Out Back | 04:45AM Feb 26, 2008
The title of this shot is the only direction that Ryan and I received when we asked the location of the Portland Boxing Club. When we arrive, “out back,” we were greeted with this decrepit brick building. If it hadn’t been for the bold red smoke stack emblazoned with chipping paint, spelling out ‘boxing,’ we would have thought we had made a wrong turn.
This building, straight out of Rocky, is home to the Portland Boxing Club. The men and women who work out here on a daily basis must survive the grueling work out as well as frigid temperatures, the cracked concrete floor, and nearly constant icy drafts. Though, as club owner and trainer Bob Russo said, this building only helps to make them harder.
These guys and girls train day in and day out not for six-pack abs, or to loose their holiday gut, but to survive their next bout. They aren’t yuppies packing themselves by the hundreds into cliché fitness centers. They are athletes, athletes competing in the original extreme sport. A sport where blood still mixes with sweat, and those brave enough to enter the ring whether they leave victorious or not, deserve the utmost respect.
I will continue with more boxing tomorrow. However, in the meantime I have a few updates for all of you. As some of you may know, in the past I have contributed tutorials to Photoshop User Magazine. A few weeks ago, I was asked to contribute a few more to Layers Magazine online, to check out these tutorials head on over to LayersMagazine.com or click HERE and HERE.
Also, as a special treat I have included a video with today’s post. I am in the process of getting into video Photoshop tutorials and that being the case I am messing around with some pretty cool new software. So, if you are interested in seeing just how today’s image came to be, click HERE.
