Lawrence Ripsher's Photo Journal

Two Weddings and a Fight

Just completed a long weekend dominated by photography. I attended one wedding as a guest (cameras inevitably in tow), another fight night at The Contender Asia and I also made a rare appearance as the official photographer at another wedding. Both my cameras are a thousand or so actuations older and I'm wondering how I'm going to process 300+ images over the next couple of days. Obviously I'll need to show the full set of images to the wedding couples first before I post much but I here was one I felt like sharing in the meantime.

8 Days

8 Days, a weekly entertainment magazine in Singapore published by MediaCorp, have just published an article on The Contender Asia and I have some shots as part of the spread. The magazine is on sale in Singapore, the article is page 22. The images are below.

All photos copyright Lawrence Ripsher.

Bruce MacFie, an Australian competitor on the show.

Wai Kru, ceremony before an undercard fight.

Image from an undercard fight.

Image from an undercard fight

Kim Khan Zaki, a contender on the show representing Singapore.

Asian Geographic

Quick post to let you know that I have an article and series of images in Asian Geographic this month (Issue 8 / 2007). Four pages starting from page 86 provide both a written and photographic recap of my trip to El Nido, Philippines, earlier in the year. A quick thank you to the editor and team for a great job - Asian Geo really is a top quality publication. For those interested in the magazine, you can view subscription information here.

The pictures that made it into the publication are below.

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Straits Times

This was taken ringside during an undercard fight at a Contender bout. Last Friday (Sept 7th 2007) it was published with an article on the show on page 6 of the Straits Times Life supplement in Singapore.

Note - this was an undercard fight - not a picture of any of the contestants from the show.

I took this shot with a Canon 40D with a 50mm f/1.4.

Picture and copyright by Lawrence Ripsher

The Contender Asia

I've been quiet with few posts for a while and there's a good reason for it. I've recently taken the role of official photographer for a new reality TV series from the producers of The Apprentice and Survivor, called The Contender Asia.

Coming soon to AXN, the show will feature 16 of the world's top Muay Thai fighters who will battle it out over the course of 16 episodes. The show is being produced here in Singapore, with some of the industry's best and most respected producers at its helm.

I will be shooting the portraits of the fighters, documenting their lives behind the scenes and at ringside for each of the fights.

Everything is already underway and things have come together very quickly. To describe it as exciting would be an understatement - it's without question going to be one of the biggest things to hit Asia TV screens this year.

As it's a reality TV show, obviously everyone (including myself) is being very careful over how information is released. So I won't be posting images on anything to do with the fights or fighters until they're in the public domain. I do hope to begin updating shortly however so check back soon for more details.

For those of you in Singapore, the best way to experience the extravaganza every Wednesday and Saturday night is to come along. You can buy tickets here

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Canon 40D - Review coming soon

Last week I purchased the new Canon 40D as both a backup to my 5D and as a dedicated / portable sports shooter.

I've had a nearly a week with it now, having already shot a couple of thousand images under challenging conditions while both ringside and out on the street and have had a chance to put its growing reputation as a mini 1D Mk3 to the test.

Over this week I'll be posting a mini review. More soon.