Gavin Quest (Daily S.P.O.T. for 4/28/09)

Here's a nice airborne shot of longtime NJ indy wrestler Gavin Quest, from an April 2004 UCW (and no, I don't have a clue what it stands for anymore, other than the "W" part) show in Clark, NJ. To the best of my knowledge, they only ran the one show, but it drew well and had a lot of familiar faces and/or good workers on the card: Jay Lethal (with family in full voice!), Azrial, Skinhead Ivan, Damian Dragon, Corvis Fear, Danny Demanto, etc.

One of the toughest things to master in wrestling photography is capturing action shots like this. A budget digicam simply won't cut it, because they take too long to actually snap the damn picture (the so-called "shutter lag"). A true film or digital SLR, while costlier, is mandatory.

I've always like this shot because, even though Gavin was sharp-focus frozen in mid-air, there's still the slightest motion blurring of the background. Blurring of moving objects is tough to master; a little gives a sense of movement in an otherwise static image, but too much blur is just blur. This was one of those "just right" happy accidents.

Jasmin St. Claire (Daily S.P.O.T. for 4/27/09)

From January '04: one of my favorite shots of Jasmin St. Claire, back when she was running 3PW in Philly at the old Viking Hall/ECW Arena (now the New Alhambra). I dug my year-plus at Three-Pee for several reasons:

1. It was the closest I'd gotten to in my early days to a "big time" indy wrestling promotion.
2. The people in charge (Jas, Blue Meanie, and Tod Gordon) really made me feel at home, as grass-green as I was.
3. I went in there not knowing diddly-squat about posing people, and to work with someone as camera-savvy as Jas for a year -- who could give you great shots with almost no instructions -- was a HUGE confidence builder. Thanks, Boss!

(This picture also became the cornerstone of the short-lived "Team Tucchus" in-joke. Maybe someday I'll elaborate...)

Hello, world! (And/or sailor...)

My shrink sez I need to socialize more. Consider this the Petri dish for that puhticular little experiment.

I've been taking pictures as a full-time hobby/very part-time job since late 2002. Started out shooting wrestling shows in the NJ/NY/PA area. Some of the wrestlers I shot were female, and pretty, and wanted to pose for shots "out of gimmick," as it were. I was amenable to that. Found some female models who were willing to pose, not so much "out of gimmick" as "out of clothes," period. I was extremely amenable to that.

I recently expanded my online social networks to the Facebooks and Twitters (and now, it would seem, blogs) of the world, but the question remains: what the fuck do I have to say that people would actually be INTERESTED in?

The answer, it would appear, is not "say" so much as "show." Picture equals thousand words and all that rot.

The goal is to root through six years and counting of photos, pull out one each day that I'm especially happy with, and stick it online here. Link back through status updates at Face and Twit and "Everybody Else's Space But Mine." Show stuff that might walk up to the edge of the PG-13 cliff without actually base-jumping offa it: Sometimes wrestlers get bloody. Sometimes models get semi-nekkid. Shit, you want nekkid, I got portfolio pages with all the T&A you could wish for.

Lemme know what you think. Onwards!