Wednesday, December 15, 2010

2010 US World Team Member - Jake Clark - 84kg GR

Before having his hand raised at the 2010 US World Team Trails Jake felt moved to salute the crowd.  Jake is a true wrestler/warrior.
Jake's details:
2010-11 Team USA Ranking No. 1 at 84KG
Years on Team USA: 6 (2003-08, 2010-11)
Residence: Colorado Springs, CO
Club: Air Force
Coach: Rich Estrella
College: Minnesota
HighSchool: Saint Paul, Minn. (South Saint Paul)
Born: 02/15/1980 in Waconia, Minn.
Height: 5-10

This 16 x 20 file is 20mb and can be directly downloaded here:
2010 US World Team Member - Jake Clark 

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

2010 WORLD CHAMPION - Besik Kudukhov (RUS) - 60kg MF

Kudukhov is awesome, plain and simple.  He should do well in London in '12.  Here he just defeated Vasyl Fedoryshyn of the Ukrian in the gold medal match at the 2010 World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

This 16 x 20 file is 20mb and can be directly downloaded here:
2010 World Championships - Besik Kudukhov - 60KG Finals

2010 WORLD CHAMPION SUSHIL KUMAR (IND) - 66KG MF

Sushil Kumar made history when he became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the 2010 World Wrestling Championships in Moscow on September 12, 2010!

Kumar is really fun to watch as he pushes the action and is explosive on his feet.  He beat crowd favorite Alan Gogaev of Russia in the finals for gold at 66 kg.  I like this shot from the QRTs against Batzorig Buyanjav of Mongolia.

This 16 x 20 file is 15mb and can be directly downloaded here:
2010 World Championships - Sushil Kumar - 66KG Qrts Finals
 

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

2011 WRESTLERS ARE WARRIORS CALENDAR!

[PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS NOT THE 2011 CALENDAR FOR SALE VIA LULU.]

This is the inaugural WaW calendar.  Below is a PDF for you to download and print at 8x10.

I had mine printed and bound at Apple Photo Services and it rocks!  I'm working with them on how to make it easy for anyone to order a copy for themselves.  Unfortunately at $30 (printing, taxes, shipping), but it's also pretty cool that you can get a one-off printing project at 13x10 for $30.  Please contact me if you would like me to order you one at cost

The 20mb PDF is here.

Below are some sample pages from this year's calendar:





Thursday, November 4, 2010

2009 Worlds - Tatiana Padilla & Coach Steiner

I've been waiting a long time to post this photo.  There's a lot going on here, not only on the mat but in press row as well.  On the mat, Tatiana was wrestling Geeta Geeta of India in the quarters.  It was a wild match, Tatiana came out with a 3-0 win in the first period, but then lost 4-1 in the second.  This shot was the break between the second and third period.  I'd love to know what Coach Steiner (one of my favs right now) said specifically.  As a former coach and long time wrestler I've spent a lot of time in the corner, I think he probably kept it pretty basic: "Wrestler smart, wrestle to win.  I believe in you, and I know you believe in yourself."  Or something like that.  Maybe they will let us know what was said.  I just think this photo shows a great dynamic and relationship between a wrestler and a coach.

Tatiana stuck Geeta in the third period.  It was a great win, and continued the momentum she needed to capture the bronze medal.  There's something about Tatiana that I think the US can build around.  She has a swagger and confidence, and has proven she belongs on the world stage.  London's calling...

Off the mat, the Denmark Worlds were cool in many ways, small, localized, but the photography section was an afterthought, so we were roped behind the athletes and coaches.  That means every time a coach or athlete walked to a mat, they blocked the photographers (who aren't 6'6" ;^).   Taking a different approach, I shot from the stands which were mat level.  I am grateful to the Paulson and Felix families for accommodating me in the stands.  What makes this shot special is that the color balance is really interesting.  When the wrestlers are on the yellow portion of the mat all the photos come out cast yellow/red which can be adjusted in post processing, but that's not ideal.  When they step to the blue part of the mat, the light gets much better, as this shot shows.

PS:  Check out the singlet AND hair grab in the semi-fianl match with Tatiana vs Ahmedli of AZE.  

More photos from this match and her semi final match (plus all of the 2009 Worlds) can be seen on Tech-Fall.com.

