Consider this a 'teaser' for a series I'm planning, based on one of my greatest passions...martial arts. The artistic elements of the myriad of stances and fighting positions found within the world's rich variety of martial styles are so seldom captured in still format. Such aesthetic arts as capoeira and kung-fu are now widely used in film, theatre and dance...but so many of the perhaps less flowery arts still hold a huge amount of dynamic potential, begging to be captured on film. This shot was taken from a quick study shoot on the Filipino art of Escrima, which traditionally uses combinations of knives and these rattan Kali sticks. Watching the top practitioners going to work on each other with these 'Scrim sticks is almost impossible to do without wincing!

The composition of this shot isn't as I'd like it, but framing shots well using the self-timer function is wall-punchingly difficult. Still, it was a good chance to work on my studio post-processing style, and it's encouraged me to take on the larger project I had in mind...though I might call on a friend to push the buttons next time!

EDIT - This one's worth a Full-View as there's a pretty cool 3D depth to this shot!