Shooting Boxing in Tokyo With Leica M Monochrom (typ 246)

I picked up my Leica M Mono typ246 from Samys Camera in Los Angelelas the day before my flight to Tokyo. I packed my M typ240 and M/M typ246, but left my Canons behind. I wasn't planning on shooting any boxing, at least not any fight cards and I wanted to travel light. This trip was purely pleasure and street photography, with maybe a little time in the gyms. A new friend, actually a FB friend, talked me into shooting a 13 bout fight card at Korakuen Hall. Korakuen Hall is apparently the busiest boxing venue in the world with several events a week.

I managed to get a ringside position, I paired my M/Mono 246 with my 50mm Summicron (this would be my main camera) and my M240 with my 90mm Elmarit (rarely time to change cameras, but just in case).

I shot over 90% of the bouts with the M/M 246 and here are some of the images. Keep in mind I follow focus (no preset on focus), only the shutter speed and aperture are preset.

13 bouts, one image from each contest.

Sakuma/*Shiratori

Iyama/*Igarashi

*Ishizawa/Takase 

*Higashi/Kouzu

Aoki/*Hanawa (yes even female fighters)

*Kaneko/Kawa

*Kishi/Onishi

Kanazawa/*Sakata

*Takeda/Ida

*Kuura/Morooka

*Itimura/Yokoyama

Yamazaki/*Ishi

*Ishikawa/Arioka

Manny thanks to Hiro Watanabe for talking me into this, and the staff at Korakuen Hall for being som accommodating!

As always, all images are copyright Peter Politanoff / RedStarImage, and may not be reproduced without explicit consent. You are more than welcome however to link to this site.

It's Time To Walk

Years of training, 6-8 weeks of camp & intense preparation to time the athlete's performance so he will peak for this moment in his career. Then, it's a 2 hour wait. Check in time is 2 hours before his scheduled fight time.

After the urine test and quick exam by the Commission Physician, the referee Tom Taylor gives the fighter instructions.

The ring announcer stops by checking for proper pronunciation, and a little small talk.

Then the wait starts, fellow fighters stop by for support. Some times the fighter has a scheduled fight time, usually when the fights are telecast. Other times it is as quickly as the previous bouts end.

Tonight boxing great Bernard Hopkins stopped in to encourage the fighter. 

This evening Super Middleweight Jason Quigley 6-0-0 had a scheduled fight time.

About 35 minutes before the bout Coach & Trainer Manuel Robles starts to wrap Jason's hands. The process which ensures that the fighters hands are well padded and protected for the punishment they are going to be inflicting on the opponent.

Jason's all set!

All aspects of the fighters preparations are carefully monitored by State Athletic Commission officials. Once the hands are wrapped an official signs and marks the wrapping to ensure the integrity of the fight.

Once wrapped the fighter is turned over to the conditioning coach. The fighter up first warmed up and then stretched 

Then the final prep begins, the fighter dresses. First the protective cup then his trunks.

Next come the gloves, again under the watchful eye of the officials. Laced by the coach and tapped by the official. Everything done by the book.

The final warm up, on the mitts, while coaches and manager look on. Just enough for the fighter to be sharp when he enters the ring.

The official announces   " It is time to walk " ,  in that last moment - the complete trust of the fighter with his coach.

All of that for this result. Jason Quigley improves to 7-0-0 in a second round KO of his opponent. In 7 bouts Jason has only fought for 12 rounds, all of his 7 victories coming by way of KO.

All images except the last 2 were shot with Leica M (240) ISO 2000 w/ 35mm Summicron lens.

As always all images are copyright Peter Politanoff / RedStarImage and may not be reproduced without explicit consent.

