This weekend saw the graduation bout for the new "freshies" at Van Diemen Rollers. This means that they are competent enough with their skills to play in a bout with all the hits and shouldn't get hurt (well to much).

I have photographed these bouts for a couple of years now and took the opportunity to do something totally different than I normal do. Firstly I used zones with my strobes. This basically meant that I could turn them on and off in different areas and change their output level as well. Secondly, instead of documenting the bout, I took time to look for particular shots. Lastly while I didn't really think about it during the bout I knew that I really wanted to try just doing a black and white bout.

I have this love of really contrasty black and whites, the punch they deliver visually can be amazing. While I don't suggest this is always the way to go, in this case it was what I really wanted to do. The only images in colour are the team group shoots.

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