Shark Fights.  It was a pretty fun experience shooting for another promotion and always a pleasure to see some of the Strikeforce fighters gettin’ fights.  As I’d mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was super excited for Tarec Saffiedine’s bout and it sure delivered.  He is improving with each and every fight.  What a comeback Houston Alexander made!  And I’m happy for Trevor Prangley too, well, mostly happy for his super fan behind me, screaming “WOOO PRANGLEY! GO WOLVERINE!” the entire time.  It was adorable.  Houston Alexander’s display of emotion in the cage and then later in the post press conference was admirably honest.

Of course, there were a few small speed bumps, as there are with every show, regardless of size or promotion.  The main one being my shooting pedestal was about a foot too short and I could barely see over the cage.  I tried to swap with another cameraperson but they too complained they needed the height.  On my way back from crew dinner, I spied a pile of thin wood boards and grabbed a few to tape to my stand.  Shit.  Not enough.  Oh no, the fights are starting.

OK.  I’ll just go get more boards as soon as there’s a break.  But that break is not to be had.  With nearly every single fight going to decision including the five round title fight between featherweights Doug Evans and Ronnie Mann, I managed to squeeze in a short break before the co-main event to grab another stack of wood, still not enough but it was all I could carry without banging my cameras around too much.  I get a PA to tape that for me.  I find out later, someone from Pure Fight is videotaping this, because apparently it is hilarious to see a short photographer struggling to see over the cage.  Hopefully it never sees the light of day.

The lighting was pretty difficult.  It was super hot in some spots and just absent dead center.  I think this is because the cage is 34 feet, and the truss is probably for something closer to 24′ — like at King of the Cage.  But never mind that, there are dips in every lighting setup and no one’s perfect.  I make do.  Because that’s my job.

I’d have to say, I think I did okay, considering.  I feel worst for the photographers shooting through the cage because with the dark spots, focus must’ve been near impossible to achieve.

My arm is all cut up from a chopped zip tie atop the cage.  My left forearm looks like I’ve been wrestling with a feral cat.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I even enjoyed Amarillo.  I had entirely too much ice cream and greasy food but I hopefully made up for it in hotel room burpees.

I’m sitting at IAH right now, sipping a Coldbuster smoothie and listening to Erik Satie, American Nightmare & Yeasayer, kind of a weird combo but hey, that’s us here at All Elbows in a nutshell.  Well, I should add in Sleep or other stoner metal and some Screwston hip hop and there, that’s All Elbows.

Sorry I’m rambling.   It might be the smoothie freeze I’m experiencing and the face that everywhere in Houston is over air-conditioned. Or maybe it’s because I haven’t slept.  It’s 1:36 PM here, so, that’s going on 30 hours for me.  By the time I actually go to bed tonight after taking the pups over to my very generous mother’s and spending time with my half-brother who also celebrated his birthday this week while I was away at work, I think it’ll be nearly 42 hours awake.  YES.

That’s pretty awesome.  In short, Shark Fights was fun after the slow start and it was neat to work for another group of real friendly, laid back folk.  Check out a few of the event photos and let’s do it again, Texas.