Special thanks to  Sheer Sports Management, Team Quigley, Jason Quigley, Ken Sheer, Rachel Charles, Manuel Robles and GoldenBoy Promotions

Ringside With Leica M (240)

Leica is not the camera of choice for sports photography. Manual focus, no continuous shooting to speak of (certainly not the 12 fps of my Canon 1DX), ISO challenged, slow processing, and manual aperture settings as well.
So when I shoot boxing why take it along? Aside from the 'ringside candids' how is it useful. Well for those who remember film, and going even further back the pre auto focus and even pre zoom lens days, how were sports shot then, boxing in particular. Single shots, manual film advance, manual focus, manual light level readings and aperture settings. Granted the type of results in general were not on a par with those achievable today. However there are some iconic images, Neil Leifer's Ali/Liston to name just one.
So last Saturday night I decided to try an experiment, or was it to prove a point! When I shoot with my Canons as a rule I invariably take light level readings, I use a gray card to set my white balance (custom white balance) and set my cameras to manual mode, set my aperture and shutter speed. No auto ISO, no aperture priority, no shutter priority, with the exception of AI servo and 12fps all other settings are fixed manually. and remain constant while shooting the action in the ring. So setting up my Leica would be no different - the only real challenge is the focus (especially since I like to shoot a narrow DOF) since the fighters are continually moving. At various times during the bouts I put my Canon's down, and shot with my Leica M (240) w/ 50mm Summicron - 1/500 @  f/4 (ISO 2500). Granted this is not the first time I have shot boxing with the M, but those situations were usually in the gym when the fighters were training. This was however the first time where the results mattered.

Here are some of the images, starting with a few ringside candids and then shooting the action:

Referee Jack Reiss

One of the Tecate 'RingGirls'

Fellow ringside photog Top Rank's own Mikey Williams

The ringside timer

Now for the action shots!

Focus, timing and anticipation!

The other Tecate RingGirl

End of the night, this shot in comparison was a piece of cake!

As always all images are   Copyright Peter Politanoff / RedStarImage  and may not be reproduced without explicit written consent. You are more than welcome however to link to this site.

One Last Kiss Goodbye

            I had just finished working on an some images I had shot. Usually they are in black and white, this time they were color, a selection of landscapes.  I had spent the entire morning editing photos, now it was well past lunch and time to take a break.

            My office was across the street from my home. I rushed across, for some reason there was a sense of urgency. The street was empty, no pedestrians and no traffic. The buildings were all pale lacking character and definition. My building was a warm ochre and directly across from my office.

            I went inside the building and remembered I had to climb a staircase. There still was this sense of urgency. I lived on the third and fourth floors. Thought to myself I need to find a way to combine those two floors to make life easier. Tried jumping from landing to landing, but it was futile, I simply was not athletic enough. I climbed the three flights.

            I entered the apartment, architecturally Moroccan in flavor, bright and sunny, colors were all soft warm earth tones. I paid little attention to any anything else. As I walked into the room I noticed Evelyne approaching me. I was a bit surprised, hadn’t expected to see her and I seemed to catch her off guard. More beautiful than I had ever seen her, her lips were a bright red and she was wearing a full length caftan dress. The dress was white with elaborate embroidery, soft round knotted buttons and a gold on gold stripe about an inch and a half wide running down the length of the dress on either side. Evelyne was very happy, and dancing around modeled the dress for me and said;  "you've been throwing away so many of my clothes, I decided to keep this to wear around the house, even if I get it dirty and worn it won’t matter "

She walked up to me and put her arms around my neck and gently kissed me on the lips. Something she hadn’t done in a very long time. I held her, kissed her back softly. Then she said;

“I have to take my shower now and get ready” .

That is something she always said to me when I was getting in the way of her daily routine. She walked away and I started to choke up!

          At that point I woke from my dream in a cold sweat and sobbing. Evelyne had been dead for 10 months now and this is the first time she was in my dreams.

        We had never gotten the opportunity to say goodbye. Evelyne died sooner than she was supposed to, the Dr said she would last at least another 4 weeks. She died the next day. That last morning of her life I told her I loved her and she responded with the same, then she slipped into the coma. I was too busy texting and talking to the nurses, trying to find out what to do next than to even think about sharing final thoughts, and to thank her for the wonderful life we had together. She passed away quietly a few hours later.

