Cage Fighting with a Fuji X-E2 and Samyang 21 f/1.4 by Jannik Pietzsch

Cage Fighting with a Fuji X-E2 and Samyang 21 f/1.4

by Jannik Pietzsch

Dear Steve,

I had the chance to accompany a local Muay Thai club, called the Siam Warriors, to their cage fight event. It was predominantly a competition between the Siam Warriors, which are based in Cork, and other Muay Thai clubs from neighbouring counties. Having never been to any form of fighting event, be it boxing or cage fighting, it was an atmosphere that I at first struggled to feel at ease in. The first sight of the ambulances parked at the back entrance of the venue hit me with a heavy confirmation that this is an evening where people are going to be hurt and injured in the spotlights. Living in such a safe 21st century, these moments always remind me how civilized we have become, yet pondering if that is a good thing.

For the first two fights, I didn’t photograph much, but just took it all in and tried to get accustomed to this testosterone laden venue which hung thick in the air. It wasn’t an aggressive or dangerous atmosphere but the strong scent of manliness was not to be missed.

Having a photography/press pass is one of the greatest privileges one can hope for at such an event, so I pushed my luck and made my way to the backstage locker rooms. Being stopped by security twice on the way, I simply waved my camera and shouting over the wall of noise, I re-affirmed that I am one of the photographers of the evening. And just like that, I was backstage. While all the other photographers were there to photograph the fights itself, I was more interested in getting to know the fighters, taking photos of their preparation for their impending fight and being there with them through the highs and lows of the evening. I picked out certain fighters, and would accompany some of them to their fights.

The fighters were all very polite, surprisingly relaxed around me and eventhough I stuck with them the whole evening, taking photo after photo, not once was I told to back off or leave them alone. Although I was always sure to give them space and respect them, I would totally have understood if one of them had lashed out at me in a flurry of nerves or a wave of disappointment and frustration of having lost a fight. That was the most difficult part of the whole evening, seeing on of “my” fighters lose. I came to the event knowing no-one, and as I started forming these very intimate friendships with them in the locker room, it was heartbreaking to then see them in the cage getting wobbled, watching in despair as their arms fell lower and lower, visibly becoming heavier, and eventhough they fought with all of their heart and determination it just wasn’t enough. I was with them as they limped back to the locker rooms to be assessed by the medics. It just couldn’t be any lower of a moment. You can see the fighter’s world crumble and the frustration is deafening in the room. One particular fighter had the misfortune of losing a fight in the first 20 seconds or so of the first round by a kick to the head. As it was a TKO he is not allowed to fight for the next few weeks for medical and safety reasons. Unfortunately, he would miss his upcoming fight that he was scheduled to partake in, in two weeks. Just an unfortunately terrible evening for him, which should have gone much better for him, though these things just happen in cage fights.

But in a heavy contrast, watching a fighter dominate the other from the get go and winning through his dedication to his training and his precise skill and execution is just incredible. In that moment happiness doesn’t even begin to explain the infectious emotion that that fighter is experiencing. In that moment, nothing seems impossible and pride is bursting out of all seams. The extremes between these highs and lows really were incredible to witness, and I absolutely understand why someone would go through all of this. It almost seems that that amazing winning emotion is not beatable by any drug but just as addictive.
I am very happy that got to have this experience and would like to do something like this in the future again.

And now to the gear:

For the evening I had my Fuji X-E2 with the additional grip which was a crucial addition to making the whole evening much more comfortable for my hands. Lens wise, I predominantly used my Samyang 21mm f1.4, which is my favourite lens ever. I did however also have my Samyang 12mm f2, Fuji 35mm f2 and Olympus OM 50mm f1.8 with me as well, but for 90% of my shots, I ended up using the 21mm, always between f1.4 and f2.8. I had to keep the aperture fast to blur out the cage mesh as much as possible as it just became too distracting otherwise. The ISO had to be kept up beween 1600-3200 for most of the shots as the viciously fast movements would blur too greatly but I engaged that simply with the Auto ISO setting. Subsequently my shutter speeds for the fights were usually 1/250 – 1/500. Thankfully the lighting at the octagon was great, allowing these photos to really shine.

Due to the Samyang 21mm lens being manual focus, I also had no problems with the battery life at all, only needing 1 and 1/3 for the whole evening. The other photographers were looking at me oddly trying to identify my camera and seemingly wondering what I was doing with such a small camera. Probably doesn’t help that I have duct tape over all of the logos and writing on it.
The great thing about the 21mm focal length though was that in the cramped locker room it was the perfect FOV to be physically in the middle of all the action yet still wide enough to capture everything well enough. The f1.4 aperture also came in very handy for some background blur and light gathering. For the fights itself, I prefer to have the wider view of the whole fight instead of the extreme close ups so again it was the perfect focal length for me.

I have to say that everyone who owns a Fuji or Sony APS-C camera should definitely check out this lens.

All the best!

Jannik
www.savethejourney.com
www.facebook.com/savethejourney
www.instagram.com/savethejourney

10 Comments

  1. Wow! These are awesome images. Feels like I was there watching it too. I am new to photography and images like these inspires me to get better at it. I have the Xe2s, which is essentially the same as the Xe2, but can never seem to get this quality and pop from my pictures. What do you usually add in post to make them look this good? filters, presets, etc. Thanks!

  2. Really excellent work. Some of the best I’ve seen posted on this site. Not sure why you’ve taped over the Fuji logo though. You don’t really think thieves are reading logos before electronic items do you? Not to mention the fact that Fuji isn’t considered a luxury brand anyway. But no matter I suppose, you know what you are doing with a camera, tape or no tape 😉

    • Hey John, Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it! The taping is not at all meant as a theft prevention, I live in Ireland, we do not really need to worry about those kind of things, it’s just a personal preference. I like having this black, unobtrusive “brick” to photograph with. And I generally just dislike logos; on my laptop, on my clothing etc.

  3. Great shots! Not in combat sports myself either, but I think you managed to show all the aspects of the evening well.

    I really love the first B&W shot (lonely fighter in preparation I guess?).

    • Thanks a lot! Yeah, the fighter was in preparation, just minutes away from his fight. This was him focusing and getting into the zone, and loosening up.

  4. Excellent article! Quick question: does the X-E2 have some form of focus assist when using a manual focus lens?

    One more thing: if you registered the names and other data of fighters, you could easily turn this article into a magazine/paper publishable photojournalistic aricle!

    • Hey Ivan, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Yes, the X-E2 has several focus assist options, I predominantly use the focus peaking, but only use it half of the time as sometimes it can be more distracting rather than helpful.
      Yeah, I’m busy talking to some publications, let see what happens!

  5. I’m not into combat sports, but I enjoyed the article. So you did your job pretty well. 🙂

    In the back of my mind I noted that others would expect you to be using a DSLR. Well, a few years ago, that would be fair. So when you wrote, “the other photographers were looking at me oddly,” I had to smile a little bit.

    I suspect that some people want to be seen with the biggest camera possible simply because camera size confers professionality. Changing from film to digital did not change this dynamic, but the change from DSLR to CSC (mirrorless) definitely will. I, for one, welcome our new CSC overlords.

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