYi sports portfolio. The past week planning upcoming adventures.

Contests are a crapshoot. And bullshit. It’s cool when you win, but you can’t get upset when you don’t. I’ve often felt that some contest winners have been mediocre at best. And I have no doubt others have felt that way when seeing my award-winning crap.

Photography, as in art, is totally subjective.

I’ve spent much of 2007 trying to figure out what I want to tell visually, what interests me. That doesn’t always translate into contest wins. Whatever.

I had many people I truly respect look over my work from this past year. Some parts of an edit, I loved. Others, less certain.

Not sure if this is a winning edit – in large part because it’s so different than what others came up with – but it’s what I submitted for 2007 Sports Portfolio. For whatever it’s worth, it feels right to me.

If it wins nothing, at least I had fun making the photos. That’s the real victory, anyway.

Now I can move on to 2008.