I never got to hold her in my arms again. Perhaps this dream was that final goodbye. Radiant, happy and more beautiful than ever............. she gave me the final kiss and said goodbye!!

I wrote this about 2 months ago but wanted to publish it close to the anniversary of her passing,  perhaps as my final goodbye to her as well!

All words and images are  ©Peter Politanoff 2015, and may not be reproduced without explicit (written) consent. You are more than welcome however to link to this site.

Golovkin vs Monroe : The Knock Downs

In a fight scheduled for 12 rounds, Gennady Golovkin completely dominated Willie Monroe Jr. Here are Golovkin's three knock downs of Monroe, the third ending the contest in the 6th. I was shooting from the stratosphere for this event, so I will just concentrate on the KD's.

Round 1 started strong for Glolovkin 

Round 2 - Monroe is knocked down twice.

The end comes in the 6th round, here is the shot that ended Willie Monroe's evening.

As always, all images are copyright Peter Politanoff / RedStarImage and may not be reproduced without explicit consent. You are more than welcome however to link to this page.

Revisiting - Stocking Stuffers: A Chemo Christmas Story

I originally published this story in 2012, Eve had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer, it had already spread to many parts of her body including the cervical spine. We were not sure how long she would last, we were hoping until Christmas at least. Well she fought, and fought hard. Not only did she make it to Christmas 2012, but she also made it to Christmas 2013. Eve lost her battle with cancer this past May. After 21 months strait of chemo therapy. So this is the first Christmas we will spend without her. I thought I would repost this story as a tribute to her strength and courage, and for all those battling cancer now.


The house had been decorated for Christmas, but decidedly less then the years preceding  There were garlands on the beams, with large red ornaments hanging equally spaced. Holly branches on the table surrounding the antique wooden religious statues. The fireplace equally ornate replete with the large Father Christmas center of the mantle, our signature decor. 

In addition 2 mismatched stockings, usually filled with trinkets and assorted items, hung empty. This holiday season had been spent on doctors appointments, lab tests, chemo treatments, radiation therapy, and more lab tests. There was little time, energy or even thoughts about those empty stockings.

Besides the variety of foods, drinks and sweets that one associates with Christmas, the one thing she enjoyed most at this time of the year was filling those stockings. Filing them with little things, that had very large meanings.


“After lunch I’d like you to take me to the mall, I need to buy some stocking stuffers for the kids” she said.
Don’t you think it might be a little to taxing for you?
“No” she said, “I know exactly what I want and I can do it rather quickly”
OK, we will go after lunch although I think the morning would be better, it gets very crowded this close to Christmas. But yes I will take you.
She took about 6 or 7 steps and sat down in the club chair.
“You know I just can’t, I don’t have the energy” she said with a look of resignation and defeat. Her eyes swelled ever so slightly, as if she were going to cry - but she didn’t.
(There are times I wish she would cry instead of holding it all back)
The kids will understand, they know what you’ve been going through.
“Yes but, the stockings are empty” she said
Wait I have an idea, I have to drive by the mall anyways today. Why don’t you tell me what you want and I’ll get them
“That’s a good idea, I’ll go online and send you the links - it’s all from one store anyways” she said, with a new found energy.

Those stockings may have only one item each inside, but more importantly they are filled with all the love that is in her heart.

Merry Christmas !!!


Not only did we lose Eve this year but her dog died a few weeks ago as well. The house is truly quiet and cold now, all of the energy is gone. Amongst the few items I have kept of Eve's was her red Burberry rain coat - she always wore it walking the dog. I have hung it up on a peg as a reminder of her joy of life and her love of her dog, who besides her children and myself brought her much comfort in her final days. 

With all of our hearts and all of our love what else is there left to say!

This story, words and images are copyright Peter Politanoff, may not be reproduced without explicit permission. Although you may share by posting a link to it.