Wushu Photography at the 11th All China Games

During the recent 11th All China Games in Binzhou, Shandong, China I changed my focus a bit from my usual activity.  Typically I spend the time filming the event for friends and wushu fans on the net.  And while I did take some videos (you can see them on my youtube channel at youtube.com/wushuzilla or my upcoming youku.com channel) this time around I focused on figuring out effective ways of taking wushu photography.  Specifically figuring out how to effectively capture the emotion of wushu.

A lot of people usually take pictures of athletes during their nandu (difficulty movements) in the hopes of getting the essence of their jumping techniques.  These are neat to look at mainly because, if you capture the athlete at the right moment, you end up seeing some pretty interesting mid-air poses.  Here are a few examples from the photographs I took:

The second way that a lot of people take wushu photographs is to capture the pauses and poses during an athlete’s form.  Showcasing their rock-solid basics or their ability to showcase years of training.  These are really nice to look at and, frankly, much easier to take, as they don’t rely on split-second timing and you can usually get a few good shots off each time an athlete pauses during their form.  Here are a few of this type of pictures that I took:

But the truth is, I think that the best photographs are of the subtle moments and motions that show the heart of the athlete.  Images that show the focus and intention on their face.  Or images that display the grace of their technique.  These are the ones that I think are the most interesting.

Here are a few photographs that I took that are leaning towards this area.  And while I am far from proficient at this type of photography, I think I am starting to slowly get the hang of it.  It is definitely the hardest type of photography to do …

i like how liu xiao lei is so focused before she competes

it almost feels like physical music

you can see the look of anticipation on her face

such focus in his eyes

great intensity

the look on her face is soooo intense

ruhi took this one, so i can’t take credit.  but i like it.

i like the anticipation in this shot.  they are all about to put 4 years of work on the line.

i like that some of them are smiling and laughing.

I’ve started a “wushu” photo gallery on my alivenotdead.com profile page.  You can also see ALL of the photographs from this event in my picasaweb gallery.

If you have any thoughts or like any of these photos let me know!