Last year, Isabel spent a lot of time in the dojo, training and shooting photographs for Hatsumi Sensei’s books. You have likely seen her work – two of her images appear in Japanese Sword Fighting: Secrets of the Samurai. She’s opened her own studio, IB Imagery, in Lancashire, England. The Bujinkan photo slideshow shows her skillful use of negative space in the way she manipulates her own photographs. Sometimes her images seem to be viewed through a foggy window you have just wiped your sleeve on, and other times the image is like paint platters on canvas. She skillfully uses these spaces to isolate the movement and expression on Hatsumi Sensei and his various ukes.
When you come to Soke’s or the Shihans’ trainings, you will see there are various people shooting video. That does not mean anybody permitted to do so. Sometimes the Shihan has assigned someone to shoot photos or videos. Other times, known photographers are allowed to shoot for the purpose of producing art for books or other publications.
If you want to take photos or video at a dojo, you should ask the students of that dojo who will be able to advise you. If you do not know who present is in fact a student of that teacher, you ought to think deeply about this. If you cannot see the people that are regularly instructed by the sensei, how do you know what is important to shoot with your camera? If you are very busy running for your camera, looking through the viewfinder, finding a safe place to set it down, are you present in the moment of the training?
文武両道 Pen and Sword 