I joined a boxing gym in Brooklyn named Gleason's. Boxing legends such as Mohamed Ali, Mike Tyson, Sunny Liston and Jake LaMotta have all trained there extensively. Current boxing stars like Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah are there too, training right along side fresh new hopefuls.
I've never experienced anything quite like Gleason's Gym before. There’s such a strong sense of community. The boxer’s all know each other by name. They even know each other's family members by name. Banners are strewn across the walls celebrating the numerous boxing titles awarded to the many of the gym’s current members. Champions are born there. And it all starts with the culmination of strong relationships.
I’ve hired a personal coach to give me professional training as boxer. In the short time that I’ve been under his tutelage, I've already met his uncle (an olympic boxing champion who represented America in the Munich 1972 Olympics), his eldest son (who is also a boxer, and is currently attending college as a film major), and one of his youngest sons (on the phone just to say hi and introduce myself). My coach wants me to feel like I'm a part of his family. Its funny. I go out of my way to prepare days in advance for each visit to Gleason's. I make sure to go in with total mental focus, being well rested, well fed, and properly hydrated, ready to put in work and break through my limits, all because I want to make my "family" proud.
Just got back from Las Vegas where I shot an ad campaign for the WEC cage fighting league. I had an amazing experience. It's definitely my favorite professional shoot thus far.
Cage fighters are such inspirational photography subjects. Each one has a unique history of violence recorded in their face. Broken bones. Scar tissue. Missing teeth. It's fascinating how these experiences shaped their personalities. I've learned that the great physical traumas these guys endure do absolutely nothing to dissuade them from stepping into the cage again. If anything, they use the pain as motivation.
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That last photo my favorite shot in the series. Moments before, this man mounted his opponent, beat his face in and drew blood. It took both fighters a while to realize that they should stop attacking. He got up and walked to the corner to towel off the blood on his face. I ran into the cage and said "Please don't wipe the blood off... just look here... Ok?" Coming off of all that adrenaline, he looked so peaceful. And he had this expression on his face, as if he had just killed a man or maybe it was more like he had just defended his life.
THE CAMPAIGN :
The ad campaign ran throughout the country. They actually started putting up some of the shots in NYC while I was still on the west coast. Here are a few snap shots I tracked down.
EXPERIENCES OUTSIDE OF THE SHOOT:
I was very fortunate. I got to stay in a nice room in the MGM Grand Hotel during the week that the De La Hoya vs Mayweather fight was going down. It was one of the most hyped boxing matches in the last 25 years or so, and the MGM Grand was ground zero for the battle to take place. The entire building was literally shaking with all energy from the visitors and celebrities walking around. It made it difficult to do simple things like get food or even enter or leave the place, but I didn't mind so much.
I'm not that big on gambling or nightclubs, so I spent my free time exploring downtown Vegas or "Old Vegas". Its more laid back, with less tourists and more locals.
I eventually befriended a few of the dancers from Cirque du Solei. Many of them are from all over the world, Canada, Africa, France, etc. and I had a great time getting to know them and hearing their stories. I got to be a good pal of one of the dancers named 'Manu'. She's a French / Vietnamese Break Dancer from Canada, who was kind enough to give me a free ticket to the show she dances in: "Cirque du Solei: Beatles' Love". This was my view of the show, she's the one in the bottom center of the photo spinning the umbrella:
I don't normally enjoy live theatre. But I really had a good time. A large part of it is that I love Beatles music. And also that my seat had a great view. The show is performed on a stage that is 360 degerees, and is extremely dense visually, with a good 25 people on stage at any given moment, running around, flying through the air, dancing, acting, or what have you. It was nice to be above it so I can take it all in at once. And the fact that I knew some of the performers made the experience much more enjoyable.
Overall, I'd say that I really like Vegas a lot. I got to spend some time in the desert and mountains, which was very relaxing. And meeting some locals made the experience a lot more richer and down to earth. But I also tried to get in a more traditional experience too, shopping, visiting the different casinos, catching a show. etc.
EDIT (7-21-07): Some of my friends messaged me to say that they they find the hedonism of Vegas repulsive, like the gambling addicts, drugs, strippers, etc. are basically examples of societal failure. But I really don't dislike it personally. I think that as a photographer my role in life is to explore the world and document the different energy I see and just sort of a provide a mirror for other people to look at.
Its not really my place to judge people so much but instead just try my best to understand them and portray them to others. Maybe that's a cop out. I don't know. But for example, I'm really happy to hang out with violent people, as much as I would be to hang out with peaceful people. And if I have any issues any of them one way or the other, I probably wouldn't be able to do this project properly.
LOS ANGELES :
I spent the remainder of my free time in L.A. chilling with my friend's Jade, Cidney, Shang and "Beanie Bear" (a.k.a. the cute puppy below). It was pretty laid back. I accompanied Jade on some model castings. And then we all went to some great restaurants. And just chilled and chatted. A perfect ending. =)
After photographing all the MMAfighters in Vegas, I've felt inspired to get in shape. So for the past 5 weeks I've been experimenting with a new health regimen. It's a work in progress but its been fun researching different health magazines / websites / blogs. etc. to try and tailor something that makes sense for me.
