Lawrence Ripsher's Photo Journal » The Contender Asia

Frozen in Time

Lawrence Ripsher — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:13:04 +0000

A friend stopped me the other day to remind me of a shot I took on the set of The Contender Asia. It was an image which captured the exact moment of the impact from a kick – one of those shots where the ripple of the skin can be seen… that exact millisecond before a wave of pain replaces it. That conversation reminded me of another image which was similar but I never shared… I just looked through my archives tonight to look for it and managed to find it. Here’s it is:

Technically, it’s not perfect. I’d prefer a different crop, the focus / depth of field isn’t quite right and so on… but you gotta love those moments frozen in time.

The original shot that I talked about at the start of this post was. Ah, I can still smell the blood, sweat and tears.

Canon 40D, Canon 35mm f/1.4L, 1/500s, f/3.2, ISO 640

Fear

Lawrence Ripsher — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:28:37 +0000

#3 in a series

“Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.”

Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries

The Contender Asia – Episode 14

Lawrence Ripsher — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:21:34 +0000

Episode fourteen was the second and last semi final fight. It was fought between Muay Thai great John Wayne Parr and young star Dzhabar Askerov. A tremendous battle that went the full five rounds, the fighters at the end were separated by the smallest of margins. In the end, it was the Wayne Parr who took the match and went on to join Yodsanklai in the final of the first Contender Asia. The match also marked a significant point for me as it brought to an end the filming of Season 1 with only the final (which was scheduled for a later date) to be fought. Being the photographer for so many great fights, and so many great athletes was an absolute pleasure and I look back on my series of images with a lot of pride. Here were my favourite five shots from the match. I'll post the images from the final shortly and will also do a "best of" recap.

The Contender Asia – Fight 13

Lawrence Ripsher — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:01:23 +0000

I'm horribly behind in posting my images from The Contender Asia. So, making a concernted effort to finish off the series now. This is Episode 13, the first semi final and contested between Thai superstar Yodsanklai and Scot Sean Wright. Sean, having knocked out both of his opponents in the prevous round came in with high hopes of an upset, but it wasn't to be as Yodsanklai's immense skill and power ended the Scot's campaign in round two. Here are my favourite five shots from the match.

The Contender Asia – Episode 12

Lawrence Ripsher — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:59:14 +0000

Episode 12 saw Dzhabar Askerov and Soren Mongkontong square off against each other. It was a highly anticipated match and one that was tough to call as both fighters brought contrasting styles and excellent track records. How it ended though, no one could have predicted. In the first round, Dzhabar Askerov through two huge hooks. The first had Soren down for an eight count. The second caused the most vicious knockout I've yet seen in the flesh. Best shots below.

Contender Asia Episode 11

Lawrence Ripsher — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:20:39 +0000

Episode 11 was the last of the quarter finalists. This bout saw a match up between John Wayne Parr of Australia and Zidov Dominic of Croatia. Both fighters had become great friends in the house, adding to the drama on the night to see them face off against each other. Wayne Parr is a world champion and considered one of world’s best fighters – and it was clear from the beginning that Zidov wanted to make the most of this unique opportunity. However, despite battling valiantly, the fight was over in round 3 when the fight was stopped. And so JWP became the fourth and final quarter finalist. Five of my favourite images follow.

Zidov immediately makes his presence felt, showing he came to fight.

A stunning flying kick from John Wayne finds its mark, sending Zidov reeling

Sensing victory, John Wayne steps it up a gear, attacking with an increased intensity

After the match, John Wayne Parr dries himself off as his Australian flag hangs proudly in the background

Zidov, sits in his changing room alone, aware of the fact that he’ll be leaving the Contender Asia house tonight.

Contender Episode 10

Lawrence Ripsher — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:20:43 +0000

Episode 10 saw Yukay Karlsson of Sweeden and Sean Wright of Scotland go up against each other in the second quarter final. Both men had won their first round matches by way of knockout and many (including myself) were looking forward to this bout. Unfortunately for Yukay, Sean finished this match in the same way he had his previous – by winning through a series of devastating leg kicks. My favourite five images follow.

