Just returned from New York, where I was shooting Gina Carano and Cris “Cyborg” Santos while they showed off their skills to the media at Madison Square Garden. In addition to shooting the packed presser, I followed Gina to an interview with Mike Straka of FOX’s Fight Game and then to the New York Times for a warm interview with several of their sports reporters. From there, I went to the Showtime feature shoot where I captured Cristiane and Gina doing various tasks for the cameras. So it was a full day of media activities for the pair and I was happy to see such a good turnout and an enthusiastic crowd.

My favorite moment was from the autograph signing when a little boy waited for his postcard to be signed, Gina spotted him and asked, “How’d you get here all by yourself?” He giggled as did the young girls around him. Oh wait no, there’s a better one!

We were shooting in the boiler room and Gina was standing in the foreground with Cris in the background when during a scene, the machinery next to Gina suddenly turns on and makes a really loud whirring sound, clanking and clacking, startling Gina. Gina reacts by jumping back a step and putting herself in a fighting stance, yelling playfully, “What the hell? You wanna fight?”

Here’s the photos from the entire day, chronologically from early morning to the late afternoon demonstration in an open cage in front of New York’s Penn Station. It was surreal to see the cage there, especially since MMA is illegal in the state of New York.

Anyway, photos I took, from the Showtime Flickr stream of Strikeforce‘s Press Conference for Gina Carano vs Cris “Cyborg” Santos: