It was graduation night at the Academy of Okinawan Karate, making this week’s Photo Friday entry subject a no-brainer.
Tonight the school’s newest black belt, Mr Jason David, was the featured graduate. He performed three times, demonstrating an empty hand kata, a kobudo (weapons) kata, and put on a board breaking demonstration.
I cranked up the ISO to help freeze the action a bit, so there’s a bit more noise in the photos than I’d otherwise like, but I feel like I’m really starting to get then hang of focusing with my 50mm prime lens and taking advantage of the available light rather than fumbling with a flash and trying to time shots.
You can find the rest of the tonight’s pics in the complete graduation set, including more pics of Mr David performing a sai kata and breaking some boards (or, more accurately, allowing a third-degree black belt to break boards on him).
About Mike Oliveri
Mike Oliveri is a writer, martial artist, cigar aficionado, motorcyclist, and family man, but not necessarily in that order. He is currently hard at work on the werewolf noir series The Pack for Evileye Books.