My project with WrestlersAreWarriors.com is to share my photography with you on the web and in print. Not every shot I take tells a complete story, but once in a while there's a special shot that means a lot to me, exemplifies the mental and physical toughness it takes to compete at the highest level, or is just a great shot that I want to share. Often these photos don't make it further than my website, so I'm archiving them for the fans and athletes. Enjoy these images (and their stories) on-line and in high-resolution prints (please see the blog for those).

Cheers,
Tony

AWARDS
NWMA Photographer of the Year - Tony Rotundo, wrestlersarewarriors.com
Rotundo, who lives in Oakland, Calif., has been a photographer for five years for the award winning Tech-Fall.com website, which posts quality images from all levels of wrestling. In addition, Rotundo's pictures have appeared in national publications such as USA Wrestler, W.I.N. Magazine, Wrestling USA and Amateur Wrestling News. His work is also used by numerous Div. I wrestling programs to promote their teams. Rotundo, the son of a successful wrestling coach in upstate New York, started wrestling at the age of five. While at Clarence High School, he took sports photography of his teammates and friends for the yearbook. While attending the Univ. of Buffalo, where he was a wrestler, Rotundo also took photography classes. He moved to the West Coast and was out of both wrestling and photography for awhile. He then served four years as wrestling coach at Berkeley High School in California. It was at a high school event where he met John Sachs of Tech-Fall.com and decided to photograph wrestling once again. He has shot many of the major events including the World Championships, the Olympic Trials, the World Team Trials, the NCAA Championships and the California State High School Championships. Rotundo takes special interest in photographing college wrestling, working events such as the Big Ten and Pac-10 championships. He has a background in graphic arts, which assists in his ability to edit and process his pictures into spectacular images. Rotundo currently works as a producer for MX, which makes DVD and Blu-ray discs. He uses his vacation time to travel to wrestling events and provide quality photography to the entire wrestling community.

WAW header photo: Steve Luke, University of Michigan, 174 pound finals, Cliff Keen Invitational, 11/30/07, Las Vegas, NV. The match was a bloodbath between Luke and Keith Gavin of Pitt. Gavin, that year's eventual national champion, won on points. There were so many blood breaks, the match lasted almost 20 minutes. That one photo inspired this site.

You are welcome to the content here, but if you plan to use any photos for promotional purpose, in advertising, or other marketing vehicles you are prohibited from doing so without the express written permission of Tony Rotundo. All photos © Tony Rotundo and WrestlersAreWarriors.com.