In a sports hall full of karatekas, I was out of place. Everyone else was dressed in a white gi, the colour of their belts and the speed of their movements giving away their skill level.
I was dressed in black. All black. And I was slow.
But still, I had the power.
Why? Because I was carrying the camera.
Even the most fearsome 5th dan black belts stepped out of my way when they heard the sharp metallic click of my shutter. There was bleeding, bruises, pain and agony, but the one person everyone was afraid of, was me. Me and my Canon.
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| You'll be collecting your teeth off the floor. |
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| Nope, too fast for you! |
This post is part of Nicky and Mike’s 30 Minus 2 Days of Writing challenge. Today’s prompt is The mayor. Go check out We Work For Cheese for a list of the other participants. *
Why is that guy covering his genitals in the second picture? Because me may or may not get hit there?
ReplyDeleteHeh, I see what you did there.
ReplyDeleteHey Ziva! So lil' ol' you put the wind up a room full of big martial artsy toughsters? Good. Everything is as it should be; they should respect the Z. Indigo x
ReplyDeleteYou don't have mayors in Finland? But who cuts the ribbons at ribbon-cutting ceremonies? Who accepts bribes for cave expansion projects? Good Lord, woman, what kind of a backwards country are you living in?!
ReplyDeleteI bet you could have kicked all of their asses!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, totally. (If I were allowed to use a sword.)
ReplyDeleteNicky, my love, we don't cut ribbons, we drink vodka.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you think, Indigo. ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, Ziva!
ReplyDeleteThe click/flash of the camera can put the fear into many of us. Good shots!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots! Evil Twin just told me those white gown-things are not so flattering. I tend to agree. :)
ReplyDeleteMe. Me and my Canon. AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteI am a big sports photo guy. Love it. Never shot karate, though. Would be fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of camera (besides saying "canon") do you use? Have I asked this before? If so, sorry... :)
"Aleksi Randell (born 22 July 1975 in Turku) is a Finnish politician. He has served as the mayor of Turku since 2010."
ReplyDeleteHuh.
And here I thought Finland didn't have mayors.
You go, girl! Show 'em who is boss.
ReplyDeleteYou got your facts off some highly reliable source such as Wikipedia, didn't you? Aleksi Randell's title directly translated into English is "city manager". He's not elected by the people, he is appointed by the council. But yes, we do have city managers, and sometimes that title is wrongly translated as mayor. I guess I should have made this post about how the "mayors" in Finland don't play as big a role in the public eye as mayors in the States do. Hell, I didn't even know the name of Turku's city manager. That would have made a far more interesting post, I'm sure. ;)
ReplyDeleteIs that guy with the beard the VIP city manager of Turku, or did you take two (very good) photos of him because he looks a lot like a sexy pirate who's about to lose his shirt and reveal his six-pack?
ReplyDeleteYes. :D
ReplyDeleteMe and my Canon make quite the team. ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, I felt i was easily the most stylish person there in my black outfit. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda! And I agree, I'm terrified of it myself, which is why it's so much better to be behind the camera. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI always do, Malisa. ;)
ReplyDeleteNo, you haven't asked. ;)
ReplyDeleteI use a wonderful DSLR, Canon 5D Mark II. I'm not very used to sports photography, though, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone trying to shoot karate. They were just too fast for me and there were too many of them, always getting in the way my shot while I was trying to stay out of their way. I needed a zoom lens, but my zoom lens doesn't go lower than f4, and the light was rubbish in there, so I was using my 50 mm f1.4 prime lens to get the shutter speed down to what I needed it to be, but of course the overly shallow depth of field that you get with the 50 mm wasn't exactly what I wanted, either, so... yeah. I need to shoot more sports to get comfortable with it. It was a lot of fun, though, I'd love to try again and see if I could get some photos I'm actually happy with! :)
We should talk photography. Do you have your images anywhere? Flickr etc.?
ReplyDeleteAction photographers are the best. They have the power to make you look either ridiculous or awesome, depending on the moment. I always respect my action photographers when I'm playing paintball. You want the visual record to show you in a positive light, after all. Damn straight they got out of your way, Ziva. You definitely had the power.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm hoping I was able to portray them in a positive light, even though it's incredibly difficult to take anyone dressed in a white robe seriously. ;)
ReplyDelete