[P-E]

A few shots from the British Fencing Championships....Probably the hardest sport I've photographed so far.













TFL Ian.

[Ali]

Good set Ian, capturing the action well. I can see why it'd be hard to shoot, but as ever you have risen to the challenge and produced more great shots!

Come on... what is your secret?

[JMitchell]

Nice shots there Ian, bet you had to have quite a narrow aperture to try and get them both sharp?
Like the mono as well, good conversion

I fenced a bit when I was younger, some of them are quite brutal

[frances]

I can see how it would be very difficult to photograph this sport, somehow , the no faces aspect is tough, but you did an excellent job ! You should charge extra ! I wouldn't have wanted to try ! and you did get excellent DOF !

[P-E]

Thanks for the comments

No secret Ali I just hit the button and hope for the best!

Jack with a sword in his hand I was using using f2 & f2.8 most of the time.

[Whipspeed]

Superb, I've got a book on sports photography and one of the writers shoots fencing. Have to say, your shots are as good and a couple of them better.

[WOODY]

FANTASTIC ACTION SHOTS, AS ALWAYS IAN, I LIKE THE MONO. HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED PUBLISHING YOUR SPORTS SHOTS IN A BOOK, I AM SURE IT WOULD SELL

[the_frog]

I like the mono best too. I've watched fencing, it's an explosive sport and it must be a bugger to catch 'the moment'.

[Steve]

Great set sir, you have captured the sport perfectly IMO.

[P-E]

Thanks all

[simpbow]

Very impressive P-E, a very quick sport.

[P-E]

Cheers Simpbow.

[Rob Barron]

As a former fencer myself (LONG time ago but fenced at international level as a youth) I think you've done a really good job here.... not that I expected anything different from you Ian!

No 1: Good moment captured as the epeeist has tried an octave slice to the body. Hard to see if it has been successful but I think so.

No 2: Not sure about this one as the blades are not evident. The angle you have approached the piste from means the audience are actually looking at the next piste so look disinterested to this fight.

No 3: Best shot for me, the clear upper-sixte plant here leaves a touch of mystery as to whether the other fighter has defended with a lower sixte slice but I am guessing not. Love the tone, the angle and the moment captured here, excellent shot.

No 4: This one will interest fencers more as the oncoming fencer has gone for a full fleche (see the way he only has one foot on the floor and has gone for a powerful attack) and looks to have been unsuccessful as his blade has been deflected by an en-carte defence. It's a slight shame the electric cable is where it is as it is making it look like there are three blades in that area but it doesn't matter too much. I always loved the fleche attack and is one of the most dramatic in fencing when done well.

No 5: This has captured what appears to be a successful lunge, it better be as his line of attack appears to be pretty poor and the defending fencer needs shooting for leaving the line of attack so far open!

No 6: Again a split-second capture of the landing point which appears to be just about on target, nicely done there and the sharpness of the fighters against the blurred background is working really well as we are seeing all the context of a fighting championships.

Lovely set of shots here Ian. A very difficult sport to capture as you said. I'd like to see a couple that are a bit less sharp as the speed and motion of the sport is not quite as evident as I'd like. Maybe a slightly slowly shutter to capture the flashing blades might be good. Having said that, I think you should be extremely pleased with what you've come away with

Cheers,
Rob