Blogging Again

It’s been a couple of weeks since I returned from the Olympics. Originally I thought my biggest problem at the Olympics would be money, or rather, the lack of money. In actuality, my biggest problem was time, or the lack of it. I simply didn’t have enough time to do everything I wanted, or even needed to do.

Each day, there was approximately 10 hours of boxing. Add to this travel time, eating, checking emails, writing, going through photos, and it made for some long days. Three times I worked throughout the night, choosing to work instead of sleep.  This is what I wanted, and this is what I like. With any luck, and a little hard work, this is what I’ll do with the remainder of my life…write, shoot photos, and travel around the world. As my two sons grow older, perhaps they’ll begin to accompany me.

Anyhow, I’m still not finished with the photos from the Olympics as I still need to do some organizing. There is one art gallery interested in the photos, and if I don’t hear from them by the end of the week, I’ll try another gallery. Both are well known galleries here in Bangkok, and an exhibition would boost my profile considerably.

Until later…

The Olympics and the Chris John Fiasco

The Olympics are a little more than a week away. I leave for Beijing August 6th and return August 27th. It’s doubtful I’ll have a whole lot of time to dedicate to this blog but I will be updating my Olympic blog – http://myfirstolympics.wordpress.com. I’m really looking forward to the trip to China, and to covering the Olympics. It’s the biggest event I’ve ever covered and as one experienced photographer stated, “Shooting the games is like shooting three Super Bowls every day fifteen days.” I’m sure it’s going to be alot of work, but like I said, I’m looking forward to it. I’m especially looking forward to seeing how the boxing unfolds; who wins, who loses, who becomes a star.

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In all my trips to Indonesia to cover boxing, I’ve come to learn that anytime there’s a world title fight in the country, there’s bound to be problems. Namely, the problem of promoters not paying when and how much they’re contractually obligated to pay. This is boxing but…

Apparently the WBA has stripped Chris John of his title. I find this extremely hard to believe. I’m waiting for official confirmation of this.

What makes it so hard to believe is that the promoter apparently did not meet the financial obligation, Jackson Asiku was not in Indonesia for the weigh-in because of this, and there was never a weigh-in because all monies were not paid. More to come as the entire story unfolds.

Until later…

Still Here

It’s late and I’m tired so I’m not going to write much. In the last few weeks I’ve been contemplating my time in Southeast Asia as a photojournalist. For quite some time, I’ve been working to transition from being a sports photojournalist concentrating on boxing, Muay Thai, Leth Wei, and Tennis, to more weighty issues. I haven’t been posting as often lately because I’ve got a couple of E-books I’ve been working on and I’ve been busy trying to get them finished.

I will say this though…

1) I’m not going to the Philippines – I don’t really have the extra cash to spend to go and then wait for months to be reimbursed.

2) In the next 6-8 weeks, I’ll be busting my ass in preparation for my next major project. I won’t go into the details of the project at this point, but I will once the project is completed.

Also – I’ve uploaded lots of new photos to my sites. Please at least take a look at the shots and feel free to purchase some if the need strikes you. Remember, the purchase of my photos is what helps funds my projects, whether boxing or otherwise. Every penny of it.

For commercial shots:
http://fareastphotos.imagekind.com

For commercial shots:
www.fareastphotos.com

A Quickie

I’m on my way home now and a bit pressed for time. Obviously Toney won his bout with Rahman so The Fatman prevailed over The Lazy Man. Yes, it was controversial but he won nonetheless. Anyhow…I’m making some changes to the site – need to make it a little more like I want it. Also, I’ve got a couple of other sites where you can purchase photos, T-shirts, mugs, prints, and framed posters. All sorts of cool stuff…

The sites are still works in progress but they’re at:

Imagekind – http://fareastphotos.imagekind.com

Cafe Press – http://www.cafepress.com/fareastphotos

I may end up changing the names of these sites but I’m not sure yet. One thing I do know though…I’ve been concentrating too much on boxing and forgetting about photographing other subjects. FYI – a boxing magazine will generally pay anywhere from $25-$50 a shot, whereby a magazine like Islands, Maxim, Time or Newsweek will pay between $200-$400 a shot on average. A little more than a month ago an airline bought a few of my Chris John photos and I made around $100 a shot. It’s a small airline.

Also – I’m changing my main website. Right now, everything is the same but Digital Railroad is just too expensive – $50 a month. Photoshelter, my name host, is $30 a month. I’m cutting back – because I need to – in the past I spent nearly $200 a month on webhosting. Now I’m down to around $50 a month. The one thing I like about boxing is that you generally get to stay in nice hotels and eat well. If I’m traveling around like the photo hobo I feel I need to be in order to get the shots I want, I’ll be staying in one-star hotels and living and traveling on the cheap. Until I sell a few more of my shots to HBO or Time or somewhere like this, I need to keep costs down. Such is the life of a struggling journalist…boxing journalist or not.

Do You Prefer Fat or Lazy?

Guess who’s coming to dinner tomorrow night? Or should I say, to the boxing ring? Oh yea, they’re going to be boxing, not eating. In case you’re not sharp enough to figure out what I’m referring to, it’s the Hasim Rahman – James Toney fight. Maybe in another life this bout would have been exciting – but not now. As the title of today’s blog asks – do you prefer fat or lazy?

Toney is fat and belongs on The Biggest Loser. Except I don’t think he’d win that show, unless of course he was on steroids. How does a fighter jump from middleweight to heavyweight? Well, in this case, he gets fat as a house and uses his boxing skills to eek out narrow decisions or get his ass handed to him. There was a time when I was a fan of Big James – no more.

Rahman….ughhh…lazy. Nothing worse than a lazy fighter, except maybe a fat fighter. So this fight is a tough call. Who’s gonna win, the fat guy or the guy who is normally and underachiever. Granted, Rahman can at times punch non-stop, but lately, he belongs in the second hand shop. I got news for these guys – fans don’t generally like or appreciate a fighter with rolls (I’m not talking about Cinnamon rolls) or a fighter who doesn’t feel like throwing punches. If they wanted to see a couple of fat guys fighting, they’d slap on the gloves and give it a go with their beer drinking neighbor. If they wanted lazy, they’d tell the wife, “get me a beer, and by the way, can you hand me the remote!?

Nahhh…boxing is better than this. It has to be. There’s a long history of great fights, great fighters, and great….well, the sport is great and it doesn’t need fat, lazy fighters acting as if they deserve to be heavyweight champion of the world. Fans pay their hard-earned money to see finely tuned athletes performing to the best of their abilities – PPV is expensive these days, thank Buddha I don’t have to pay – and boxing deserves better than a fat grumpy old man and an underachieving one-hit wonder.

In case it matters – Toney wins a close decision. He may be fat, but he’s got talent. Rahman…that’s another story.

Until later….