Yukay immediately goes on the offensive with a high leg kick

Sean retaliates with a series of crushing leg kicks

Yukay is temoprarily downed, taking an eight count

The pain becomes debilitating and finally Yukay succumbs

Yukay receives treatment backstage while coming to terms with the fact that tonight was his last match in season one of the Contender Asia

The Contender Asia – Episode 9

Lawrence Ripsher — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:56:56 +0000

Episode 9 was the beginning of the quarter finals. It was also the match which saw good friends and fellow Thais Yodsanklai and Naruepol face off against each other.

Yodsanklai won this bout by KO in round 2.

My favourite shots from this match below. You can see more on the official Contender Asia website.

Yodsanklai looks calm and confident as his nation’s flag is proudly waved in the background

A high kick from Yodsanklai penetrates Naruepol’s defense, striking him square in the jaw

A crunching right hook from Yodsanklai finds its mark

It’s over. Naruepol is checked by the referee after being counted out as an elated Yodsanklai raises his hand in victory.

Naruepol is treated for his injuries. Within minutes he will be leaving the Contender Asia house for good

The Contender Asia – Episode 8

Lawrence Ripsher — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:49:59 +0000

Am a little behind on publishing these so will give this more attention and wrap up the series over the next couple of weeks. This is Episode 8 which say Yukay Karlsson from Sweeden in action against Pitu Sans from Spain. “Stunning” is one word to describe the knockout that ended this match. As I said over on lostinfocus.org, this is probably the first time I ever felt ill from photographing sports – such was the impact of seeing Pitu land in front of me (for those of you who do not already know, Pitu, despite being knocked out, was fortunately not significantly harmed). Five of my favourite shots follow.

Pitu looks visibly shaken after receiving a crunching blow to the face

Yukay’s follow through after the knockout punch. Pitu was effectively unconcious on his way to the mat.

An unconcious Pitu is counted out while Yukay looks on from a neutral corner.

“Business as usual”. Yukay unwraps after the match

Pitu’s Spanish flag flaps quietly in the aftermath while backstage, he prepares to exit the show

Back in Action

Lawrence Ripsher — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:06:42 +0000

It has been weeks since I last picked up a camera with a serious intent to take really good photography. Last year turned out to be a hugely exciting time for me with my cameara work, but in contrast, the start of 2008 left me feeling in need of a serious break. I’ve been shooting almost every day (defeinitely very week) since 2004 and as this year rolled around I was concerned that unless I took a short layoff, I’d burn out.

The only problem with taking a break, is that it’s hard to get started again.

January quickly bacame February. And then February became March.

I’ve not been totally away from photography in that time. Since the start of this year, the following been going on behind the scenes:

- I’ve had a chance to catch up with all my post processing work required on the Contender Asia
- Got published another half dozen times or so. Twice in the Bangkok Post, another cover for Kickboxer International which is coming out next month (and is probably my favourite cover so far)
- Further developed my relationships on the Singapore scene (somethng I’m conciously pushing only slowly so to bring on interesting projects). Am now working with a new agency out here and agreeing a few upcoming projects
- Bought a Hasselblad :)

The last one is an interesting one. More on that next week.

Anyway, despite all this I have done very little actual work from behind the camera. That all changes this weekend because tomorrow night is the final of The Contender Asia. It’s being hosted at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and will have an attendance of somewhere between 5,000 – 10,000. I just got back from the weigh in and the atmosphere is very exciting. It’s going to be a huge night for the sport of Muay Thai. Tomorrow night, I’ll be taking my role as the Official Photographer, shooting at ringside for 3 hours. I really can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing :).

Anyway, it needed something like this to get me tuned back in again. I don’t expect to be needing another break for quite some time.

Now, I think it’s time I caught up on some comments & posted some photos.