The GRAPPLERS on film project Posted On 1st October 2024 To Magazine & Stories

The struggle for life

Black-and-white photography captures so much emotion, and nothing is more emotive than the struggle for life.  This insight led to the project GRAPPLERS ON FILM, where I use a number of vintage film cameras to capture the struggles of ordinary people training in the grappling arts of Judo, Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu.

Zenza Bronica - ILFORD XP2

Submission

For those not involved in the grappling forms of martial arts, the goal is to get a hold of your opponent and then force them to submit to you. Usually attempting to choke them out or almost breaking their limbs. The feeling of  your shoulder or knee being pressured to the point where you know a dislocation, or worse a fracture, is imminent is enough to make most submit.

Leica M3 - ILFORD XP2

A trust system

Of course, participants train with friends and colleagues, and no-one is really trying to kill or maim them. The rule for those taking part is very clear, if you feel in danger, you tap, and your training partner will immediately stop. This works on a trust system that is critical because without it, nobody could take part. But regardless of the trust involved, the emotions of this type of exercise are intense. Practitioners feel fear, panic, exhaustion and helplessness. Often all within a single 5 minute training fight.

Nikon F2 - ILFORD XP2

Gritty

I first shot these sessions digitally. With a modern digital camera, the rate of fire is incredible, able to generate thousands of photos in a single session enabling a simple curation process to find the best of them. A sports photographer colleague once told me he can shoot up to 35,000 images over a weekend of Judo, whilst publishing only a few hundred at the end. However, the perfection of digital has always bothered me, taking away from the rawest human elements. I wanted the images to reflect the gritty emotion that is happening within each individual’s personal struggle on the mat. Perfection isn’t a requirement to capture struggle, as photojournalists of the film age could attest to. Gritty, under-exposed blurred images can invoke just as many emotions as their digital cousins, but without the distractions of vivid colours and sharpness.

Nikon FE - ILFORD XP2

My Collection

I collect and use vintage film cameras, mostly without working light meters. Most commonly I’ll shoot grappling sessions with a Leica M3 coupled with an old, banged up Canon 50mm f1.4 lens, but I’ll also shoot with a Rolleiflex 2.8e, a Nikon F2 or FE, and occasionally a Pentax K1000 or MX. I’ve even ventured forth with a Zenza Bronica S2A, hoping its gunshot-like shutter doesn’t startle people too much.

Nikon FE - ILFORD XP2

The right seconds of struggle

Using ILFORD B&W 400 speed film, I take an initial light reading, choose my speed and aperture combination, and then just roam amongst the sweating people waiting for the right moments to capture. The 400 range of ILFORD films, in particular HP5+ & XP2, they are so forgiving with their fast speeds and wide exposure latitude that I can get away with not taking continual light readings. This is critical when trying to capture the right seconds of struggle, when the movements slow down just enough and the struggle starts to peak to its inevitable conclusion. Then of course there’s the candid moments afterwards, where participants regather themselves, not only physically spent, but emotionally and mentally exhausted.

Overwhelmingly Positive

I started shooting these sessions in 2023, posting the final images within private group chats. I had wondered if people would react negatively to being captured at their most vulnerable. However, the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive, even though it captured their struggle. I decided to create a public account and start publishing them as a distinct project. I have a backlog of about 1500 images ready to publish, and am shooting more every month, so the project may never actually end. But whilst the feedback remains positive, I’ll continue to look for and capture the most emotive moments I can find.

Rolleiflex28e - ILFORD Delta 400

General Photography

Ever since receiving my first 110 instamatic camera in the late 1970s, I’ve been fascinated with the capture of memories and images of daily life. I am drawn to city streets in particular, where I watch everyday people interact unconsciously with the built environment. The Rolleiflex is a perfect camera for street photography - it’s almost silent due to its in-lens leaf shutter, non-confrontational as I’m always looking down into its waist-level finder. It always breaks the ice with strangers as the old camera draws curious questions from onlookers, and because its medium format images are just so incredibly good.

Rolleiflex28e - ILFORD Delta 400

Rolleiflex28e - ILFORD Delta 400

Diversity on the street

I like to see diversity on the street and to capture the different faces and experiences of our modern cities. I hunt for people who are taking part in analogue activities - bird watching, napping, reading a newspaper - anything other than a head down looking into a phone. This can be challenging in a world dominated by smartphones, but to me that is the key to finding real people and ensuring that my shots invoke emotion in others.

Rolleiflex28 - ILFORD Delta 400

Favourite Film

I mostly shoot ILFORD HP5+ and XP2 on the street, depending on how fast I want the shots developed. I appreciate the ease of getting XP2 developed by labs with C41 capabilities, and personally love the images it can capture. On the other hand, if I’m not in a hurry, I’m happy to wait the longer development times with B&W processing so I can shoot in HP5+, or more recently my new favourite, Delta 400.

Leica M3 - ILFORD XP2

Shout Out

I have a fantastic local lab (shout out to Fotofast Taringa [link: https://www.instagram.com/fotofastfilm/] , love you guys!) that does all my development and maintains an extensive range of ILFORD film and development supplies, this means that there are always options for me to try out new film and to experiment. I'm also hoping to build my own darkroom later this year so I can develop ILFORD film at home, which will speed up the process of getting back my B&W images.

Rolleiflex28e - ILFORD HP5 plus

Images ©Sean Smith