Above: Ian Harding (me) jumps for a scissor kick. Photograph by Faby Martin.

As I mentioned in my last post, I love sports. I’ve played them my whole life. Softball, basketball, rugby, and… soccer.

The only team sport I still play today is soccer. I’ve been playing on an indoor co-ed recreational team the past 4 years, but starting today, I’ll be hitting the outdoor pitch again. Its been a long time, but I’m looking forward to having some room to run and pass. Indoor is a much faster paced form of soccer, for those unaware.

A good friend of mine, Faby Martin, is an amazing photographer. I met her while photographing Alberta Fashion Week last fall, along with a couple of other now good friends, Oscar Lopez and David Austin. Faby and I had been talking about doing a shoot for a while, so over the weekend, we finally got together.

What you may not know about me as a photographer is that I also like to model. I haven’t done a whole lot of it, but I have done it for various local and international photographers, and it has been fun every time. I find its a really great experience to switch roles every once in a while. Its a great reminder on how to communicate with models. While modeling, I usually end up thinking, “What would I say to me if I were directing this shoot, and how am I reacting to this photographers direction.”

Faby really wanted to do some action shots and I was all game for it. I really love her processing style and I think the images she created turned out really well. Click on the photo above to see the whole Soccer Player, A Story series, or just head on over to Faby’s website for a look at her entire portfolio.

For more info regarding my modeling, you can check out my model profiles on Model Mayhem and Model Republic.

First off, my apologies to you all for being so slow with the blog posts. Just like everyone else, I’ve been pretty busy with both work. To quote Melissa Rodwell from her fashion photography blog,

Would you rather read a blog by a photographer who doesn’t work but who blogs all the time or would you rather read a blog from a working [fashion] photographer who’s too busy to write that often, but at least when you read the blog posts, you know that the person writing them is actually working in the industry?

With all the projects I’ve been working on, the blog just sort of fell to the way-side. However, with a lot of said projects finishing up, I’ve found some time to catch up and fill you in on some things. Keep an eye on here for a bunch of new posts over the next short while. I will also make an attempt to keep you up to date on on-going projects.

Above: Evelyn Harding (my mom) enjoys a sunny winter jog with her dog Finn along the shores of Sydenham Lake in Ontario.

Aside from being busy with work, I’ve also been busy with play. And when I say “play”, I generally mean doing physical activities. I sport climb, mountain bike, play soccer, and run, all on a regular basis. So the second topic of this post is simply to mention that I recently completed my second ever half marathon when I finished the Calgary Scotiabank Centaur Subaru Half Marathon back on May 30th. I’ve always been a bit of a jock… uh, I mean athlete… having come from a family of active people. Both of my parents are runners (as well as bike, swim, and ski) having competed in many events. In fact, my father is scheduled to compete in his third Ironman this August in Penticton, BC, which is pretty amazing to say the least. I have a special wedding to attend the day before his race, so I’m hoping to make it down to see him finish.

Aside from that, I plan to run the Harvest Half Marathon again this coming October.

A friend of mine, Lalena Desautels (who represents Dynamic Martial Arts), is one tough female. I’ve known this for a while, but on Friday June 4, at the School Of Hard Knocks 7 Fighting Championship held at the Silver Dollar Casino here in Calgary, I got to see Lal perform up close. I was cage-side for the event taking photos on behalf of Hard Knocks Fighting and for Topmmanews.com, and was eager to see Lal perform. It was only the second female bout the tournament had ever displayed. I was nervous, seeing as it was my first MMA event, but I was confident that I would get decent results.

Left: David Krawczyk takes a breather on the mat after being defeated by James Haddad.

I had never watched mixed martial arts live before. The strength, sweat, and blood was very evident. I had my 7D with a 24-70mm 2.8, but I knew that I would have to be shooting with a fast shutter speed and high ISO. The key to shooting MMA from ring-side is to always be shooting through a gap in the cage, if you can. Focal length and DOF are also important too, since a deep DOF would essentially just blow out the cage from your image, because the cage is so close to the lens. However, its never that easy. Even if I had been using faster glass, such as an 85mm f1.2, then I would have had to pay much closer attention to my focus point.

Aside from that, glare from the cage itself was bright and doesn’t blur out, so more often than not, you get white lines through your image. I knew this prior to the first match, so I made sure to constantly try and keep my lens looking through a cage gap. Overall, the action was great. There wasn’t too much blood throughout the tournament, except for the final fight between Derek "The Gargoyle" Boyle and Aaron Armstrong, where some blood actually landed on the photographer’s table right in front of us. Pretty crazy what those fighters put themselves through.

Anyways, I have received some very positive feedback regarding the images I created that night and I am very thankful to Hard Knocks Fighting for having given me the opportunity to shoot for them. School Of Hard Knocks 8 isn’t far off, so I’m really hoping to be cage-side once again for that action.

As for Lalena, she unfortunately lost to Stephanie “SNAFU” Essensa by Guillotine Choke, only 49 seconds into their first round.

Above: Jesse "Blood Warrior" Dayrider, moments before he stepped into the ring to battle Jeremy Edwards.

Above: James Haddad takes a foot from David Krawczyk.

Above: Derek "The Gargoyle" Boyle vs Aaron Armstrong.

Above: Wolfgang Janssen celebrates after defeating Roger Redoble.

Above: "Iron" Mike Parsons flexes for the crowd after defeating Steven Jones.

Head on over to topmmanews.com to see photos from each fight.