An Iconic picture

Of all the pictures I took at the last karate competition, one impacted me the most.

 

But why? 

This picture has a powerful visual impact because of the way it captures intensity, focus, and presence in a single frame.

• Expression & Emotion: The young martial artist’s face is locked in concentration and determination. His gaze is sharp and unwavering, which immediately draws the viewer in. That expression gives the photo emotional weight—it’s not just a boy in uniform, it’s a competitor embodying strength and resolve.

• Body Language: The stance is strong and commanding. Holding the bo staff with confidence, his posture communicates readiness and discipline. It tells a story of practice, respect, and the seriousness of the moment.

• Contrast & Setting: Against the softer, blurred background of spectators and the hotel conference setting, he stands out crisply in his white gi and hakama. That separation enhances the sense of focus—not just his, but ours as viewers.

• Impact on the Viewer: What makes this image impactful is that it feels iconic—a moment frozen where youth, tradition, and determination intersect. You don’t just see a karate student; you see the spirit of martial arts captured in one decisive moment.

In short: The picture is impactful because it communicates strength, discipline, and determination in a way that feels larger than the moment itself.

Karate: A Path to Strong Friendship

 

When I look at karate, I don’t just see a martial art. I see a place where friendships grow stronger than anywhere else.

In the dojo, I’ve watched people of all ages train together. At first, they’re strangers—unsure, maybe even a little nervous. But as the weeks pass, something special happens. The shared sweat, the discipline, the challenge of pushing past limits—those experiences bring people closer. Sparring partners become teammates, and teammates become friends.

What makes karate different is the respect it builds. Every bow, every handshake, every word of encouragement deepens trust. Even in sparring, where intensity is high, there’s no room for malice. Instead, there’s a bond—an understanding that we’re here to help each other grow.

I’ve seen friendships form in karate that last years. Kids who cheer for each other in tournaments, adults who encourage one another through tough times, families that come together around the dojo. These friendships aren’t casual—they’re forged through discipline, respect, and shared effort.

For me, karate is more than training or competition. It’s about the people, the friendships, and the sense of community that stays with you long after class is over. The punches and kicks may fade, but the friendships remain strong.

Last weekend was a Karate Weekend!

Last weekend I shot a Karate Event. I took more than 2000 pictures! I was using shooting bursts of 12 fps trying to capture all the most important moves of the athletes and as a result I ended with a huge amount of pictures that I'm still processing. I hate deleting pictures other than those that are not in focus, and when you shoot burst you have to delete pictures even if they are sharp, otherwise you are going to fill your backup drive really quick. 

 

I'm having a hard time choosing which ones are my favorites — I like all of them. What started as taking pictures of our grandsons quickly turned into photographing the whole team, as usual. I may have missed some of them, as many were competing at the same time — and I haven’t yet figured out how to be in two places at once!

Big thanks to Kaufmann's Karate (#kaufmannskarate) for allowing me inside the arena to capture these moments.

Note: All pictures of the event are located in these two pages:

1st: https://tinyurl.com/r3u9kdwu

2nd: https://tinyurl.com/bhe7ssxs 

 

My favorite photos from last weekend karate event

I can't be completely objective in picking my favorites from this event because our three grandsons participated—two of them for the first time. Naturally, I was observing them closely and probably paying more attention to them than to my second grandson, who is already a 'veteran' in these competitions. So, starting with my grandsons, here is the first one:

This is our oldest grandson observing another competitor's reaction. I was surprised by how calm he was throughout the entire event—he didn't seem worried or nervous at all.

Seeing our youngest grandson compete for the first time was indescribable. He performed so well that it was hard to believe it was his first time. He finished in second place in his group and proudly carried his medal everywhere.

 

The middle one, as I already mentioned, is a veteran. His Kata is getting better and better. His expression in this picture reflects how deeply he immerses himself in the role when performing his Kata.

Talking about faces, how can you forget this one?

Have you ever tried taking a group picture with a zoom lens? It's a nightmare! No way to fit all of them in one shot! Then I remembered a photographer who once told me he stitched together group photos using Lightroom’s Merge Panorama feature, so I decided to give that technique a try. The biggest challenge I encountered was that everyone in the group kept moving and looking at different cameras. I was genuinely surprised that I managed to put together the picture below.

Click to appreciate the details.

 The rest of this event pictures can be seen here.

From last weekend

Last weekend was a busy one. I took more than 800 pictures, and on Sunday, I edited them down to 463 high-quality images, which can be downloaded here. Facebook kills any picture published there. If you want any of my original pictures download it using this link. 

This last weekend I photographed a Karate event whose theme was the Terracotta Warriors from China. All the pictures from this event were taken using a Canon R6 Mark I and the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 Lens Mark II. This lens was first released by Canon in 2010, but looking at these pictures, you would never guess they were taken with a 15-year-old lens. If a lens is good, it doesn’t matter how old it is.

Why am I still using an older lens? Price. You can buy this lens for less than half of what you would pay for the latest RF version.

But a good lens alone isn’t enough to create great pictures. I spent more than 12 hours editing all the photos. First, I reviewed them all and selected the ones I wanted to edit. After that, I ran the selected pictures through DXO PureRaw to remove noise. Then I imported the cleaned images into Adobe Lightroom Classic, where the real editing process began.

Adjustments to contrast, white balance, blacks, and whites were made to achieve the final results, which you can enjoy on my Facebook page and Flickr. Pictures straight out of the camera are an unfinished product that require work to reach their full potential.

The main difference between someone simply taking pictures and a photographer is the time the latter spends on post-processing. Keep that in mind.

Here are few more pictures from this event.

Leo's Karate

Leo, our youngest grandson, is following in his brothers’ footsteps and received his second belt yesterday —Yellow. He was eager to showcase his new moves for us. Here’s a short video shot at Kaufmann's Karate.

 Today I'll be covering another event and this Saturday a big competition with our grandson Liam!

From Last Weekend

Last weekend was a long weekend with a lot of activity, I shot more than 1200 pictures starting with a Karate Event last Saturday. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the event. 

 

A funny moment!

You can see the rest of the HD pictures of this event here. There photographs were taken using the EF70-200 L f2.8, my favorite lens for this type of events. 

During Sunday and Monday I resumed my normal activities doing some wildlife photography.

These pictures were taking using the EF100-400 L, with a 1.4x.