The NY Botanical Garden recently had a Japanese crysanthemum show. In conjunction, there were a bunch of different Japanese cultural events; Japanese folk dancing, samisen and shakuhachi concerts and the like. I was lucky enough to be at the Gardens when they gave a show of Japanese katana (sword) techniques, but in sword fighting and sword dancing. I took a whole bunch of photos, unfortunately many didn't come out as well as I would have liked. The low angle backlighting played havoc with both exposure and focus. However I did get a few good shots.
Most are taken with the Tamron 28-75 F2.8mm











More can be found here:
saltwater : photos : Sword Forms?- powered by SmugMug

One note; I'm also a big fan of sci fi and fantasy. One of my favorite series of books is Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time". In that series, he describes the sword fights that happen with colorful names for different sword forms. ie: "Boar Rushes Down the Mountain was countered with River Undercuts the Bank" I decided to caption my shots with more modern sword form descriptions and invited members of a Wheel of Time forum I belong to, to add their own comments.

NaCl( "Boar Rushes Down the Mountain" does nothing for me but "Hailing a Cab in the Rain" does)H2O

[Marc Langille]

That is a tough lighting situation Peter. Very nice captures! I too enjoy reading that genre, although not much of late. I think I stopped around #9... ? Hmmm...

Was that guy's orange colored top that bright?? Wow, he'll get a cab any day!

[Ash]

Wow, they've got passion...

[pete_pf]

that looks like fun, saying that, i guess your images did there job :P

that black chick with the fro is hot

[Sailor]

Hey Buddy - it's great to see some of your stuff again! And this stuff is pretty great.

I'm looking forward to more.

Jer

Very fannish, but I love it. Truly excellent shots, Super!!!!

[nupentaxian]

great sword action shots...

[gawan]

Wow, Salty, these a some great photos, I love the postures and the movement they express, in every picture you can sense the discipline and the movement language of the Japanese art of the sword, at least as far I can see it. You have captured always the right moment!

[mel]

Love 'em. As someone who studied martial arts for many years I think these are great. I believe it's usually the Chinese styles that give the forms the long colorful names. I could be wrong though. Nice series. Thanks for posting them.

[cupic]

I always like the look of the Katana ,as in the sharpness and the beauty of craftmanship


Thanks for sharing


cheers

[JMR]

Great series. Love the back and sidelighting, especially around their heads. Brings them to life.

JMR

[jamonation]

It's the flying hair on the 4th that really grabs my attention for some reason. I guess it either implies wind or a sudden movement backwards. Either way, fun stuff.

[roentarre]

This is a great series. So interesting to see these expression and energy from the battle out.

[NaClH2O]

Thanks everybody for your nice words. I had a ball shooting these, I just wish more came out, there were a fair number of blurred faces. What I was trying to do mostly (besides stopping the action) was to capture the expressions of the fighters, I was very happy when I was able to.
some specific comments:
To Marc, yes that orange shirt was bright, and the yellow shift of the late afternoon sun helped. Mid contrast was bumped up a bit too, that might have made it a smidge brighter. He and the young woman fighting with the two swords were easily the best and they dressed to stand out.
Jer--hopefully I'll be getting to spend 'normal' hours at work soon. Lately it's been 60 hr and above...I haven't even had time to indulge in LBA!
Ash--It was a very passionate performance! Full of shouts and yells and death wails! And very very quick!
Impete--All of the young ladies were 'hot' young, slim, athletic, excellent shape. Even an old geezer like me was...er...intrigued
mel---thanks for letting me know that. I know very very little about oriental sword work. Waaaayyyyyy back when I was in HS I got involved with the school fencing club and actually got moderately good with the saber, that western blade is A LOT different in both form and technique than what these athletes were demonstrating.

To everyone else who commented. Thanks! I enjoyed taking the shots, and I'm happy that enough came out to the point were the expressions/energy/concentration of the performer/athletes came thru.

NaCl(It was an unique event and I'm glad I witnessed it)H2O

[hamidlmt]

Looks pretty darn intense! My lineage is descended from Samurai... I always enjoy these arts.