Japanese Kyu Do Archery

 

Click to See the Series (Five Shots)

Panasonic DMC-G1

 

Here are the individual shots in order:

 

Kyu Do, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Pana-Leica Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Lens

 

I was recently going through old images, looking for something I could share at the Glen Echo Photoworks monthly critique. I came across these five images of a Japanese Kyu Do master, which I took in Japan a couple of years back.

 

The exposure for these was really rough, since the archer was in shade, and the target area was in bright sunlight. This time, I decided to stop fighting the high contrast, and go ahead and push it. In post-processing, using SilverEfex Pro, I chose a "Noir" style. It's stark, very strong contrast, but I like it.

 

The critique was pretty, well, critical. Most people who saw the five prints did not pick up that it was a series. Some didn't even see it as archery, one person saying they thought he was holding a fishing pole. This is one of thos examples where my own experience of being there influenced how I feel about the images. To me, it's quite obvious; not to anyone else, apparently. I can even see the arrow in flight (white streak in the fourth image); no one else saw it.

 

So, this is why we have critiques. Not to see if people "like" our work or not, but do they get it? In this case, no. So, I'll keep working on it.

 

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