I have been practicing kendo for several years, and it has been a big part of my life. When I photograph it, I often have a conflicting view: as a photographer, I want to create an artistic expression of what I see – an image that would be appealing to any person, even someone who does not know much about kendo. As a kendoka, I want to document the technical aspects of the match (shiai) or practice (keiko).
The latter, documentary approach is relatively straightforward as far as photography is concerned. The image needs to be technically acceptable (i.e. reasonably sharp and correctly exposed) and it needs to show both opponents. Ideally, the photo would also capture a critical point in a particular kendo technique (wasa), such a moment when one kendoka’s bamboo sword (shinai) connects with the target area of the opponent’s armour (bogu). There are other stages of a wasa that are equally important, but for some reason, as someone who practices kendo, I am looking for the moment of the strike (datotsu) in a photograph. I also would like to see the distance between the opponents (ma-ai), positions of their feet and hands, and to have a sense of balance and timing in their technique.
The problem is that photographs like that, which are good reference material for kendo practice, are often not particularly artistic or even visually appealing. It is difficult to define what makes an exceptional image. Recently, I heard somewhere a formula for a great photo (by Robert Capa?), which, being an analytical person, I really like. Here it is:
A great photo must possess at least two of the following three components:
- Motion
- Emotion
- Some other aspect being extraordinary (e.g. colour, lighting, pattern, composition, famous subject, etc.)
For kendo photos, the first aspect, motion, is relatively easy to achieve – after all, the action is very fast and explosive. Capturing emotion is a bit more difficult. Being a martial art (budo) and not a sport, there are no celebrations of victory after matches in kendo. During the matches, the face masks (men) obscure the facial expressions of the opponents. I try to convey the emotion of the opponents by zooming in close on their faces or by focussing on the emotion conveyed by their body language.
Generally, when shooting kendo, I find myself alternating between the “artistic photo” mode and the “technical kendo” mode.
In terms of gear, I use a professional DSLR (Canon EOS-1D X
