Post-Fight Stitches, a photo from Bukidnon, Northen Mindanao

Photographer's Note

This is part of a series of pictures of my stay in Miarayon, Bukidnon, Mindanao with the Tala-andig people: Miarayon and the Tala-andig

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This is a winning rooster.

He suffered from major gashes on to his legs revealing alot of muscle. To tell you the truth he looked like a store chicken more than a live one. You could see under the skin right down the thigh. In this photo he's being cut open furthur with scissors so as to be cleaned up then stitched up with everyday thread.

Cock-fighting in the Philippines is a blood sport. The loser does not fight again. And "winners" like this one, are often near death and don't fight again for months.

You see, it isn't just mano-a-mano, bare claw battling. Little (5-7cm) knives are tied to their claws before each fight so as to maximise the damage done.

As I was told by one of the village datus, "you know 'lex, we don't have much here, so we find our joy where we can."

* * *

I will also post a BW version as a WS.

Isabelle, Suh, eleparc, verge trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

Isabelle (9046) 2005-04-24 21:57

Alex, long time, miss you, and i know you brought fantastic photos!
Cock-fighting is no longer legal here, but here and there we heard of people being arrested cos of it.
too cruel for my taste, but i admire your interest in showing us the remains of the winner :)
as an image i can say its dof is superb, as well as the colors. yes, it´s an excellent photo and the note is quite informative too!

Suh (10) 2005-04-24 22:47 [Comment]

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tongapup (0) 2005-04-24 23:44

Wooowww, I'm so glad you chose colour for this one. I love this photo. The blood on his hands, the composition, the colours -- your colour processing is amazing these days... I guess some skills and some new RAW data can do that... I really like the little blue details that are (I guess) the designs on the man's shirt.

I went to a cock fight when I was living in Puerto Rico, not to watch the fights (in fact, I was working for the humane society there at that time, so I was not supposed to be seen at the fights) but to see the spectacle of it. All these men (and pretty much only men) were whipped into a frenzy, beating the sides of the ring to make noises to enervate the roosters and make 'em scrappy. The cocks just kind of scuffled around... not much to see, but the men were really into it because they had bet all kinds of money on the cocks. It was sad and kind of awful.

After the fight I saw one man resusitating his fighter by putting its whole head in his mouth and blowing. He was really concerned that it should live so that he could put it through another round of hell.

mnphoto (224) 2005-04-25 0:50

Brutal portrait of mankinds stupidty

Nols (69) 2005-04-25 1:37

Look at this cock's face! Even though you know he's feeling the pain, his face remains stoic and calm. Your framing of this photo is just perfect. Although, when I look at it I have to keep my eye on the cock's head because otherwise, my eyes keep trying force a focus on everything. I think this is a better shot of "The Feathered Gladiator".

eleparc (24063) 2005-04-25 1:54

excellent interesting note alex! and a great compo emphasizing on the rooster as it should be! the man in the BG sets the context and the overall shot is a winning one! great work!
Eric

sohrab (7439) 2005-04-25 3:16

very nicely framed alex.
a good journalistic shot..
to me, it shows this man's high degree of concern for his property/investment
you're getting very good..
but i hope you're getting a whole body of work.. if you ever plan on using them for anything like an exhibition or antyhing else..
getting single photographs is decent.. but i think a meaningful body of work will be more helpful. at the moment you could put all these photographs in a theme on the lines of "searching for your roots"
because you've been travelling and exploring the land, the people, the tradition , the culture blah blah blah...
i don't see anything more specific right now..
or yeah "village people of phillipines"???? but maybe you could find something deeper than that?
how much longer are you in phillipines for?
take care :)

gaby (19819) 2005-04-25 5:17

Hi Alex,
Incredible shot - I like the sharpness of the cock and the blur of the background - it's very nice -
Thanks
Gaby

verge (1242) 2005-04-25 6:46

very good DOF and color. I didn't know there are cock fighter sergeon hehe. well captured. I like it very much specially the blurr blood on the surgeons hands not so shocking at all.....rgds

gringofil (0) 2005-04-25 7:12

This is just excellent, Alex. I also like the color version much more as the colors themselves are quite muted and don't overpower the subject and composition, but work together to produce one outstanding image. Your composition and depth are just perfect...I like how we get to see a glimpse of the man in the background and the cock right against the lower right hand edge. It can't get better than this. Just excellent, Alex.

Homerhomer (4080) 2005-04-25 8:57

Ok, I am taking an animal person hat off and will try to concentrate objectively on the image without any emotions attached.

Personally I think that the image would work very well as a part of the series where you have some shots of the training, preparation, fight, dead animals and gamblers loosing their shirt off, as a stand alone image, delete the note and see how many people will know that this is a fight and not a cock being prepared for religious ceremony, fancy meal or bitten by a dog?

The image works much better in colour, dof and composition with the framing is very good.

Peter

Paker (2650) 2005-04-26 13:42

a winner composition!
I just wish the rooster was a little bit more in focus.
great photo.
regards,
KRzysztof

jcandeli (40) 2005-04-30 8:53

Amazing use of DOF here. Such a small part in focus but the mood is all there. Love it! JP

panasonic (73) 2005-10-03 9:09

Thanks for recording reality. The focus is obviously on the rooster. I assume this purpose of this photo is to provoke... I am in the camp of opposing using animals for this kind of selfish pleasure. I hope nobody is offended by my comment.