JAMES MUSSELWHITE
01 THE ONE TO BEAT
Women’s champion Toni Storm gives an intimidating look after another inspiring tournament victory
Lens Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Exposure 1/160 sec, f/9, ISO500
WHEN I speak to James Musselwhite, he is in the middle of a picture edit, but the subject is completely different to what I was expecting. “I’m just ploughing through some nursery images,” he says. “We photographed a children’s nursery recently, took some photos of some toddlers and now I’m photoshopping snot and dribble. How glamorous,” he laughs. Working from his home in Portsmouth, James has found plenty of glamour in the world of professional wrestling. Here, theatrical and costumed posturing meets rehearsed thuggery by six-packed personas for whom the ring is the stage. With names like Jimmy Havoc, Chuck Mambo, Toni Storm and Flash Morgan Webster, this world is as far removed from children’s nurseries as it’s possible to find. Then again, maybe the temper tantrums are comparable…
Photographing children’s nurseries must be quite a contrast to the wrestlers?
That’s constantly been a problem. Because the wrestling is exciting and I get lots of travel and cool things with it, but ultimately the stuff that pays the bills is very different. People who know me as a children’s photographer have seen the success of the Portrait of a Wrestler project and think, ‘Obviously, you’re not going to shoot my baby, or our family portrait now,’ and I go, ‘No! Definitely I will.’
Wrestling is the greatest improvised art form going. It’s just two people telling a story in the ring
Do you think they find the subject matter off-putting?
No, I
