U.S. Heavyweight Sumo Wrestling Champion Dan Kalbfleisch
Sumo Dan is U.S. Heavyweight Sumo Wrestler Dan Kalbfleisch of Burbank, Calif. I met him while shooting a sumo wrestling tournament at Venice Beach a few months back and tucked his name away as someone whose portrait I’d like to shoot someday. I finally got around to asking him a couple weeks ago and he invited me to come out to the “Dohyo of Dreams” the following weekend for a tournament they were having in a guy’s back yard in Garden Grove. He also invited me to stick around and shoot the tournament. Excellent timing! I gladly took him up on the offer and drove down to the D.O.D. with Erinn the following Saturday so we could work together on a story about the tournament. I’m behind on editing the tournament shots, but will post them and a better description of the event when I finish my edit. For now though, here’s Dan in front of a garage decorated with a big white sign that reads “Dohyo of Dreams” and a bunch of smaller signs with the names of previous year’s tournament winners posted along the top.
