BTS: Usyk vs Witherspoon - Photos by Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing - 10/12/19

October 13, 2019

I want to mention that no matter the size of the room, big or small, creativity is of the utmost importance because you don't always want to shoot the same exact shot covering behind the scenes. Yes, with big rooms you have more room to work with but that doesn't mean the background will always be clean. A couple of examples. Although large, the locker room Anthony Sims Jr. is in has at least 3 other boxers and their teams in it. So to get the shot of him wrapping his hands I shot through a collapsable chair. To get the photo of Chazz Witherspoon stretching before his bout I went underneath a large table to get that clean background. Sometimes there really is just no room so you shoot what you need, but you've always got to try. The lighting was a little tricky on this one so you'll find a note a little ways down about it.

Photos taken on Saturday, October 12, 2019 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.

Jenna Thompson

Summer Lynn's pro debut

Summer Lynn with coach Rick Ramos

DAZN's Claudio Trejos interviews Summer Lynn after Lynn won her pro debut by UD.

Otha Jones III

Arthur "The Chechen Wolf" Biyarslanov

Lighting in locker rooms isn't always the best or easiest to work with. I took the below photo with my iPhone X to show you what I was working on this particular night. Yes, you're seeing correctly. The lights are covered by either a blue or yellow tint. Now I could combat it by using my flash, but as I previously posted I hate being any kind of a distraction as boxers prepare so I only use it when I absolutely have to. Another way to combat the issue is to turn the photo black and white. While I don't prefer to do it, it definitely helps in this type of a situation. To see how the photographs were coming out without a black and white filter check out TJ Doheny's photo of him getting his hand wrapped.