Wham! Ouch.

Well the hole in my eardrum hasn't healed yet, it turns out. And practicing Kendo last week was a mistake. So I sat out the Mori Hai Tournament today and took pictures instead.

The Mori Hai tournament is in commemoration of the late Torao Mori-sensei, the man who pretty much is the father of Kendo in Southern California. He was also the head sensei at my Kendo dojo. Strangely enough, he was also my naginata-sensei's instructor in the U.S. It's funny because I'm training directly under two of his few remaining students. It's as if his teachings branch out then start to combine with me. That's assuming I'm not too thickheaded to take it in, of course.

But yeah, on to the pictures. I am somewhat proud of these. Oh, and if you're shooting with a pro lens, people instantly get out of your way.

Getting whacked on the head...


Awkward position...


This girl's from my dojo. She got 3rd in her division I think...


In the middle of a match, one of the shinpan passed out. Still not sure what happened. Dehydration? Stroke? Hopefully nothing too serious...


I just like this one. I'm becoming a fan of focusing on something in the background rather than the foreground.


My favorite of the day. The guy on the right is Park-sensei. What a beast.


Well that was fun. But I'm not all that big on action shots. For one, I'm a bit slow and have trouble with the timing. Two, I'm sort of an artsy fartsy guy. I think.

Philm

Just a little mini update.

My faithful negative folder has finally given in to wear-and-tear. I have since had to create a new one. But I guess it was fortunate, seeing as it forced me to go through my negatives for the first time in a long time. I have a lot of stuff I want to print in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here's some that I took at a rank examination for Kendo last fall. I took my test (and passed), ran to my equipment bag, took out my Nikon, and shot a roll of Neopan to kill some time. I was quite happy with the results.


Any dust spots are from the scanner bed. The actual print's more or less spotless.


Ahhh...there's nothing quite like film. Digital's convenient, but there's a certain quality to black and white film that a photoshopped digital file lacks.