Taking Souls & Digging Holes

"Weighing in at 320lbs, from Death Valley, I give you, The Undertaker!"  As Ted DiBiase's famous laugh filled the arena, the soon to be famous funeral dirge began to play as a new character to the WWF, led by his manager Brother Love, slowly walked to the ring. I don't think that anyone knew it then, but that character would endure for almost 31 years.  And now, I feel old.  I was but 15 at the time and only got to see the debut through syndicated show recaps before the 1990 Survivor Series would eventually be released on video tape.  It was the tag team of Demolition and the cold demeanor of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts that first began to lead me down to the dark side of wrestling fandom, but it was The Undertaker that sealed the deal.  One year later he defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship and a few months after that led to a face turn that ended up leading The Undertaker to wrestling immortality.  He announced his retirement shortly after WrestleMania last year and is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, making him the ideal choice for the WrestleMania Figure Photo here on The Old Blog as part of WrestleMania weekend.  This is a Series 1 Jakks Pacific Undertaker from their Classic Superstars Series.  I took the first photograph at f/11, 1/30sec, ISO 100 at 28mm and the second photograph was taken at f/7.1, 1/60sec, ISO 100 at 28mm.  I placed my figure on a table and used a flashlight to achieve the look of a spotlight coming down from above.  I tried to choose a familiar pose and also placed the World Title belt that the came with the action figure in his hand so that it could be seen as well.  I also used a black towel under the action figure to hide the toilet paper roll that I had folded up in order that The Undertaker would hold that pose and also used the back of a leather chair to create the dark background.  The ideal look for The Lord of Darkness.  The slower shutter speeds and low lighting meant that a tripod was also necessary.  An awful lot of time spent to photograph as action figure.  Luckily, I am always looking for an excuse to play with my toys.  With that, it's now time to sit back, relax and enjoy WrestleMania Weekend.  I suggest you do the same, or you might rest in peace.