This 20x16 file is 15mb and can be directly downloaded here:
2009 World Championships - Padilla vs Geeta - 55KG Qrt Finals

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

2010 NCAA Champ - Kyle Dake, Cornell

Not only did 141lb Kyle Dake from Cornell impress everyone winning the NCAAs as a true freshman, he did it with humility and determination. This is a shot from the finals against Montell Marion of Iowa. I just love this shot. [Backstory: at the 2010 NCAAs I got food poisoning Friday night along with a bunch of other media folks. I was double evacuating all night, and missed the medal rounds Saturday morning. (The first full round of wrestling I've ever missed.) With difficulty I rousted myself in the afternoon to accept my NWMA photographer of the year award and crawled to the finals. I was not feeling well at all. On a good day the finals are tricky to shoot, there's a lot going on with where we are allowed to shoot from, and our lenses are pointed toward the light, making all the settings we've worked on for two days obsolete. You would think great shots are a dime a dozen, but they are not. I didn't know immediately that this was a good shot. On a SLR camera the shutter actually blinds the shooter for a split second, since so much happens in wrestling in that split second, my mantra is "If you see the action, you've missed the shot."]

More photos from this match can be seen on Tech-Fall.com.

This 20x16 file is 20mb(!) and can be directly downloaded here:
2010 NCAAs - Dake vs Marion - 141lbs NCAA finals

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

2010 World Team Trials - Tatiana Padilla vs Helen Maroulis

2010 World Team Trials - Council Bluffs, IA
55kg Tatiana Padilla (Sunkist Kids) vs Helen Maroulis (NYAC)
An epic three-match battle for the World Team, this shot is from the second match, which Padilla won!  The matches went: Maroulis 1-0, 1-1; Padilla 0-2, 1-0, 2-0; Padilla 3-1, 1-0.  Both women are true warriors.

More photos from this match can be seen on Tech-Fall.com.

This 5x7 file is 2.7mb and can be directly downloaded here:
2010 WTT - Padilla vs Maroulis - 55kg WF

2009 NCAA Champion - Steve Luke

In 2009 Steve Luke was impressive the entire season wrestling for UM at 174 lbs.  I think Steve epitomizes the idea of wrestlers being warriors, not just on the mat but in the classroom and in life.  He's a great guy and is a great champion.  This shot is from his semi-final match with Raymond Jordan of Missouri.  Once again, Luke's eye was a gusher.

More shots from that match can be found on Tech-Fall.com: Scroll to the bottom of this page.

The 8x10 file is 4.3mb and can be directly downloaded here:
Steve Luke - 2009 NCAA champion at 174 lbs - 8x10

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

2009 MMA Steve Ramirez's 3 second knockout

I was shooting the Steve Ramirez vs. Darvin Wattree fight as part of the July 25, 2009 "Pure Combat 9: Home Turf" event at the Visalia Convention Center in Visalia, Calif.  That night Ramirez threw a devastating right hand one second into the match and two seconds later it was over! It's tied as the fastest knockout in MMA history.  Below is a photo of that one punch.

Wanna make a poster of it? The links below are for prints of 8x10 and 16x20.

The 8x10 file is 4.4mb and can be directly downloaded here:
Steve Ramirez - Pure Combat 9 - Home Turf - 8x10

The 16x20 file is 13.5mb and can be directly downloaded here:
Steve Ramirez - Pure Combat 9 - Home Turf - 8x10


© 2009 Tony Rotundo. All rights reserved. This image may not be used for any promotional material in print or on-line without the written permission of the photographer.

Monday, May 24, 2010

2009 US WTT - Jake Herbert Wins 84kg Men's Freestyle

This is a shot of Jake Herbert (NYAC) after beating Bryce Hasseman (NYAC) 0-1, 3-2, 1-0 at the 2009 US World Team Trials. Herbert pointed and yelled to his friends and family. Later USA Wrestling used this shot as a poster. The links below are for prints of 8x10 and 16x20.

The 8x10 file is 5mb and can be directly downloaded here:
Jake Herbert 2009 WTT - 8x10

The 16x20 file is 13.7mb and can be directly downloaded here:
Jake Herbert 2009 WTT - 16x20


© 2009 Tony Rotundo. All rights reserved. This image may not be used for any promotional material in print or on-line without the written permission of the photographer.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

2009 WORLDS - Jake Herbert vs. Gokhan Yavaser (Turkey)

This is a shot of Jake Herbert after he beat the Turk in the quarters at the 2009 Worlds. The Turk was very upset and had to be scolded for crying too long on the mat.

This file will print best at 5x7, but could go as high as 8x10.



This is a 2.98mb file and should download directly to your computer. Click here for the download:
Jake Herbert, 2009 World Championships

© 2009 Tony Rotundo. All rights reserved. This image may not be used for any promotional material in print or on-line without the written permission of the photographer.