Kung Fu Photography

I just took a break and watched a whole lot of Japanese Animation. It was the series called Naruto, relating to adventures of a ninja in training. I realize how much martial arts movies have influenced me from young. In real life, I am not very aggressive or macho. Some people even find me feminine.

What appeals to me in Martial Arts Movies is the ethos. How people train very hard to achieve mastery of their skill. How they go through lots of trials and obstacles to attain their skill. I like the strong moral stance that the heroes take, even if the hero is actually a gangster. There is a moral code like that mob organization does not sell drugs. Yes, and the heroes never sell out for commercial gain!

So in my mind I am training to be a Kung Fu photographer. There is a flow to a master swordsman in battle. There is a moment when all the chaos around aligns and the swordsman executes a stroke, and the photographer takes a picture. Sometimes I think of Chow Yong Fatt shooting two guns as I do a shoot with two or three cameras strung around me neck. (Just a piece of trivia, Chow Yong Fatt is an avid black and white photographer.)

Just like in many martial arts flicks, any activity is training, walking, carrying water etc. The aim is to be able to execute the perfect stroke, making something as horrific as killing an art. It is not the fascination with killing that draws me. I am actually a pacifist. But I would like to be a master of my craft, able to bring years of training and insight to bear on each photograph that I take.

I still feel that I am a beginner, taking many photographs to see what the outcome is like. Lots of training so that eventually, I will only need to take one photograph, and that will be it. :)