The most important thing I've learned so far about getting into shape is that you have put in work (i.e. work hard and work daily). You need to dedicate yourself to a way of life. This doesn't mean that you're supposed to live in a gym, on the contrary, the time you spend not working out is when your body repairs itself and grows stronger.
A proper diet is intergral. Sometimes people associate the word "diet" with "eating less", but really the only way to get your body to modify itself is to train your metabolism to burn more calories and also provide yourself with the resources to build muscle, so its actually very important to eat a lot and eat often.
While targeted excercises are great for isolating specific parts of your body, its important to work out your body as a whole (i.e. play sports). This helps you work a variety of muscles in unison in order to gain natural strength, and it has the added benifit giving you a more properly proportioned physique.
After considering a variety of potential sports, I've decided that the most fun thing to do is boxing. It just feels really good to punch something. Though I'm not so sure about getting hit yet, but it'd probably be really funny to show up to a photography set with a black eye. hahaha.
I also went in for a check up to make sure if there was anything I should know before starting a new health routine. I'm happy to report that he gave me a clean bill of health, saying I'm in good shape, with normal blood pressure, weight for my age / height and also that I'm free of STDs (phew! hehe). The doc did say that I have abnormally high stress levels though, but it doesn't stem from anything physiological. He said that the cause is psychological and suggested that I work on things to relax more like: excercise, hobbies and meditation. I hope I'll be less stressed out after I work harder on improving my health.
Anyways, here is my "Health Plan". As I said its still a work in progress, so if anyone has any tips or suggestions, let me know! Thanks!
EATING: 6 medium sized meals per day.
8 a.m.: Breakfast*: --- Large meal. Slow burning Carbs, "Good" fat, High Protein 11 a.m.: snack --- Fruit, Veggie or Granola 1 p.m.: Lunch --- Meat, Veggies, Low Carbs, High Protein 4 p.m.: snack --- Fruit or Veggie 6 p.m.: Dinner --- Light meal, Low carbs 8 p.m.: snack --- Fruit or Veggie
* Eating a large meal early in the morning helps train your body to increase it's metabolism, and also provides you fuel for the rest of day.
GENERAL DIET: Heavy on meat (particularly chicken and beef) Occasional Eggs Heavy on Veggies Daily Fresh fruits Medium amount of carbs
No Dairy No Coffee No Soda No Smoking No Drugs No Processed Carbohydrates No "Junk Food" Low Wheat Low Soy Limited "Social Drinking" (I don't really drink much anyway)
Drink Green Tea in the morning (No Caffiene after 12pm) Drink Juices high in anti-oxidents Drink Lots and Lots of Water
DAILY VITAMINS + MINERALS SUPPLEMENTS: Multi-Vitamins Glucosamine Chondroitin Fish Oils Ginko Biloba Dairy Free Protein Supplement Coral based Calcium Extracts Folic Acid Vitamin B-12 Ginseng Extract L-Glutamine Probiotics Zinc
EXCERCISE: I excercise the instant I wake up and right before I sleep. Ideally I want to excercise twice a day. I limit the length of each work out because I don't want it to get in the way of my normal daily activites and work. I also think that excercising for hours is kind of boring. So I try to keep each session down to 25-30 minutes tops.
I sometimes just do one "Super Set" of an excercise, and just go until "Failure", or in other words go until I can't maintain the proper form anymore. Its a lot more intense, and it also helps me from getting too bored. hehe. Otherwise, I'll do multiple sets just to have more variety.
The main goal is to just keep my heart rate and adrenaline up, so that I can use that energy to get an extra 5 reps or lift an extra 5 lbs. The more work you accomplish, the more your body will be forced to grow and get stronger.
DAILY WORK OUT: Push Ups: 25 x 4 Sit Ups: 100 x 4 "The Plank": 1 minute set x 2
EDIT (7-17-2007): I've just learned that doing excessive amounts of sit ups is not that good way to achieve definition It's better to do lower reps, and with more resistance in order to build larger muscle. I'm not sure how much I should be doing just now. I will experiment with slower sit ups with a larger range of motion.
WEIGHT TRAINING: I've seperated weight training into 3 seperate routines which I alternate every two days. With 1 day off in between. Ideally at least 3-4 times a weeks.
I don't get concerned with lifting a great amount of weight, and would rather just do my best to maintain proper form. And I either do "Super Sets" or multiple reps alternatively.
A - Lower Body Squat: 3 x 5 Calf lifts: 5 x 5 Cable Pull-Throughs: 2 x 8 Slant Board Full Range Situps: 36 x 3
B - Back + Chest Cable Rows: 2 x 8 Inverted Twist Rows: 2 x 6 Bench Press: 2 x 6 Slant Board Full Range Situps: 36 x 3
C - Arms + Shoulders Dips: 2 x 6 Overhead Tricep Extension: 2x6 Bicep Curls: 2 x 6 Shoulder Press: 3 x 8 Front Raise: 3 x 8 Slant Board Full Range Situps: 36 x 3
EDIT: 7-30-2007 Since I've started training as a boxer. I changed my routune a bit. I take more days off, because boxing is very demanding, and tends to make me sore for a good 24-48 hours. My general routine in the boxing gym is:
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